It’s official, Friday Night Lights has been renewed by NBC and will air on Friday nights (how apt!) at 10 PM. I am not sure where they’ll go after having Dillon win the championship, but it will be interesting to see how it plays out. I remember the first few minutes of Major League II and I expect to see something similar here: perhaps Saracen gets a big head and leaves Landry in the dust or Riggins fell off the wagon in postseason celebration.

More importantly, there will be new characters, particularly players, who will play an interesting part. I always say the worst part about high school and college sports is that the names always change, but in this case, that means fresh blood and fresh plotlines.

Thanks to my good buddy TiVo, I don’t have to watch this show in the Friday Night Death Slot.

Image from Give Me My Remote

Friday Night Lights is the best show on television. In last night’s season finale, the Dillon Panthers won the state championship, with Smash, Riggins, and Saracen all involved in the game-winning hook-and-ladder. To be honest, this episode featured more football than any of the previous episodes. But don’t be fooled: plenty happened besides the game.

Mrs. Taylor is pregnant. I am pretty sure Coach Taylor is going to stay in Dillon and she’ll probably go into labor during a game next year. The state championship game was probably in December (even though everyone was in short sleeves), so she’s due in September. During a game. I am sure of it.

Landry and Tyra never kissed. I hope they remain a focal point next season. He’s the guy we can all relate to, and it’s great that he’s likely to get the girl, sooner or later. It was fun to see them sitting in the upper deck, but I really wonder how the quarterback’s best friend couldn’t get seats in the lower bowl. Doesn’t Saracen have any pull?

It’s great to see Jason Street back with the team. And I guess it’s realistic that injured guys do come help with the team. But is he back in school? Is he going to get his GED? Are they going to pay him to coach next year? Will we see more of Herc? He was my favorite minor character.

Believe it or not, this show hasn’t been picked up for next year yet. It’s not to late go to FightForLights.com and be heard.

There are a lot of great television shows currently in their infancy. Will any of these shows last and have a big finale? Here’s my estimation of which shows will last the longest:

1. Friday Night Lights
Players come and go. Even coaches come and go. But Texas high school football… not so much.

2. How I Met Your Mother
This is a great show, and the public seems to be catching on. I want to see the episode where he really meets their mother.

3. Knights of Prosperity
It’s Mick Jagger for now, but I’m guessing the Knights move on to other victims, some perhaps successfully.

4. Psych
Helped by the fact that it’s on USA Network, the show probably won’t be pulled. But James Roday and Dule Hill are perfect together.

5. Jericho
Sure, there’s only so much that can happen with an apocalypse plot, but this show is intelligent and interesting.

I just realized that According To Jim and Knights of Prosperity are switching times on ABC this Wednesday. Knights will be at 8:30, followed by Jim at 9:00. That means that Knights will overlap with Friday Night Lights, showing on NBC from 8:00 to 9:00. If you’re like me and can only TiVo one channel at a time, that could be trouble.

CBS’s Jericho returns soon to Wednesday nights, and boy is that going to be trouble. You see, Friday Night Lights and The Knights of Prosperity, collectively Lights and Knights, also have Wednesday time slots. Lately, I’ve been able to watch Lights and Knights, but According To Jim, another Wednesday show, has been lost in the shuffle a bit. Tonight, I happened to be home and was able to watch, and I have to say, According To Jim is still very funny. Tonight’s episode featured Dana and Cheryl caught on a Girls Gone Wild type video. As you can imagine, hilarity ensued. My TiVo can only tape one show at a time, so when must-watch Jericho comes back, the could be some issues.

I can’t imagine giving up any of these shows. Meanwhile, Tuesday sits barren, except for Dirt, which gets better every episode. It gets worse: Til Death is moving to Wednesdays, further clouding the picture. Not in the discussion is Lost which has an exclusive timeslot, but I haven’t watched since the first episode of the first season.

New Years is over and it’s time to get back into the swing of prime time television. Tonight’s selection featured three shows, one taped last night.

I watched last night’s premiere of Dirt starring Courteney Cox. She plays the editor of a gossip magazine that is looking for, well, dirt. Most of the show was enjoyable, although the schizophrenic episodes of Cox’s photographer were a little frustrating to follow. Mrs. Arquette herself looked quite good (as expected) and her dramatic performance was great. A lot of stuff happened in this episode, but it was easy enough to follow. I will definitely watch the next few episodes, and despite low publicity, this show has potential.

After that it was the midseason premiere of Friday Night Lights. This was one of the best shows last fall, and it picked up right where it left off. Most of the characters who had started to lose my interest definitely gained some back, including Coach Taylor, Matt Saracen, and Tim Riggins. The plot lines are still quite reasonable, and also still interesting. And we still haven’t seen a whole lot of football. The most underrated character on the show is Herc, played by Kevin Rankin. As Street’s paralyzed hospital-mate, Herc does a great job of keeping the former quarterback grounded as he goes through some trying times.

The highlight of the night turned out to be the premeire of Knights of Prosperity. You’ve seen the promos – a bunch of lowlifes who set out to rob Mick Jagger. Jagger played himself pretty well, and Donal Logue really steals the show. You may remember Logue from the movie The Tao of Steve, in which he was superb, and so far, he has been about the same in Knights. He was funny and very charismatic in the first episode. More importantly, the plot was interesting and engaging. They can definitely take this show in several different directions and find some longevity. We know for sure that it will be funny.

This Spring, Wednesday will feature the returns of Jericho and According to Jim, so it remains to be seen how the scheduling will play out. But so far, the third night of the work week is off to a roaring start.