First word out of press tour is (spoiler, highlight to read) Smash and Street are being written out and the actors will appear in recurring roles. Makes sense, as both characters had pretty much reached the end of their respective arcs. As much as I want to see Smash play college ball, I think it could easily fall into the same problem as the TMU storyline – that the characters are such a great ensemble, they work best when playing up against one another. And Street is a good example of when they try to shoehorn in a character who’s out of the high school “scene” in season two. I don’t think they knew what to do with him.
New season starts in the fall, with the episodes airing on DirectTV’s network first and then on NBC a week later.
Yeah, I’d read that yesterday, and wondered if fans in general would want to know it beforehand. I’ll be watching, whatever the case. Plenty of good stuff to keep me around.
Continuing with that tangent, the show’s in a weird place where they’ve never really established what grade most of the characters are in. The two that are leaving, plus Saracen (mentioned as a sophomore? freshman? in the first season) are really the only ones with a date set to them – I can’t remember if Lyla was a senior this year (especially since each season seems to be following one Panthers season) and I think Julie was a freshman in the first season. But Riggins and Tyra (as well as Landry, although you could assume he’s in Saracen’s grade) never had their grades mentioned, plus both are in enough academic trouble that they could be extended for a little longer than is “necessary.” (Although as a TWOP writer pointed out, Tyra’s redemption is that she’ll probably grow up to be Tami, and the question is will Riggins get his act together long enough to grow up to be Eric. And what is the deal with that sentence structure?)
It must’ve been tough, with only 13 episodes to shoot for - not a lot of time to pack in the story and the football, which everyone seemed to agree was missing this year (victim to the strike). I’m sure Charles and Porter will wind up their stories in a satisfying manner. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Porter wind up on Heroes or something.
Just got done watching the first 2 episodes of the season (thanks oats, and I will break out the kneepads if I see you).
Pretty goddamn good so far. Honestly, not a single complaint. I like the way they are handling the Smash storyline, which gives me great hope for how they write-out Street. This stuff is on-par with Season 1, no doubt about it.
I’m catching up with the show, and the first episode was pretty outstanding. The scene where Peter Pan’s dad talks to Coach sent chills up my spine in a “wow, that guy is evil as fuck” kind of way. The guy knew exactly what to say to appeal to Taylor and get him to consider selling Saracen out. Bringing up Jason Street’s name and everything.
I also like how the show only tells us the backstory of the Taylors in how they relate to other people. I think it was on TWOP that said that redemption for Tyra is possible, because Tami represents a better future for her, and the question about Riggins is does he live long enough to become Coach? Still, I really like how just enough has been revealed about these characters’ stories before they met each other, and enough has been said that we can fill in the gaps. It’s pretty obvious that Coach had a hardcore football father who he had a bad relationship and a career-ending injury early on. The latter’s one reason why I think the storyline with Smash has potential to go places, as does the story with the new QB. Both represent a type of redemption for Taylor. But when it comes to the new QB, at what cost?
More as I continue to watch the season. I have to say I’m really digging the fact that the premiere was 50 minutes. I don’t know if this was just for the first episode, but I worry it will hurt the show when it goes to NBC.
3.7 was another great episode. Don’t really wanna get into too much discussion because I think only a handful of people here are actually watching the show now, with most of you waiting until it comes on NBC in January.
I was leery of how they were gonna handle the Smash & Street exit storylines, but so far they have been very satisfying.