FirstCuts: Can ‘Friday Night Lights’ Survive?

By Chris Littmann
Sports don’t start and end with a referee’s whistle. FirstCuts, a blog dedicated to sports culture, will cover everything outside the lines, from games to gear.
I’m unabashed in my praise for Friday Night Lights, so I come to you with open arms on this one: Please save this show.

Sure, the WGA strike that basically left us with a batch of bad reality TV to watch is just about over, but Friday Night Lights aired its final pre-strike episode on Friday and it isn’t a sure thing that the show will return when the writers put pencil to paper.
Now before I get into the effort to save this show, I’d like to draw specific attention to NBC Entertainment head Ben Silverman. In an interview with Radar, Silverman was particularly dismissive about the show’s future, and perhaps it was partially out of this interview that SaveFridayNightLights.TV was born.
The people behind this site are raising money to have thousands of miniature plastic footballs sent to NBC. The footballs will read “Save Friday Night Lights! Clear Eyes. Full Hearts. Can’t Lose This Show! WWW.SAVEFNL.COM.” According to the site, $1,045.98 has been raised— enough to purchase 1,045 footballs. The site also says this puts them at 41.8 percent of their target.
Even if you aren’t so moved to donate, they’ve given pictures to print on postcard stock to send to NBC.
Hey, if it worked for Jericho on CBS, anything is possible.↵