The Televangelist: ‘Friday Night Lights’

Three of the most lauded aspects of “Friday Night Lights” were on display last Friday with a bunch of fuzzy filler in between. We’ll start with Coach and Mrs. Coach’s relationship  — one of the best, healthiest and most realistic on television — which has always been the glue that holds “FNL” together. There have been one-off times of trial before, but this week we saw some more subtle cracks that might turn into bigger foundational issues (although not too big since this is likely “FNL’s” last season). The hot button? That darn tootin’ Jumbotron. Tami sensibly wants to reallocate the Jumbotron funds to serve the school: for teachers, books, and things she didn’t even realize were on the chopping block, like chalk and soap.  Buddy Garrity and the evil boosters have other ideas, and as Coach Taylor points out, “What Buddy and the boosters want, Buddy and the boosters will get.”

Dillon has always been portrayed as a small, bottom-of-the-barrel, last-leg kind of town, but clearly there are some heretofore unmentioned ritzy suburbs around. Not only do the funds for the Jumbotron appear out of nowhere (and show us there must be some people with money besides Buddy), but also Lyla, in her attempts to civilize the sexy beast that is Tim “Yes I use Google” Riggins, joins her father and some wealthy coevals at a posh restaurant for lunch. Just how posh? They actually serve squab, and not in the way certain places in Texas might serve, say, squirrel.

After the jump, “A vote for Tyra is a vote for hotness!”