Posts tagged "Friday Night Lights"
The Year in Television 2011
TV / Year In Review

The Year in Television 2011

by David Zahl on Dec 21, 2011 • 5 Comments

Another banner year for the small screen! Comedy and drama, network and cable, domestic and abroad, great work flooded the airwaves. We’ve had a lot of fun commenting on and cataloging it all. Here are my favorites of the year:

Top Eleven Television Series of 2011

11. Portlandia. Put a bird on it, indeed. Can’t get enough of Fred Armisen.

10. Luther. The first of three absolutely gripping dramas produced by the BBC this past year, this one features Idris Elba AKA Stringer Bell in a career-making performance as TV’s first ever black cockney Sherlock Holmes-by-way-of-Jack Bauer serial killer detective. Forever skirting (and…

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Another Week Ends: Zombied Church, The Hill and Wood, Full Eyes, Soda Bans, (The Paradox of) Dysfunctional Families, Joe Pa and Scandal Love
America / Children / Forgiveness / Identity / Law / Music / Politics / Sports / TV / Week In Review

Another Week Ends: Zombied Church, The Hill and Wood, Full Eyes, Soda Bans, (The Paradox of) Dysfunctional Families, Joe Pa and Scandal Love

by Ethan on Nov 11, 2011 • 5 Comments

1) Something’s in the water at The Atlantic lately, because inspired after inspired article seems to be finding its way into the proverbial stream, including an intriguing article about tv show The Walking Dead‘s “Come-to-Jesus Moment.” As the review is aware (and mind you, if you’re not caught up on the show, spoilers), it’s certainly a dissatisfying presentation of faith’s power in crisis, but it has a lot to say about the human compulsions to lean on something in hard times, and the ease of and inevitable infidelity of that leaning becoming a leaning on one’s self. In a hellish…

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In Praise of Adam Braverman: Parenthood and the Advent of the Non-Doofus Dad
Children / Grace in Practice / Law / Relationships / TV

In Praise of Adam Braverman: Parenthood and the Advent of the Non-Doofus Dad

by David Zahl on Oct 13, 2011 • 12 Comments

A few weeks ago, just before the Fall TV season started, several news outlets published articles decrying the number of new shows that were showcasing the same thing: male doofusry. Emasculated, unemployed, clueless and/or sequestered behind walls of Draper-inspired misogyny or nostalgia, the American male did not appear to be doing so well, at least not according to the networks. The Mancession had made it to the small screen. Now that a couple of the shows in question have fallen on their faces, as the cancellation of How to be a Gentleman and The Playboy Club would attest, one has…

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The Pastoral Ministry of Coach Eric Taylor
Death / Grace in Practice / TV

The Pastoral Ministry of Coach Eric Taylor

by David Zahl on Sep 20, 2011 • 4 Comments

A belated but no less heartfelt bravo to Jason Katims and Kyle Chandler who won long overdue awards for their work in Friday Night Lights at the 2011 Emmy’s. And what better way to mark the occasion than to recall one of our favorite Coach Taylor moments?

This one comes in Season 4 Episode 5- minor spoiler alert – just after former quarterback (and boyfriend of the coach’s daughter) Matt Saracen learns that his father died while serving in Iraq. Matt had a conflicted relationship with his father – to say the least – and for a while after receiving the…

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Another Week Ends: Death Row Forgiveness, Sheen on Addiction, Hemingway’s Paranoia, Risky Professions, Nick Lowe, Tami Taylor & Werner’s Where’s Waldo
Addiction / Church / Film / Forgiveness / Literature / Music / Theology / TV / Week In Review

Another Week Ends: Death Row Forgiveness, Sheen on Addiction, Hemingway’s Paranoia, Risky Professions, Nick Lowe, Tami Taylor & Werner’s Where’s Waldo

by David Zahl on Jul 22, 2011 • No Comments

1. A supremely powerful story about the forgiveness of one’s enemies over on CNN. It concerns Mark Anthony Stroman, a white supremacist on death row in Texas for a slew of hate crimes, including murder, that he committed just after 9/11. One of the men that he shot during his spree, a Muslim named Rais Bhuiyan, is publicly pleading for Stroman’s life, going so far as to travel Paris to ask the European Parliament to file a formal request that Texas commute Stroman’s sentence to life in prison, ht JD:

