My biggest gripe with FNL is that they shoehorned pretty much every major cliche of societies problems into the show at some point. Almost like they had a checklist they were trying to run through. At times it took away from the organic feeling.

That said it is still well worth the watch.

Clear Eyes. Full Hearts. Cant lose.

if anyone cares for Bourdain, a new season of his 'Parts Unknown' is up on US netflix.

i was a huge fan of his earlier stuff, but personally i'm a bit annoyed at how he tries to tie in politics to these eps more and more.

the Istanbul episode in particular just comes off as an Edrogan hit piece rather than any meaningful travel/food info. maybe his shows were always like this and I just never noticed...

It does get a little soapy at times. And it's a little rough with the bible thumping sometimes. Some of the storylines are a bit over-the-top. But overall it's a very solid show. The characters are great; coach and wife, riggins brothers, buddy garrity. You get invested in the characters. You want them to succeed.

This is one of my favorite scenes:

I'd actually like to see them bring the show back centered around Micheal B. Jordan, who made it to the pros but had a career ending injury and moves back to Texas to coach football with his now wife (the cute girl football coach from the later seasons).

That could be good! Throw in the older Riggins and Buddy Garrity and you got something going.

The show could be even better if they recreated some of the magic that coach and his wife had, but actually had them actually coaching together. Maybe even the girl is the head coach and Jordans character works with the QB's.

In regards to FNL:

1) Explosions in the sky

2)Minka Kelly

3) Explosions in Minka Kelly??

Yeti, I shouldn't have said I don't see what people see in it. That was clumsy. I think people like it for how real it is, real to life, like you said. But it doesn't seem compelling to me as art, I guess. Even though these are everyday Texans like me.

idk, FNL isn't a show that like takes a while to get started. The pilot is one of the best episodes of the series, and almost uniquely among shows I consider to be great FNL had its voice and vision in place in the pilot. If someone watches the pilot and doesn't like it they don't like FNL.

And it had one of my favorite moments of the series, "Saracen, quarterback's a captain"

idk, like i said, imo a huge part of the greatness is the characters. pilot is fine and obviously it's a significant episode but 20 mins into a new show you are still trying to work out who everyone is.

i'm also viewing this through the lens of an english person - i know with absolute certainty that the pilot will be a huge turn off to lots of non-US people because it is super duper football heavy / religious / 'murica.

so im about 5 epsiodes into season 3 of FNL


even though i thought the change was even more abrupt than s2, I think im digging s3 slightly more. s2 was a roller coaster of inconsistencies. s3 has that underdog making.

really excited to see where this goes

I'm a Londoner so am totally ignorant of small-town American life but still really enjoyed FNL. It's narratively straightforward with a manageable number of characters and plot threads, but still tackles serious, emotive issues without ever becoming difficult to watch. There aren't man shows which so successfully strike that balance.

Found it impossible to persuade any friends to watch it though. The moment I mention "American Football", they switch off.

I'm completely unembarrassed saying FNL consistently brings tears to my eyes at least once or twice a season and that's never happened to me with any TV show. I'm used to crying with laughter at Silicon Valley.

I finished s3 over the weekend. the finale resolved storylines that were built up over hours of elite dialogue between perfectly relateable characters. that's such a great payoff when you're all-in with a show.

if you're only welling up once or twice a season you are a stronger man than me

yeah I'm unembarrassed with once or twice, a bit embarrassed at the actual frequency

I could not get into FNL. Too cheesy for me. My GF loves it LDO.

Keep On Keepin' On was great. If you're into music, great stories, talent, etc it's a must watch. I had never heard of Clark Terry or Justin Kauflin before. Awesome stuff.

really enjoying New Girl, I love it when I discover a show with several seasons under their belt so I can get my binge on

Funniest moment so far for me:

I think new girls biggest weakness is at times going overboard with the Jess as the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope. Its enjoyable though and has suprising amount of heartfelt moments. Schmidt is a top tier sitcom character.

I'm really enjoying 'Africa', the BBC documentary. Some of the footage is just mind blowing. I can't even imagine how many hours went into some of the shots.

Any recommendations for other nature type shows?

i agree.

"Life" is another fantastic bbc documentary with david attenborough narrating. also look at "Planet Earth"

You misspelled Winston. Schmitt is pretty good though.

after life and planet earth there's also frozen planet

I always found Winston to be the weak link and thought it was a commonly held belief

Winston was pretty slow up front, but in the later seasons he absolutely shines and has been amazing imo.

I think I stopped at S3, and most of my opinion is based on the "old" Winston

This is 100% spot on.

Excellent. TYVM!

Anything with David Attenborough in is GOAT


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