Often when reading articles, blog posts or listening to podcasts by some of the best and most knowledgeable television critics, they are presented with and forced to answer the question everyone seems to want the answer to: if you could recommend one television show I should be watching, past or present, what would it be?  Without fail (besides the cancelled show ‘”The Wire,”) the answer I hear the most often is “Friday Night Lights.”    

Since the pilot aired on NBC on October 3, 2006, “Friday Night Lights” has received some of the best praise I’ve heard about any television show, ever. The New York Times wrote, “‘Friday Night Lights’ is a wonder.” The Washington Post praised it as having, “plenty of realism–as well as passion, soul, and heart at levels rare in episodic TV.”     

Based on both the best-selling book and 2004 film of the same name, this TV drama, created by Peter Berg, follows the lives of the players and coach of a high school football team in Dillon, Texas. In this small town, football is their religion and the players are like gods.     

Throughout the first season, the show’s unique documentary style of shooting, complimentary audio and strong actors playing complex characters quickly attracted a cult following of critics and fans alike. In 2007, Time magazine ranked it number four on its list of the “Top 10 Returning Series of 2007.”    

However, despite the weekly praise from critics and a strong fan base, the low ratings “Friday Night Lights” received each week left the fate of the show hanging in the balance after just one season.  The Dillon Panthers did return for season two on NBC, but in order to keep the show alive, the network partnered with Direct TV, where it was shown before being rebroadcast on NBC. The ratings did not increase significantly, but the trouble for “Lights” seemed to be over, at least for the moment.     

During the writers strike, the future of  “Lights” came into question again. In response, fans put together several internet and writing campaigns to save their show. One in particular, the “Save FNL” campaign planned to raise money for footballs and contributions to send to charity foundations related to the show. Fans of “Save FNL” raised a total of $15,840 for 18,750 footballs and the first shipment of 50 boxes was sent to Ben Silverman at NBC. Needless to say, the network could not ignore the swell of support for the show and brought it back once again.     

This lead me to wonder, is “Friday Night Lights” really so sensational that fans were willing to spend a significant amount of time and money to ensure they could continue to follow these characters? Also, it received the Television Critics Association Award and several Emmy awards and nominations in 2010 despite being picked up by ABC Family and dropped the next month because of low ratings.     

This year marks the fifth and final season for the cult classic. The entire season has played out on Direct TV but will not begin airing on NBC until Friday, April 15.

While the show is on hiatus, I have taken it upon myself to begin watching the show some have called “poetry.” I’ve started at the beginning with the pilot and intend to make my way to the series finale. I will check in periodically and after finishing each season will give my critiques, opinions and thoughts about the shows progress.

Overall, I will attempt to answer the question: is “Friday Night Lights” the best show on television? All four seasons of “Friday Night Lights” are available on Netflix- watch it with me and tell me what you think.