Heather Havrilesky on Friday Night Lights:

If only more people knew what a rare and beautiful thing they're missing: a drama that sets the bar much higher than it has to, daring to take on the romance and heartbreak of being a teenager with honesty, compassion and wit.

and

"Friday Night Lights" has evolved from a strikingly original, lively little story about a football team to an evocative portrayal of life in a small American town, a narrative with so much sweetness and authenticity to it that, once you abandon yourself to its undeniable charms, you'll find it has the power to make you cringe and grit your teeth and laugh and cry each week, without fail.

I haven't read anything about the threat of its cancellation lately, which would be as sad for me as Freaks and Geeks and My So-Called Life being cut off at one season apiece. FNL is being run by Jason Katims, who worked on the Bedford Falls shows MSCL and Relativity, and Katims is bringing some of the same intimate human touch we associate with Zwick and Herskovitz to this material, but without the yuppie angst and self-absorption.