Friday Night Lights -- "It Ain't Easy Being J.D. McCoy" -- 11/5/08

[DJariya]

The last couple of airings have been slightly under 4M viewers.

[creekdipper]

Originally Posted by Bluelitespecial

Really loved the Matt and Julie stuff from last night, this was the first time in along time I enjoyed Street's story, and can't imagine any high school football coach caring if one of his players got drunk the night before. JD looked stupid apologizing to coach during church.

What teenager doesn't look stupid/embarrassed when apologizing to an adult? Actually, I thought it was perfectly fine for Joe McCoy getting his son to "man up" and take responsibility for an incident that could prove to be very embarrassing to the program when it hits YouTube. Also, the dad might have wanted to do a preemptive strike before the coach called the kid into his office.

BTW...it seemed odd that the coach didn't bust out laughing when "The Nekkid Gun" went scurrying away from his office. As far as hazing goes, that seems to be pretty harmless & something that the coach not only tolerates but thinks is a good bonding experience for the team. It's obviously a time-honored ritual at Dillon. Eric looked pretty grim...maybe he was dreading J.D.'s father finding out.

While I thought the previous episode was much better than FNL has been lately, with almost every subplot clicking, this episode slipped somewhat back toward mediocrity.

Likes: Grandma's rant, Saracen & Julie, Street, the nail gun incident.

Dislikes: Lyla (wasted except for eye candy...have the writers given up on her character?), Riggins Bros. (same ole), Tyra & the Cowboy (soooo tired of this soap opera with Tyra & her lovers).

IMHO, the writers continue to take the audience for granted. For instance, much has been made on this board about Coach T's caring about his players, his ethical standards, his compassion, etc. Yet he doesn't seem to care at all whether his players even attend class. How does that square with his supposed integrity? Or do the writers think we are too dumb to notice?

How is it that Riggins can skip school for a few days to work on the house & still be able to practice & suit up for Friday's game? Having played & coached in public schools, I know that we had rules about school attendance in regards to practice & playing, particularly on game days.

You can't say that Coach Taylor doesn't know that Riggins is cutting class. I suppose most high schools still use the old system whereby they send around an absentee list so that teachers will know who is supposed to be in class. Also, who has more access to attendance (and GPA's) than the guidance counselor & principal? Both jobs were/are formerly or currently held by Tammy. Besides, there seems to be about 9 coaches on the staff...surely one of the assistants would be assigned the job of checking up on the player. And what coach wouldn't be checking on Riggins given his past history of drunkenness & skipping school?

That leads to another question: Was the "Riggins Tour" an attempt on his part to undermine the new QB1? Or is this the only way Riggins knows how to have a good time (I thought he was supposed to have grown up some over the past two seasons)? Is this what Coach Taylor intended...take a 14-year-old 9th-grader to a party & get him smashed? Great way for Coach T to foster good relations with an already pushy parent.

"Can't imagine any high school football coach caring if one of their players get drunk the night before?" Are you kidding? Besides the ethical standards of not wanting his UNDERAGE players to become involved in drinking (and perhaps driving...or maybe you aren't aware of the statistics for highway fatalities for drunken teens...as I'm sure most of the coaches are since they probably are also the driver's ed or Health & Wellness teachers at the school), I sincerely doubt that the coach wants to see his players suspended for being busted. The idea that Coach Taylor...who not only has a state championship & a college job on his resume (how many h.s. coaches can you name who have both of those?) but also has the daggone PRINCIPAL as his wife...doesn't have any control over these events since "the boosters" run the program is just ludicrous. He ought to have more leverage than 99% of high school coaches. Any why wouldn't Tammy be pressuring him to make sure his players excel in the classroom as well as on the field, since 99% of them will end their playing careers at Dillon High?



I'm also surprised by the many comments about J.D.'s dad. Sure, he's overbearing (although I'm sure many of the parents come into the locker room after games...think Buddy Garrity, who only had a cheerleader daughter, who is still a constant presence around the program) & too controlling, especially when it comes to J.D.'s social life. However, one could also say that he's trying to keep his son away from bad influences such as Riggins. Despite obvious popular opinion, not every kid has sex with every slut in town & gets smashed at parties, and not every parent winks at such activities as 'part of growing up'. You can see the results of such behavior in the lives of the FNL characters (the drunkenness, unintended pregnancies, fights, betrayal of best friends, hooking up with 30-something men & women, etc.). Heaven forbid that a parent might want to keep their 14-year-old away from that! Bad, bad Joe McCoy!

I still think FNL has excellent elements & could be a great show. I understand that any show needs conflict (the Saracen storyline has been great throughout...caring for Grandma, dad in Iraq, absentee mom suddenly appearing...superb writing), and they obviously feel that they need Riggins as the token Bad Boy, but some of the actions of the characters either strain credibility or undermine their other depictions of the character. Sure, Coach T isn't perfect (when he loses his patience with Julie, it's priceless...and very realistic/understandable), but I think it really makes his character look bad...and completely UNETHICAL... when he allows the Rally Girl/cutting class/drunken party stuff to go on & he looks the other way. Of all the people in Dillon, HE is the one who has the most power to control these things, since he holds the ultimate weapon...loss of PT.

I'll keep watching & hoping that next week will be more like the previous show (interesting to see what Landry's reaction to his bass player's revelation will be).

