Taylor Kitsch as Tim Riggins in "Friday Night Lights." Credit: NBC/Bill Records
Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose — must be something to that. “Friday Night Lights,” the little drama that’s still in the game after several Hail Mary passes, has been granted two more 13-episode seasons , NBC announced today. As with the current season, the series’ fourth and fifth will each get a first window, commercial-free run on DirecTV’s channel 101 in the fall before NBC picks them up for a replay in midseason.
How exactly can “Friday Night Lights,” which has never grown its audience beyond very modest levels, keep on keeping on? It’s inexpensive, for one thing — so frugal that as Variety’s Cynthia Littleton explains, the license fee DirecTV pays to NBC is enough to allow the broadcast network to keep the show on the air. It also helps that “Friday Night Lights” is a critical darling and one of the few high-quality series NBC has left. One hopes that deals also can be struck for other worthwhile yet underappreciated series perched on the bubble, such as “Chuck” and “Life.”
– Some shows seem as if they’re destined to keep going until our daystar goes supernova: The Hollywood Reporter would like you to know that MTV’s “The Real World” will be with us for four more cycles, bringing its total to 26.
From left: Martha Stewart, Rosie O'Donnell, Jennifer Koppelman Hutt and Alexis Stewart.
– Did you know that Fine Living Network has a show called “Whatever, Martha!” in which Martha Stewart’s daughter Alexis and co-host Jennifer Koppelman Hutt give old “Martha Stewart Living” episodes the “Mystery Science Theater 3000” treatment? Well, now you do. If not, you’ll have plenty of time to get an eyeful, since Mama Stewart announced during today’s taping of her daytime syndicated series that FLN has picked up a 26-episode second season of her daughter’s show.
