TVSquad

Reality is not reality like in TV reality series. Reality, in fact, is usually too true and very often sad. With that in mind, David Edwards, the young man who was the inspiration for the character Jason Street on NBC's Friday Night Lights, has died. Just 20 years old, David was injured by playing high school football for San Antonio Madison in November 2003. He was a defensive back, and while going after a pass, he collided with an Austin Westlake receiver. Edwards' neck was broken and the injury resulted in his becoming paralyzed.

(S01E13) Outstanding. This installment of FNL was just jam packed with story and there was enough of it for everyone to get a little piece. More than any other episode, this one balanced everything out so the entire cast got to play. And with one exception, which we'll get to later, all of the stories were very good.

First up, Smash. I was initially unsure about this story, but now that it has played out, I like what they did with it. This is a much different Smash than we originally met in the pilot and Gaius Charles deserves a lot of credit for doing a great job. As good as he was though, the standout of this episode was Liz Mikel, who plays Corina Williams. All of her scenes were great. I loved her explanation for going to Coach Taylor, "I didn't want to think that you were dumb enough to do something so stupid on your own." Of course, the Smash revelation caused some big problems for Eric as well.

FOX is the only network who seems to have two seasons every year, doesn't it? You have the fall, when the baseball playoffs and World Series wreak havoc with the network's primetime lineup, then the new year happens and everything starts anew with American Idol and 24; all of a sudden, the "fourth network" becomes a ratings juggernaut.

It's something that FOX Entertainment president Peter Liguori is concerned about, and he addressed it at his TCA session this morning. He almost sounded like a victim, held hostage by the sports' division's suckage of time during the month of October and hamstrung by what it forces him to do. It strikes me as a bit disingenuous, because FOX paid a lot of money for the playoffs, and it was their decision to air so many games. Anyway, Liguori seemed almost happy that the network, who lost the division round and one LCS round, will broadcast less games this fall.

(S01E12) This was a strange episode of Friday Night Lights. Not that it was bad, just that it seemed to lack the polish that earlier episodes have had. A couple of the stories seemed rushed, or maybe a little disjointed. For example, the resolution to the cliff-hanger from last week.

After leaving us with the news that Henry Saracen would be returning to Iraq and sending Matt off to live with the relatives in Oklahoma, I expected some kind of drama over that. I think we all knew that Matt wasn't going to be leaving Dillon, but the machinations of the town to keep him would be the story. Apparently there were bigger fish to fry though as they just cut that plot thread off at the bud and Henry tells Matt he's staying. For a second there I thought I had missed an episode or something.