The award-winning TV series Friday Night Lights ran for five seasons from 2006 to 2011. It was a drama about a high school football team, but it was also experimental TV in many ways. The series was based on a movie, which was based on a book, which you might not know, was based on a true story.
For starters, the 2004 FNL movie was loosely based on real live people from a non-fiction book by H.G. “Buzz” Bissinger entitled Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream, which was published in 1990. The book explored a high school football team and their 1988 season. They were called the Permian Panthers and their school was located in Odessa, Texas. The film was released by Universal Pictures and starred Billy Bob Thornton and Connie Britton. It was directed by Peter Berg, who actually happened to be H.G. Bissinger’s second cousin.
Read the many ways that Friday Night Lights was unique among TV series at TVOM.