TVSquad

(S04E02) In case you think the Coach Eric Taylor has all the answers, this episode shows that's not always the way it is. In last week's show, the East Dillon Lions were so awful, Coach couldn't take it. He threw in the towel, which is a boxing term, but by forfeiting the game at half-time, that's what he did in football terms.

Things were hardly better for Tami at Dillon, although by comparison, her school looks like paradise. Eric's on the other side of paradise. More about that and the rest of the players, on field and off, after the jump.

The best NBC drama currently in production hasn't been doing much to help the Nielsen ratings. That's because the show, Friday Night Lights, isn't being shown on NBC right now. Season three has been unspooling on DirecTV and after eight episodes, the award-winning series is in the midst of a top-notch season.

In fact, after somewhat coming off the rails last season with Landry and Tyra's murder plot, Riggins and Street in Mexico, and Matt's involvement with Grandma's nurse, this year's shows are focused, complex and definitely back on track.

That starts with Tami and Eric. Coach Taylor remains as coiled as ever, only now the pressure to succeed seems even more intense because of the emergence of J.D. McCoy, the phenom freshman quarterback. J.D.'s pushy father and personal quarterback coach tick Eric off, but he likes the kid and has demoted Matt in order to give the more talented player a chance.

Tonight's plot of NBC's Friday Night Lights is described like this in my TV listings:

The town turns on Coach Taylor following a difficult loss.

See, I can tell already that I would dislike this show, even though I haven't seen an episode, because that sentence doesn't even make any sense to me. It's an incredibly foreign world.

Now, part of it is because, admittedly, I'm not a football fan (I'm a tennis and baseball guy), but an entire town turning on a football coach because a team isn't doing well? I mean, we're talking about high school football, right? Why would anyone give a shit about high school football, unless you have something to do with the school or have a kid who plays on it?

I know, I know, it's a Texas/southern thing, right? I just don't get it. It actually scares me a little, that non-players would put so much emphasis on a high school team.