Sunday, July 11, 2010

Friday Night Lights

I don't know how many of you watch the show Friday Night Lights on, yes, Friday night. The show doesn't get good ratings. That may be because the premise is high school football in Texas, but the show features much more than football and delves into the lives of the characters and is one of the more thought provoking shows on network TV.

On last Friday's show, it featured a hot button topic that is often too controvesial for network TV, but one that women can relate to. You can probably find the show online if you wish. Anyway, this high school sophomore got pregnant doing it the first time with a boy she barely knows. She's the mother of a single bartender who had her when she was a teen-ager.

The show then examines whether or not she should get an abortion. I don't want to get into a debate on that subject, but the show points out how difficult this situation is for a teen with no money and not much of a support group. The abortion debate gets so heated that it is sometimes easy to forget how much anguish is involved for a teen facing this crisis.

The same show deals with a football player who needs $4000 to get his crackhead mother into rehab and resorts to the gang he was trying to get away from for the money and gets sucked back in.

Real life sometimes isn't easy and the show points that out while dealing with sensitive issues. Yet it get clobbered in the ratings by shows like American Idol. Go figure.

FD

16 comments:

  1. Abortion would be a very difficult decision for anyone. I don't know if I could ever go through it. I really feel for that poor girl. Granted, it's her responsibility for having had unprotected sex, but any one of us who can say we didn't make a decision as a teen that we later regretted is probably lying. Youth is full of bad decisions and mistakes... it's how we learn. I imagine she has learned from her situation regardless of the decision she makes regarding her pregnancy.

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  2. Yes, I have have my own soapbox about abortion, but this not the place.
    I love this show. I don't get to keep up with it as much as I like though. It really does deal with great issues including family ones. You would think they would move it to another night.
    I just wish kids today really would think of condoms as a way of saving their lives and not just a tool to not get pregnant, ya know.
    Condoms can save you from all kinds of STD's and of course HIV. It blows my mind how many kids are not afraid of this. It blows my mind, no it scares me to know how many kids out there are not using condoms....I would dare a man to think he was going to get my most prized possession and get into it without a condom...he can get out.
    You know some adults are the same way, they would even have sex without a condom on someone they know has an STD, that they don't have. Does that show how many desperate men there is out there or are they just plain stupid??????!!!!!

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  3. turiya: Yes, teens make a lot of mistakes that they regret later in life.

    PV: I can understand teens doing reckless things. That is what being a teen is all about. But for an adult woman not to demand a man use a condom is almost hard to believe. And you used the words desperate and stupid to describe men who don't use one. Unfortunately, those words describe a lot of men when it comes to sex, which is why I think the woman has to demand the condoms. After all, they can not only get a STD, they can get pregnant. And I hope you go back to watching the show. This season has been really good since the coach switched to a new school. And the relationship between the coach and his wife is so poignant as it shows a typical couple struggling with their issues. Another show I recommend is Rescue Me about New York firemen post 9/11.

    FD

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  4. Abortion hmmm very sticky topic i might add! everybody has got opinions on it, but scared they'll be judged if they voice them.
    i've got very confused opinions about this. it goes against everything that i am to destroy life, but if they bring in life to that tiny being only for him/her to endure sufferinng, then what? personally i feel that if your not ready for the risk of getting pregnant you have no business having unprotected sex.

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  5. Hey FD. I have to say I'm right there with you on the pointless rubbish on TV that gets the best ratings, in place of meaningful debate or education.

    I think we all have a duty to discuss these issues and make it a more visible part of life - it might help our young people immeasurably.

    *fans self and tries not to rant about the evils of American Idol* ;)

    Jx

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  6. I started watching Rescue Me when it first came out but now I have satellite and it is not a channel I get. We have great tastes in TV...lol

    Oh how soon I forgot the recklessness of being a teen, it has been a year or two ya know???!!!!

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  7. I don't know that only teens are reckless. I have to make a visit to the pharmacy tomorrow for a morning after pill....even at my advanced age passion can become overwhelming.

