Friday Night Lights is an American sports drama television series adapted by Peter Berg, Brian Grazer and David Nevins from a book and film of the same name. The series details events surrounding a high school football team from a fictional town called Dillon: a small, close-knit community in rural Texas. Particular focus is given to team coach Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler) and his family. The show uses this small town backdrop to address many issues facing contemporary American culture, including school funding, racism, drugs, abortion, and lack of economic opportunities.
Produced by NBCUniversal, Friday Night Lights premiered on October 3, 2006, airing for two seasons on the National Broadcasting Company (NBC). Although the show had garnered critical acclaim and passionate fans, the series suffered low ratings and was in danger of cancellation after the second season. To save the series, NBC struck a deal with DirecTV to co-produce three more seasons of the show with each subsequent season premiering on DirecTV's 101 Network after which NBC rebroadcast the series a few months later. The series ended its run on The 101 Network after five seasons on February 9, 2011.