I picked up season one of Friday Night Lights over the weekend and began watching it. I'm a sports fan, but I'm not normally a fan of sports movies. Many exceptions exist, but so often actors who portray athletes on the field look so awkward that it pulls me out of the story and I hate being pulled out of a story. So far, so good though on Friday Night Lights though. The acting on and off the field is totally convincing. My only problem so far has to do with the fact that the actors who are portraying high school students look more like they are 25 than 17.
I'm already rooting for Jason Street (played by Scott Porter), the quarterback, and Lyla Garrity (played by Minka Kelly), the cheerleader. Jason is severely injured on the football field in the first episode and Lyla keep the faith for both of them even after Jason gets the news that he will probably never walk again. Unfortunately, I've read a couple of reviews and I already know that she's about to have an affair with Jason's best friend. That sort of bums me out.
One thing that really is hard to get used to in this series is the camera work. I'm sure it's intentional (maybe to make it feel more realistic), but the camera never seems to be stationary. It sorts of bobs up and down as if an amateur was attempting to shoot the footage without anything other than a camcorder. The tops of the characters heads are cut off in some scenes. And sometimes the camera angle is really low--which gives the effect of looking up to see a person's chin.
It's too early for me to give the series a thumbs up or down, but so far I like what I see. Anybody else into this series? If so, please remember that I'm on season one. I don't want to know what is happening in season three right now.
