Septemberbaby

Now I'm really confused. I thought the second half of the 3rd season was about the threat of reopening East Dillon. Wasn't there town meetings about this? And in the last episode it was reopened and Eric was "banished' from West Dillon to East.
Off to do some research.

ETA: Okay... according to the Bible that is Wikipedia .. East Dillon was indeed closed for years and was reopened.
I think this is true because I remember a lot us on this forum were wondering where these kids went to school BEFORE ED was reopened.

I will have to do some further snooping.

SexualPudding

You're not supposed to think about things like that. It's just supposed to make sense on the surface. Just like the new wide receiver (Hastings) never playing football in his life yet learning enough on the bus ride over to the game to not only suit up, but play in the game and run routes well enough to be in a position to catch what was the eventual game winning TD.

Patman

Will Julie be around this season, visiting on the weekends while being in college? She was still in the main credits.

DJariya

Yes, Aimee Teegarden is still a full series regular.

DJariya

Just finished watching this. Good premiere overall.

I enjoyed Landry's sendoff. What better way for him to leave Dillon than spend his final night at the strip club.

I liked Landry, but hated his shitty band. And his character really only works with Matt around.

The show has gone through some drastic cast changes since it went to Directv, but I think they have done a fine job developing the new characters, especially Vince and Jess. I did want to punch Jess' punk ass little brother. Where the hell was Eugene from The Practice? I thought I heard them say he left town for some job?

The football sequences were entertaining. Liked how the announcer butchered Hastings Ruckle's name.

Red Dog

Now that's more like it. Really good episode. Good stuff with Taylors (as a family and individually), some Buddy thrown in, and football, football, and more football.

Now all they have to do is get rid of the Becky character, who adds nothing to the story, and they'll be well on their way to a strong final season.

Patman

It sounded like he now has 3 restaurants, and was busy traveling to the other restaurants to get them up and running.

JuryDuty

Good episode. The thing that amazes me about this show is how it's one of the few shows I watch where I truly loose track of time. Feels like I could just watch hours on end, and each episode comes to a close before I'm ready.

BrewCrew

Bump since it aired on Friday. I watched all of the other seasons so I'll watch this season but I don't care for many of the current characters like I did for Riggins, Landry, Saracen, Smash, Street, etc. At least it looks like the whole Taylor family will be around the entire season.

Septemberbaby

The season definitely gets better as it goes along. Stick with it, you will not be disappointed.

Michael Corvin

It's amazing what the writers of this show can pack into an episode with such a large cast. At the 30 minute mark I felt the hour was up they had crammed so much stuff in there. They handle it far better than most shows.

boogieman03

By the end of this season, I really had grown to like the "new class". Keep watching. It's a good season, even if it starts out a little slow.

Michael Corvin

I don't have a problem with any of the new guys. Way back in season one we weren't instantly fans of, what are now, our old faves. They just need some time to grow.

Gizmo

Boring so far...

mphtrilogy

forgot to tivo it, but happy to have found ep one on demand, slow start, but looking forward to the final season!!

creekdipper

It's sad to see FNL continually undermine its greatest strength...the realistic underpinning of interactions within a small-town community (the beautiful seen between Landry & Grandma comes to mind)...by committing such glaring blunders that pole-vault over the shark.

Exhibit A:

(1) "East" Dillon apparently didn't exist in the minds of the writers until they needed a convenient spot of conflict for Coach Taylor (and, later, Tammy). Anybody ever hear of "East Dillon" in previous years? I know of some towns that have different high schools designated by "Central", "East", etc., but I can't imagine that the same city/town would have an "official" high school (Dillon Panthers) and a "bastard" high school (East Dillon Lions). Also, it's believable that one school would have better facilities through an active booster club (although, a Jumbotron? Seriously?), but it appears that the town's school board gives "Dillon" 80% of its school budget and hands out 'East' Dillon whatever's left over. I wouldn't be surprised to see the student sitting on crates & writing on the backs of coal shovels.

(2) No explanation for Tammy's position being created at East Dillon. Did they fire the previous guidance counselor? Did they just create an additional position at E.D. in order to get rid of Tammy as principal? From the looks of things, E.D. didn't even have a guidance counselor before Tammy arrived...or, at least, none who ever met with kids or parents.

(3) East Dillon had won a state championship (or more) in the past. Have things gotten so 'thuggish' that a school with such a tradition would just fold up its program? What has changed to create those conditions? Anybody know of any similar situations in real life (you'd think that athletics would be one of the last things to go in any community...long after academic programs had been abandoned, the sports programs would still be running).

