'Friday Night Lights' has new hope for survival

NEW YORK — "Friday Night Lights" is one of those shows, one hears, that you gotta see. Really, you just don't know what you're missing.

Like "Arrested Development," "30 Rock" and "The Wire" were, "Friday Night Lights" has been thoroughly stamped with that label of "critically adored, low-rated."

When executive producer and head writer Jason Katims tells people what he does for a living, people usually say: "Oh yeah. I hear that's a great show."

"I get that response all the time," he says. "There are people that have heard it's a great show but don't watch."

But there is hope for "Friday Night Lights" and other excellent but low-rated programs. Shows with passionate, niche audiences are proving to be more valuable than they once were.

The third season of "Friday Night Lights" premieres Friday on NBC after the network struck an unusual partnership with DirecTV that has kept the show alive. The satellite service aired the full season ahead of the broadcast premiere for its 17 million subscribers.

"If this model works for our show, then it could work for other shows," said Katims. "That would be a great thing to be a part of."

"Friday Night Lights" is originally based on the 1990 book by H.G. Bissinger and focuses on a high school football team in Dillon, Texas. It's not your typical hour-long drama, though.

There are no sets; it's shot throughout a real Texas town with three cameras always rolling. Actors and cameramen typically aren't under strict orders, giving the show a realistic feel.

"Friday Night Lights" is ultimately about community — a community that lives through football, centered on the nucleus of the team coach (Kyle Chandler) and his wife (Connie Britton). The fluid approach allows the show to follow its many characters into their homes, into their lives.

It was first a 2004 movie, directed by Peter Berg, who then adapted it for the tube. It was first scheduled not on its namesake day, but Wednesday — and opposite "American Idol." For its second season, it was switched to Friday night, but ratings only improved to 6.2 million viewers after 5.9 million the previous season.

After the writers strike abruptly ended the second season, the fate of "FNL" hung in the balance. Fans mobilized and mailed plastic footballs to NBC co-chairman Ben Silverman.