Same team, new field

If you're a DirecTV subscriber, the Dillon Panthers kick off their football season on Wednesday. If not, you've got to wait until February to see the third season of "Friday Night Lights."

Either way, this is a good thing for fans of the show. Because if it weren't for NBC's deal with DirecTV, there would be no third season of "Friday Night Lights."

Hailed by critics (including yours truly) as one of TV's best shows, "FNL" has never been a hit. And, after last year's strike-shortened season, chances of NBC renewing the show didn't look good.

But DirecTV's 101 Network stepped in to share the show and its costs, making another season possible.

"We're extremely proud to be working with NBC on what we consider to be the best show on television," said Eric Shanks, DirecTV's executive vice president of entertainment. "I'm a huge fan of the show and have been since the beginning. And when the opportunity came up, we jumped right on it."

DirecTV isn't doing this out of the goodness of its heart, of course. The satellite TV company is hoping to attract new customers and keep old ones by offering exclusive content "and really rewarding our loyalest customers with something they just can't get on cable," Shanks said.

When "FNL" premieres on Wednesday at 7 and 10 p.m. on the 101 Network, it will be the same show fans loved on NBC. It will not, however, pick up where the show ended last season — a writers' strike-shorted 15 episodes instead of the 22 that were planned. The narrative resumes at the start of a new football season, although we do learn what happened last year.

Let's just say the Panthers did not defend their state championship.

And there have been some off-season developments. Coach Taylor (Kyle Chandler) has a young quarterback challenging Matt (Zach Gilford), and the newcomer has a pushy father. Tami Taylor (Connie Britton) is the new high-school principal. Tyra (Adrienne Palicki) is determined to get into college — and she's running for student-body president. And Lyla (Minka Kelly) and Tim (Taylor Kitsch) are a couple.

Smash (Gaius Charles) and Jason (Scott Porter) — who both graduated — will be back, but only for four-episode arcs to wrap up their story lines.

The biggest difference between the 101 Network version and the NBC version is that the one on DirecTV has fewer time constraints. Wednesday's episode is about 8 minutes longer than the one that will air on NBC in February.

And this season will be 13 episodes long, not 22. But we're guaranteed those 13 episodes will be produced and aired, giving the season a beginning, middle and end. Which is fantastic for the show's fans.

Even if you have to wait until February for the season to begin.

---

E-mail: pierce@desnews.com