A Perfect Ending
July 17, 2011

I watched the series finale of Friday Night Lights last night, and I’m still feeling the loss of such an amazing television show.  It was such a perfectly FNL ending: plenty of hope for the future, but not everything wrapped up in a falsely perfect bow.  Through five seasons, the writing, directing, acting, cinematography, and editing came together seamlessly to create a something that felt more real than any show I’ve ever watched.  I often felt uncomfortable while watching because I felt like some creeper peering through the windows at these people’s lives.

I think part of the reason it felt so real to me is that I grew up in Summerville, SC, where Green Wave football was more important than just about anything.  I don’t know if Coach John McKissick is the molder of men that Eric Taylor was, but I do know that McKissick is the all-time winningest high school football coach ever.  I spent many Friday nights under those bright lights screaming my head off for our team (that is when I wasn’t awkwardly trying to be cool). 

But it wasn’t just familiarity that made these characters so authentic.  A magical combination of acting and writing truly made them feel like friends.  I laughed with them, worried for them, and I cried for them, oh man, how I cried for them, both at their joy and at their pain.  It actually got to be kind of ridiculous, since I apparently developed a Pavlovian response to the FNL theme song – it would start playing and my eyes would start watering.

As a writer and filmmaker, I know I will pull out my DVDs again and again to enjoy and appreciate what the FNL team did, as well as study how they did it so I can learn to create characters that feel so incredibly real. 

Were you a fan of Friday Night Lights?  Can you suggest other shows with characters who feel so authentic?  For the writers – did you pick up any techniques to improve the characters in your writing? 

I watched the series finale of Friday Night Lights last night, and I’m still feeling the loss of such an amazing television show.  It was such a perfectly FNL ending: plenty of hope for the future, but not everything wrapped up in a falsely perfect bow.  Through five seasons, the writing, directing, acting, cinematography, and editing came together seamlessly to create a something that felt more real than any show I’ve ever watched.  I often felt uncomfortable while watching because I felt like some creeper peering through the windows at these people’s lives.

I think part of the reason it felt so real to me is that I grew up in Summerville, SC, where Green Wave football was more important than just about anything.  I don’t know if Coach John McKissick is the molder of men that Eric Taylor was, but I do know that McKissick is the all-time winningest high school football coach ever.  I spent many Friday nights under those bright lights screaming my head off for our team (that is when I wasn’t awkwardly trying to be cool). 

But it wasn’t just familiarity that made these characters so authentic.  A magical combination of acting and writing truly made them feel like friends.  I laughed with them, worried for them, and I cried for them, oh man, how I cried for them, both at their joy and at their pain.  It actually got to be kind of ridiculous, since I apparently developed a Pavlovian response to the FNL theme song – it would start playing and my eyes would start watering.

As a writer and filmmaker, I know I will pull out my DVDs again and again to enjoy and appreciate what the FNL team did, as well as study how they did it so I can learn to create characters that feel so incredibly real. 

Were you a fan of Friday Night Lights?  Can you suggest other shows with characters who feel so authentic?  For the writers – did you pick up any techniques to improve the characters in your writing? 

Jocelyn Rish

Jocelyn Rish is a writer and filmmaker who never imagined her cheeky sense of humor would lead to a book about animal butts. When she's not researching fanny facts, she tutors kids to help them discover the magic of reading. Jocelyn has won numerous awards for her short stories, screenplays, short films, and novels and lives in South Carolina with her booty-ful dogs.