Weekend Pick
Photo: NBC
One more time, with feeling: It's not about the football. And it's not just another show about cute teenagers, either. So clear your mind of prejudices, and then tune in for "Friday Night Lights" (premieres Friday at 9 p.m. EDT on NBC) and marvel at what you've been missing for the past year: a show about ordinary people, fueled by real emotion and heart. Compared with the other dramas on TV right now, a mix of cop shows, yupster soaps and goofy experimental hybrids, "Friday Night Lights" offers sweet stories about regular, flawed folks struggling to get ahead in a screwed-up world. Will Coach Taylor hate his new gig at the university? How will his wife, Tami, and daughter, Julie, deal with a new baby? Can fallen quarterback Jason find new happiness as a high school assistant coach? This show will make you laugh and cry, but it's authentic and soulful enough that you won't feel all used up and dirty afterward.
Also…
On Friday, the third-season finale of "Doctor Who" airs at 8 p.m. EDT on Sci Fi. On Saturday, "Austin City Limits" makes its season premiere with Norah Jones (9 p.m. EDT on PBS, check local listings). On Sunday, CW's teens-in-Africa drama "Life Is Wild" premieres at 8 p.m. EDT, while on MTV's "America's Most Smartest Model" (premieres at 9 p.m. EDT), models battle to prove they've got brains inside those big, pretty heads of theirs.
On the talk shows -- Friday
Regis and KellyABC, 9 a.m. EDT |
Kyra Sedgwick, Brooks & Dunn, guest co-host Sam Champion |
The ViewABC, 11 a.m. EDT |
Jason Schwartzman, Ty Treadway, Cesar Millan |
Ellen DeGeneresSyndicated, check local listings |
Children from "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" Sharon Osbourne |
Oprah WinfreySyndicated, check local listings |
Elizabeth Gilbert |
Charlie RosePBS, check local listings |
David Kilcullen, John F. Burns |
Larry KingCNN, 9 p.m. EDT |
Kid Rock |
David LettermanCBS, 11:30 p.m. EDT |
Bob Newhart, Angela Kinsey, Iron and Wine |
Jay LenoNBC, 11:35 p.m. EDT |
Cate Blanchett, Tyler Perry, Annie Lennox |
Tavis SmileyPBS, check local listings |
Ruby Dee |
Jimmy KimmelABC, 12:05 a.m. EDT |
Rachel Griffiths, Jack McBrayer, Matchbox Twenty |
Conan O'BrienNBC, 12:35 a.m. EDT |
Jennifer Connolly, Fred Willard, Animal Collective |
Craig FergusonCBS, 12:35 a.m. EDT |
Josh Duhamel, Diana Krall, Radha Mitchell |
Contributors: Megan Doll, Heather Havrilesky, Eryn Loeb, Amy Reiter
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