China’s Wanda Group Agrees To Pay $2.6B For AMC … 
Weinstein Clarifies ‘Sapphires’ Remarks; Best … 
How Agencies Did At This Year’s Upfronts: New … 
BOMBS AWAY! ‘Battleship’ Sinks To $25.3M … 
‘Lawless’ Premieres As The Weinstein Company … 
David Guarascio And Moses Port To Run … 
‘Beasts Of The Southern Wild’ Co-Writer Lucy … 
Fox Searchlight Fetes ‘Beasts Of The Southern … 
D.V. DeVincentis Sinks Teeth Into ‘The Night … 
Universal Buys ‘The Disciple Program’ As Mark … 
‘Madagascar 3′ And A ‘Big Brother’ … 
UPDATE: Facebook’s Big IPO Trading Day Results In A … 
UPFRONTS 2012: The Year Of Underdogs, Comebacks & … 
YRF’s Uday Chopra To Finance Nicole Kidman-Starrer … 
Cannes Swirls With Talk Of Convergence Between Distributors … 
TNT & Lifetime Looking At Cancelled CBS Drama … 
Women Dominate Early Competition Films As Marion Cotillard … 
Doug Liman Reacts To ‘I Just Want My Pants … 
Disney Sets Jesse Wigutow To Script ‘Peter And The … 
Anthony Mackie In Step With ‘Runner Runner’ 
Should You Buy Facebook? A Few Things To Consider Before … 
This is great news to that small but passionate audience for the best TV series you’re not watching. I’m told that Jeff Zucker, Marc Graboff and Ben Silverman had been searching for a way to renew the critically acclaimed but low-rated Friday Night Lights for a 3rd season so that it would still make financial sense. The answer came in a deal with DirecTV, now owned by John Malone’s Liberty Media. Clearly Malone is looking to distinguish DirecTV from its rivals on a content as well as price basis. “It’s an innovative deal where NBC found a partner who will share costs and exhibition windows,” an insider explained to me. So both NBC and DirecTV will be airing Friday Night Lights across multipurpose platforms.
I’m a big fan of the hour-long high school football drama (which is really about horny teens and their hornswoggled parents) so I say hooray. NBC aired the last completed episode of Friday Night Lights on February 8th, but until now there’s been no word on the show’s clouded future. I can report that the third season is saved. Even though it usually ends up last in its time slot, the show does OK in the 18-to-49 demos and often wins the 18-to-34 demos. But FNL‘s Season One only averaged 6.1 million viewers a week, making it something like the 95th-highest rated show on network primetime TV, 
and Season Two averaged 6.2 million viewers a week but still came in at 101st.
I can’t say whether the fans’ campaign to save the show by sending all those mini- footballs to NBC bigwigs worked the magic. But I do know the execs got them. Plus, the NBC suits knew that since the network is airing crap like that remake of Knight Rider (and shame on TV viewers for giving it good ratings), then they needed quality like FNL.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
Loading ...
best show on tv
NBC needs to market it online more to the core target audiences
Thank you SO much for the news, Nikki! I just recently got hooked on this show and hated the thought of never seeing it again! I can’t wait for season 3!
So they renew a soap opera that costs too much money with crappy ratings for one more season. Stupid.
NBC should change their name to “Game Show Network II”
No offense, Francine, but you’re delusional. Just because a show gets good ratings doesn’t mean it’s quality TV. “Two and A Half Men”- crap, but great ratings. “According to Jim”- crap, ok ratings. Both shows are still on the air, and yet people who aren’t smart enough to get the intelligent jokes of “Arrested Development” or subtle character development of “Friday Night Lights” whine about quality shows being saved. Just stick to watching “American Idol” and “Desperate Housewives”- there’s room enough on the channels for both drivel and quality programming.
This is great news. I love this show and the depth of its characters. The writing is amazing. Thank you NBC.
I am very pleased with this but am annoyed that it will air on Direct TV first. Oh well, good things come to those who wait.
I never watched Friday Night Lights, since I had already seen the movie and it happened to be on at the same time as Real Time with Bill Maher, I never watched it. It just wasn’t worth recording on my DVR, when there are other shows I am more interested in.