[Michael Corvin]

Damn this show just keeps getting better. The only real clunker storyline is Tyra's constant issues with bad boys.

I loved Matt & Julie hooking up and actually liked them coming home at the crack of dawn. I was hoping for a Coach T & Matt showdown. Sure Julie will get in trouble but what's he going to do to Saracen, bench him?

J.D. seems like an odd one. The way the actor is playing him with his overbearing dad makes him seem like a kid that's going to break. If this was any other show, I'd think suicide is in the cards for him, but that just doesn't seem like a FNL thing.

Originally Posted by Septemberbaby

I predict that Mr and Mrs Coach will buy the Garrity house.

I hadn't thought of that. Interesting. Especially given the paint in his hair at the dance.

Originally Posted by magiccmom

Shortest hour on tv. And the fact that this cast gets overlooked for the Emmys is disgraceful!

I haven't kept up with the Emmy's in years, but if anyone from this show deserves a supporting nom, it's Saracen's grandma. She just makes you forget you are watching a TV show.

[Mittman]

I call BS on one thing. JD's dad is supposed to be a beer distributor, yet he talks about beer like it's the devil. I understand he is concerned about his son's drinking, but still it seems a little out of character.

[creekdipper]

Originally Posted by Michael Corvin

J.D. seems like an odd one. The way the actor is playing him with his overbearing dad makes him seem like a kid that's going to break. If this was any other show, I'd think suicide is in the cards for him, but that just doesn't seem like a FNL thing.

I haven't kept up with the Emmy's in years, but if anyone from this show deserves a supporting nom, it's Saracen's grandma. She just makes you forget you are watching a TV show.

for Granny. You are absolutely on the mark.

Sadly, I think the writers are setting up a scenario for J.D. to crack under dad's pressure in order to justify the return of Matt to rescue the team. A more realistic scenario would have a talented underclassman/transfer replacing Saracen & having Matt either have to suck it up & support the team (maybe the other kid could get hurt, just not as bad as Street) or Saracen could work hard & prove that his experience trumps raw but untested talent.

I agree that it seems unlikely that J.D. would have supplanted Matt (since J.D. has three more years & Matt has established himself as the leader...I'm surprised that there isn't more loyalty from the team shown for Matt & resentment toward the newcomer). I think of Tim Tebow's situation at Florida during his freshman year...Urban Meyer started senior Chris Leak, who played most of the time but brought in Tebow on short yardage & goal-line situations. Of course, they won a NC that year, and Tebow won the Heisman the next.

I believe the Panthers could still win with Matt & J.D. sharing playing time, rewarding Saracen for his loyalty & efforts while giving J.D. time to mature. It's not like Saracen was ruining the team or the team was tanking with him at the helm (haven't they only lost one game at this point?) It seems that Coach T could have handled this better even if he had to take some heat from his assistants, the boosters, & Joe McCoy.

[Michael Corvin]

Originally Posted by creekdipper

I think of Tim Tebow's situation at Florida during his freshman year...Urban Meyer started senior Chris Leak, who played most of the time but brought in Tebow on short yardage & goal-line situations. Of course, they won a NC that year, and Tebow won the Heisman the next.

I believe the Panthers could still win with Matt & J.D. sharing playing time,

I have to disagree. What works in college won't necessarily work in HS. The kids are too immature for a situation like that which is why Saracen's response to being benched seems so natural. It also works because Matt isn't someone who was born and bred to play football like JD.

[Goat3001]

I'm liking this season so far. Mostly because of they are sticking to football unlike last season.

I could do without the Tyra love situation. Same goes for Landry's situation. They're watchable storylines but I kind of wish that they would get rid of any storylines that don't effect the football aspect of the show. I'm 50/50 on the Street storyline too.

The JD stuff is great. I'm very interested to see where they'll go from here with his character. As much as I enjoy the show it is a bit cliche and predictable. So I wouldn't be surprised if JD's recent backtrack leads to more mistakes and eventually comes up on the field where he just doesn't perform well. Leading Matt to become the hero and save the season. All while nailing the coaches daughter.

What I don't understand is why they would bench Saracen anyway. Coach Taylor's whole schtick is that he ignores the pressure he gets from the outside like from guys like Buddy Garitty. So we can assume that it was his call to bench Saracen. Who on earth benches a QB after a 3-1 start? With the only loss not being his fault. And in his own words they lost to a team that not even Jason Street could beat. I understand JD is better but you just don't bench a player when the team is winning. It would have been more realistic if Saracen came in and was having trouble running the offense without having Smash play behind him. Then the benching would have been more realistic. But I guess they needed to figure out a way to keep the team on a path to States all while keeping this storyline going.

[Double_Oh_7]

Originally Posted by Michael Corvin

I loved Matt & Julie hooking up and actually liked them coming home at the crack of dawn. I was hoping for a Coach T & Matt showdown. Sure Julie will get in trouble but what's he going to do to Saracen, bench him?

Still can't believe Coach and Mrs. Coach didn't notice her missing all night long. They go apeshit over a little tattoo, but not one word about her being out all night?

[Bluelitespecial]

Originally Posted by Double_Oh_7

Still can't believe Coach and Mrs. Coach didn't notice her missing all night long. They go apeshit over a little tattoo, but not one word about her being out all night?

Don't forget they stayed up all night when Julie and Matt flirted with having sex in the first season, waiting for her to come home, seems kind of strange they didn't know about it this time.