Because season four of Friday Night Lights was broadcast on DirecTV before they began showing it on NBC, I’d already seen occasional comments in Entertainment Weekly last winter praising it: yes, some beloved characters are gone or only appear in a few episodes, but you’ll soon love these new characters, too. I clearly remember a blurb in the TV Watch section about some powerful work by Zach Gilford, whose character, Matt Saracen, lost his father in the war in Iraq. When I finally saw the episode a few weeks ago, called simply “The Son,” I saw for myself why people were buzzing that Gilford should get an Emmy nomination.
A couple weeks ago, the 2010 Primetime Emmy nominations were announced, and unfortunately, Zach Gilford was not nominated for Guest Actor for his performance in “The Son.” However, as I found in this post over at Give Me My Remote, that episode did earn a nomination in the category “Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series.” It was written by my old college and Crucible acquaintance, Rolin Jones. According to IMDB, he was nominated last year for both an Emmy award and a Writers Guild of America award for his work on the show Weeds, as both producer and writer, but it appears this is his first solo Emmy nomination. (He’s been credited as a supervising producer on Friday Night Lights all season. Imagine my surprise when I saw THAT in the opening credits of the season premiere — but I managed not to fall off the treadmill.) I have no idea what his chances are, or even which other shows are nominated in that category, but how cool would it be if he wins?!?!?
No, I’ve never met Kyle Chandler or Connie Britton, but I’m over the moon about their acting nominations as well, because they make me believe that I know them, when they’re playing Coach Eric and Tami Taylor. They anchor this show, week in and week out, and they’ve made the Taylors so very real, with human faults, but a greater amount of human beauty and goodness.
Click here for a recap of “The Son” on ew.com from last winter, and here for a great piece on GMMR after the episode’s NBC airing last month.
Watch NBC’s 2-minute replay of “The Son”:
And after the scene of Matt and the guys talking on the football field, Matt goes to the Taylors’ house for dinner (very late), and his emotions take over:
And if the amazing acting and writing aren’t enough to convince you to watch, then ladies, there’s always Taylor Kitsch as Tim Riggins. 😉 There’s nothing better than Friday Night.
