There’s a Tear in My Beer

Actually, I don’t have a beer, but The Boy has a sty on his eye. I have been walking around for days singing, “There’s a sty on my eye, and I cannot tell you why . . .” and then reverting back to the proper song lyrics, “You are on my lonesome mind.” Over and over and over . . .

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So Thursday night I talked to the aunt for whom I had made the Arthritis Scarf. She had a doctor’s appointment here in the city Friday afternoon, and wanted to have dinner that evening. I said that would be great, and then bailed on a party I really didn’t feel like going to anyway . . . and then Friday evening my aunt bailed on me. Was I left feeling lonely and dejected? Did I go to the party after all? Hell no. I shipped The Boy off to his dad’s and then settled in for an evening of staying up too late watching Friday Night Lights on Hulu. I’m halfway through the first season, and I truly can’t recommend it enough.

In fact, I can’t remember the last time I watched a program featuring so many well developed characters with such complexity and heart. Buffy and my beloved Veronica Mars are the only two that come to mind. But FNL is different from those shows, because there’s not a vampire or a slayer or a wunderkind detective in sight; it’s about regular people. The remarkable thing, though, is that these characters aren’t just transplants from 90210 who’ve been turned into “regular people” based on costume changes and the fact that they drive crappy old pick-up trucks: They’re are fully realized people, with thoughts and ideas and fears and flaws and goodness and meanness and kindness and stupidity. And even senses of humor.

They go to school and work and shop for groceries and go to church and take casseroles to the neighbors. They talk and they don’t talk. They fight and cry and laugh. They do things they know are wrong without understanding why they do them anyway. And there isn’t a wise-ass, precocious child or crackling, snappy dialogue anywhere. It’s certainly well-written dialogue—don’t get me wrong—but it’s not overwritten. You never get caught up in the actor’s clever lines because they aren’t speaking as writers, if that makes any sense.

It’s just good TV. Please, if you have a fast internet connection and a spare 45 minutes, go to Hulu and watch the pilot. I love this show and its characters, and I’m dying to have someone to share it with.