Bhuiyan believes that his attacker does not deserve to die…

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Another Week Ends: Divorce Delusions, FNL, KJV, Natural Family Planning, Pastafarianism, Harry Potter and 30 Rock
America / Bible / Film / Humor / Music / Psychology / Relationships / Religion / TV / Week In Review

Another Week Ends: Divorce Delusions, FNL, KJV, Natural Family Planning, Pastafarianism, Harry Potter and 30 Rock

by David Zahl on Jul 15, 2011 • No Comments

1. New Mbird favorite Heather Havrilesky hit another home run in this past Sunday’s NY Times Magazine with her column “The Divorce Delusion,” in which she exposed the current sunny pop-climate about divorce for what it is, namely, delusional. Or at least very naive. She also took the opportunity to muse on the underlying narcissism:

The moral to this modern divorce story? If everyone involved doesn’t emerge stronger, happier and more productive, well, then, in the vague parlance of today’s progressive preschool, someone is making bad choices.

The notion that there’s some “right” choice for every life challenge fits neatly into the…

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Another Week Ends: Of Gods and Men, Unitarian Boundaries, pi Haters, Pinksy on Cowper, Jayhawks, Wilco, Morrissey, FNL, Falling Skies and Brad Bird
Church / Death / Film / Gender / Grace in Practice / Music / Poetry / Religion / Science / Suffering / Theology / TV / Week In Review

Another Week Ends: Of Gods and Men, Unitarian Boundaries, pi Haters, Pinksy on Cowper, Jayhawks, Wilco, Morrissey, FNL, Falling Skies and Brad Bird

by David Zahl on Jul 1, 2011 • 3 Comments

1. No doubt you’re familiar with the martyrdom of the monks of Tibhirine in Algeria, who were assassinated in 1996 by Jihadists. It is, without question, one of the most inspirational true stories of the past twenty years – regardless of where you’re coming from on the religious spectrum. You may have even heard that the recent film based on the events, Of Gods and Men, was Grand Prix winner at Cannes last year. If that weren’t high enough praise for it shoot to the top of your Netflix queue (when it becomes available on Tuesday 7/5), Andrew Sullivan’s stirring…

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Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Win? The End of Friday Night Lights and the Popularity of Glee
America / Identity / Music / Sports / Suffering / Theology / TV

Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Win? The End of Friday Night Lights and the Popularity of Glee

by David Zahl on Jun 6, 2011 • 25 Comments

You’ve got to hand it to Heather Havrilesky. This past Sunday in The NY Times Magazine, she had the guts to expose one of the most egregious cultural travesties currently being foisted on the American public. I’m talking, of course, about the world of high school television dramas and the undisputed commercial and critical victory of Glee over Friday Night Lights. By every measure available – Emmys, ratings, DVD sales, iTunes downloads, cross-marketing campaigns, etc – Americans prefer Glee. Indeed, criticizing the show, or withholding/protecting one’s music from its horrifying a cappella-ization, has become a do-so-at-your-own-peril endeavor… Just ask Kings…

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JAZ’s Faves of 2010
Film / Music / TV / Year In Review

JAZ’s Faves of 2010

by John Zahl on Dec 31, 2010 • 3 Comments

A quick wracking of the brain brings these picks to mind (in alphabetical order):

Films:

The Book of Eli. On the bible: “Don’t you see? It’s not a book, it’s a weapon!”Get Low. Love Robert Duvall! Deep, moving, forgiveness and the lack of it, telling the whole story once again. Plus, Bill Murray is so funny in this one.Inception. Thought it was awesome until I saw the south park episode about it.  I just hope the director had a correct answer to the end in mind.The Kids are Alright. Hilarious, thought-provoking, phenomenal acting.The Social Network. Eerie, smart, made me feel bad for…

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The Year in Television 2010
TV / Year In Review

The Year in Television 2010

by Mockingbird on Dec 16, 2010 • 7 Comments

I remember in high school once arguing with a friend about the obvious inferiority of television as a medium, that any format created solely to sell advertising could never reach the same artistic heights as, say, the silver screen. Silly rabbit… The golden age of television rolled on this year, once again significantly eclipsing anything Hollywood has been able to put together (not that there haven’t been some bright spots in cinema as well). But the seven best shows on television of 2011, both from a Mockingbird-friendly and just plain artistic point of view, were the following:

7. LOST. Like the…

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No Laughing Allowed
Humor / Law / Sports

No Laughing Allowed

by Stampdawg on Dec 15, 2010 • 5 Comments

OK, to be honest, I am a movie/TV nerd, and everything I know about football comes from watching Friday Night Lights. If you actually threw a football at me I’d be more likely to duck than catch it.