(4) The school board won't fund assistant coaches at E.D. (when the "real" Dillon has multiple coaches)? Seriously? Can anybody say "lawsuit"?

(5) A year has passed and the Dillon field still looks like a sandlot. Can't Eric afford some grass seed? I'm sure Luke's parents would donate a few hay bales to cover the field while the grass grew in the off-season. And I believe the coaches could hang a little sheet rock in the coaching "office".

We get it...East Dillon doesn't have the resources of the other school. You don't have to make it look like Katrina just hit the facilities to drive home the point. It's enough to note the apathy of the community...that would be enough of a challenge for Taylor to face.

And...the biggest joke of all....

(6) New guy (who hates football) gets on the bus on the way to the game, suits up, and makes the play of the game. Never mind that he doesn't know the playbook, doesn't even know how to line up, etc. Coach T just runs the play by him & the guy runs his route perfectly. Just like real life, right? (By the way, could the basketball "star" have looked any more awkward when trying to dribble or shoot free throws?). And can Texas teams just pick up a guy on the way to the game & let him play? In my coaching experience, eligibility rosters have to be submitted prior to the season. You can't just add players willy-nilly at game time. At the least, it should have taken a week or so before he would have received approval. And how come Taylor didn't know about this kid if he's so high on the basketball coach's list? Is the guy an incoming freshman? If not, doesn't Taylor ever attend E.D. basketball games?


Despite the cliched, entirely predictable ending, it would have been much more realistic to have the dude line up wrong & get a delay of game penalty at first before saving the day. Also, instead of Taylor giving him a play, he should have just told him to run to the corner of the end zone (and remind him to get beyond the pylon and to stay in bounds) and tell the QB to just heave it into the end zone & hope to win a jumping contest. They could even have show a POV shot with NewGuy keeping on checking the markers while he ran & then turning around to find the ball in the air, etc. Much more dramatic...and realistic.
Also, it was just creepy to watch the pimping going on to land NewGuy. The guy can jump...suit him up. Let's throw a party to get him on the team, and send our gf's to slobber over him. After all, he's got all-star written all over him...never mind that he shows an aversion to "aggression" on the field & getting hit (no crossing patterns for me!), has never demonstrated an ability to actually CATCH a football (or run routes), has no clue what the offense is, etc. I'm sure that all of the coaches in America are beating a path to the track team to sign up the high jumpers because...after all...they can JUMP!!!

For every standout athlete who crosses over from one sport to another to star...and it DOES happen...there are many flops who never pan out. At any rate, even the biggest success had to practice with the team & learn something about football. It's not a one-on-one game that you learn on the playground.


My gripe is that the writers are either (a) ignorant of how things really work; (b) lazy; (c) contemptuous of the audience; or (d) perversely making these silly mistakes to entertain the audience members who spot the glaring flaws. I don't see any of these as being good reasons for the shark-jumping going on...especially when it would be so easy to correct them.

Why couldn't the new hero have been a transfer student "discovered" by Tammy (who, in her job, would naturally go over his previous records). She could have found out that he was a star football player at his previous school. Maybe he was in some kind of trouble from his past football relationships (violence? drugs? injured an opponent & feels guilty?) and has to be wooed back to play. I was hoping that he'd turn down the team & not get on the bus...but would later change his mind & come out for practice. This was just all too easy.

Can't go without mentioning the "cobbler" scene. Landry has been a part of Taylor's teams for years, made the winning kick to beat the team that fired him, is one of Julie's best friends, etc. Yet Taylor...who puts up with Julie's constant backtalk, whining, and disobedience...freaks out because she wants to go see Landry's band on HIS LAST NIGHT IN DILLON! Over some freakin' cobbler. Never thought I'd be taking Julie's side in any argument with her parents, but that was just crazy. Surely the writers could have come up with a better source of conflict than....MOM"S COBBLER!!

Michael Corvin

I'm willing to overlook most all of that as nitpicky. However I do agree about the b-ball star saving the game after suiting up for the first time.

I also didn't like the cobbler scene. Seemed silly to me as well.

movielib

Since the DVD was released before NBC started the season, I got that and my wife and I have watched nine episodes in three nights, including five last night.

I don't care about all the nitpicks, just glad there's nothing like Landry killing the rapist.

TimeandTide

These -- and the terrible form on that guy's free throws and Landry's awful band -- bugged me the most as well.