I am sure the viewers will notice a lower quality of production for Friday Night Lights as we have seen the lower quality of production in the new episodes of Jericho (a show that truly deserved to be saved).
good thing direct tv has been such a wonderful home for NBC’s PASSIONS… oh wait.
good to hear,i wanted to get the nfl package for fantasy football purposes..now i have a REALLY good reason to get direct tv
It must have been those guys at Best Week Ever that saved the show with their campaign! Way to go!!
The best show on TV you’re not watching? Wouldn’t that be The Wire?
Yay, one lest insipid game show on NBC!!!!!!!!!!!!, and a great drama if you people would just watch. You know who you are.
Don’t thank Zucker or Silverman…The linchpin to the deal is Dr. Malone and it should be exclusive to DirecTV. So for those of you on cable, tough.
What is it that people like about FNL? Nikki, you say
“I’m a big fan of the hour-long high school football drama (which is really about horny teens and their hornswoggled parents)” which could not be less true. Have you seen the show? FNL has NOTHING to do with high school kids, football, or reality. It’s an unrealistic portrayal of life where impossibly stupid and impossible to believe whining and misery meet to satisfy an executives notes.
It’s as if everyone in the town is more miserable than the person on their left and they’re all standing in a circle that’s spiraling to sweeps. There’s a reason that NO ONE WATCHES THIS SHOW. IT’S MISERABLE. Who should I root for on this show? Better yet, who should I not hate and wish got run over by a school bus – which would be the most high school thing the show had ever done. (or better yet, maybe one of the students could kill them for the hot girl that he likes – no, that would be BAD TV!) Seriously who in this show wouldn’t just get beat up after school for being a pill? (note, I didn’t say the show is bad. The cast is great despite the bad not as advertised subject matter, and the show mostly looks good, despite the ‘shaky cam’ that they never explain)
Great news! Now the need to put the show in a good time slot and promote it! This is an exceptional show thanks to the writers and actors; I’m sure there would be many more viewers if they just checked it out.
Thank heavens for “quality guilt” or I doubt most of my favorte TV shows would get past the pilot script stage. *g*
Great news!!!!
So what exactly does this deal mean? Will DTV air it first? Do on-demand repeats of it? I’m not sure how DTV will differentiate itself on content with a show that people without DTV can see on NBC. Some are even speculating that this may not even include an airing on NBC at all. Could you elaborate?
“Friday Night Lights reminds me of Arrested Development in that the critics love it and try to ram it down everyone’s throat as great television but the masses don’t give a damn.”
The obvious question is whether you’ve actually seen either of these shows.
I haven’t seen FNL yet (the first disk from netflix is sitting at my house, may see it tonight before LOST) but AD *IS* a great show, arguably one of the best comedies ever.
This is great news! I had just sent an email to NBC the other day lamenting the cancellation (or so I thought) of the best show on TV.
Wonderful news! Thank you. I don’t get Direct TV but am hoping the episodes will eventually be aired on NBC or on-line.
Thank you, Mr. Silverman & Mr. Zucker and especially Mr. Berg. Also, my sympathies to the family of the boy who died last week, the boy who inspired the book & the tv show, may he rest in peace.
This is an interesting deal, we’ll have to see how it works out. I think what this deal has potential for is keeping devoted-fan show alive. Most devoted-fan shows are low rated by primetime standards and get axed, but if you were to make those devoted fans pay for a subscription to a channel where those shows continue, then I think most fans would pay for it.
Networks would come out with say, 4 new shows for the fall season. Let’s say 2 of them suck, 1 of them is a hit, and 1 is good, but low rated. The network can then sell that good-but-low-rated show to a pay channel service like DirectTV, it’s a win-win situation.
YESSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!! This is by far my FAVORITE show on TV! This made my day!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS FANTASTIC NEWS!!!
I am so excited that they decided to do the right thing when it comes to quality TV and not just money. I can not wait to see what they do with the third season. Thank you NBC execs and DirecTV. I will be dancing a jig later tonight!!!
I’m sorry, but THE greatest show people aren’t watching is 30 Rock!!
As for Knight Rider, the guy apparently had to write the script in 12 days and couldn’t tweak it since the WGA strike had began so I can understand why the script and plot weren’t all that great. Since the writers are back, they should be able to turn out a better script if it becomes a TV series (and they should recast Mike, sorry but he was just weak).
This show is my favorite on TV and it’s being saved has redeemed NBC in my eyes quite a bit. Good save, NBC!