But I ran into this story over the weekend and would really love to hear what you folks at MB think about it. I walked away feeling so much for this guy, who is quarterback Derek Anderson for the Arizona Cardinals.

This is what happened, as far as I can tell. The Cardinals were getting hammered, it was the fourth quarter, they were down…

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Another Week Ends: Self-Evangelism, Jay-Z, Paradoxes, Susan Boyle, NASA, Friday Night Lights
Church / Music / Philosophy / Science / Sermons / TV / Week In Review

Another Week Ends: Self-Evangelism, Jay-Z, Paradoxes, Susan Boyle, NASA, Friday Night Lights

by David Zahl on Dec 3, 2010 • 1 Comment

1. Another scorcher from our 2011 NYC conference speaker Mark Galli entitled “Evangelizing Ourselves”, in which he unwittingly sums up much of our operating philosophy:

How do we talk about our faith without making others feel denigrated or angry? For one, we can talk about our faith so that everyone feels equally denigrated and equally inflamed!… So that everyone—even the Christian—recognizes his or her sinfulness…[and his or her] desperate need of a savior. If we can do that, a couple of remarkable things will happen. First, we will recognize afresh that we’re not talking about our religion versus…

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Another Week Ends: Cyber Bullies, eBay, Glenn Beck, FUNdamentals, Madonna, TV roundup
Children / Humor / News / Politics / TV / Week In Review

Another Week Ends: Cyber Bullies, eBay, Glenn Beck, FUNdamentals, Madonna, TV roundup

by David Zahl on Oct 8, 2010 • 6 Comments

1. A quick study in opposites: In an NPR story about the rise of cyber-bullying and public humiliation, “It’s Not the Web, It’s Us” sociologist C.J. Pascoe wisely states, ‘we shouldn’t place all the blame for [cyber-bully] actions on new technology. ‘I think the problem starts pre-technology, which is, what are the motivations we have in humiliating another person, and humiliating them sexually?’ she says. ‘That’s the issue we need to deal with, and then follow up with concerns about new media.’”.

The good people at ebay might beg to differ:

2. The NY Times Magazine ran a cover…

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Another Week Begins: The Science of Free Will, Pixar News, Emergent(cy), FNL and Willow
Church / Film / Psychology / Religion / Science / TV / Week In Review

Another Week Begins: The Science of Free Will, Pixar News, Emergent(cy), FNL and Willow

by David Zahl on Apr 26, 2010 • No Comments

1. An absolutely fascinating write-up from Jesse Bering over at Scientific American of the recent ‘free will’-related research, charmingly titled “Scientists Say Free Will Probably Doesn’t Exist, but Urge ‘Don’t Stop Believing!’”. Stay away if you have an allergy to Hitler-based arguments… Perhaps the most ground-breaking finding is (ht BZ): “when people believe—or are led to believe—that free will is just an illusion, they tend to become more antisocial.” Hmmm…

2.  The new slate of Pixar films has been announced, and Monsters Inc is getting a sequel in 2012! Our Gospel According To Pixar series, debuted at the conference, will…

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This Kid Can Flat-Out Play: Judgment and Love in Friday Night Lights
Grace in Practice / Law / Psychology / Relationships / Theology / TV

This Kid Can Flat-Out Play: Judgment and Love in Friday Night Lights

by David Zahl on Feb 11, 2010 • 11 Comments

One of the many reasons we champion the NBC show Friday Night Lights is its understanding and depiction of human dynamics. At its core, this is not a show about football – no more than, say, Whit Stillman’s film The Last Days of Disco is about disco. It is a show about the human condition, and as such, it is a show about judgment and love. Two of the realities or forces that are closest to the human heart. Certainly the two that we most like to go on about here at Mockingbird.

When we talk about judgment and love, we…

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