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  8. i remember 413 Hope Street was similar in that it dealt with actual life issues. Unfortunately, such shows generally get cut for less wholesome crap.

    granted, i like a dose of unwholesomeness, but i'd rather have the bulk of my 'viewing pleasure' be meatier. we just got satellite so I get to watch the History Channel to my heart's content now. ;)

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  9. Hi FD,

    Sorry this is off topic, but I havent "seen" you over on my patch for a while and I do now wonder if I gave you the link? Here it is again if I did not and my apologies.

    http://www.aslavessimpletwistoffate.blogspot.com

    rosie
    x

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  10. Hi FD,
    I also don't wanna go through the "right or wrong" debate because it would pretty much pointless but I think what hurts the most in those cases, as well as in most of things in life, is lack of support. Not the conditioned support (the "if you do what I think is right, I'll be right behind you..."), but the "blind" support (the "I love you and I've got your back no matter what you decide to do" kind of).
    It's probably tough enough to see yourself pregnant without desiring to be, but have to deal with that facing friends and family giving you judgmental looks is probably much worse.
    Thati

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  11. Alujna: Yes, unprotected sex isn't a good idea if you're not ready to risk an unwanted pregnancy. But sometimes,as Doll pointed out, passion can get the best of us.

    J: Nobody wrote in to stick up for American Idol. LOL.

    PV: Rescue Me is on FX. Surprising it is not on your satellite because it is so popular. And, hey, we can be reckless at any age. LOL.

    Doll: Yes, passion can be overwhelming.

    Cerebral: Yes, the History Channel can be fascinating.

    Rosie: Thanks for the reminder. I will start visiting again.

    Thati: Yes, why are so many people so judgmental?

    FD

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  12. Today's television is for the most part, rubbish. The reality TV shows are a poor reflection of our society to say the least. I've enjoyed Friday Night Lights and particularly liked the book. It was a fascinating insight into real life in a Texas town and how sports/football played such a huge role in everyone's lives, particularly as that part of the country saw its economy go from boom to bust. So much programming today is incredibly shallow.

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  13. Suzanne: Newton Minnow, I think was his name, called TV a vast wasteland decades ago and not much has changed over the years.

    FD

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  14. Having been a pregnant teen at 17, I chose to keep the baby--until my HS sweetheart's mom called and said she had 10 guys lined up that would testify they took me to bed in the month he was home on leave from the Army. Small town, they had been there 30 years, we'd been there four--my parents knew where the chips would fall. It nearly killed my dad. But I made the decision to abort. For years, I felt guilty but worked through it. I have my own stance on the subject. Everyone makes a mistake, period. A friend of mine's wife just had to abort because the baby had no liver, no bladder and the legs were fused together. She was harangued to no end by protesters outside the clinic. It was sickening.

    But what gets me are people tearing down teens like Bristol Palin, who made a mistake, chose to live with it and now lecture teens on how that mistake has changed the entire course of their life and how, even though she loves her son, she wouldn't do it again. She's not a hypocrite, she's like our parents--trying to teach from what she's learned.

    ANYWAY, reality TV sucks and the only show I watch is Hell's Kitchen (because I love watching Ramsey lose it). People need to turn off the TV and look outside their homes for reality. It sucks, but it won't change by turning a blind eye to it and pretending that yes! You too, can be Dancing With the Stars or be the next big hit!

    Friday Night Lights rocks...Both movie and series. It's a shame more people don't realize that.

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  15. I've never watched the show but only hear good things about it. Abortion....I don't dare judge anyone on any decision they make unless I have been in their shoes.

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  16. Walking Beauty: Thanks for sharing your story about your abortion at 17. Sorry you felt guilty but good to hear you worked your way through it. And sorry to hear about the woman being harassed. And, yes, Friday Night Lights does rock.

    Bella: Can't agree more that you shouldn't judge people unless you have been in their shoes.

    FD

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