An even keel for ‘Friday Night Lights’

updated 12:16 p.m. ET Oct. 5, 2006

NEW YORK - Panther head coach Eric Taylor is visiting his star quarterback, Jason Street, who is hospitalized with a crippling injury received during the season's first game.

Coach Taylor looks upon this fine young man and exemplary athlete, maybe paralyzed forever. They exchange a few brave pleasantries. Then heavily fall silent.

"Damn, son," Taylor manages to say, his second word a scarce whisper.

It's a scene from the next episode of "Friday Night Lights," NBC's new family drama about a football-crazy town that (airing at 8 p.m. ET Tuesday) has won critics' raves for its heart and authenticity.

One reason why? The actors are immersed in the truth of what they're bringing to life.

For instance, Kyle Chandler, who stars as Coach Taylor, wasn't parroting "damn, son," from a page of his script.

"It came from somewhere else," he says, remembering the sight of his young co-star, Scott Porter, impounded in that bed in traction. "It was a real moment. I could feel it."

Chandler, whose earnest, all-American authority made him the perfect guy to be entrusted with tomorrow's news on the long-running drama "Early Edition," likewise brought his non-flashy cred to the short-lived lawyer drama, "The Lyon's Den," and Joan Cusack sitcom "What About Joan." He also had a supporting role in the feature film, "King Kong."

But he may have been born to play Coach Taylor, a soft-spoken man who doesn't let on everything he's feeling and yet, thanks to Chandler, never leaves the viewer in doubt. Taylor has a huge challenge as the incoming head coach: to maintain the winning ways of the nation's top-ranked high-school football squad in a rural Texas community that doesn't have much else to cheer about. And in the process, to stay mindful that "clear eyes, full hearts can't lose" — but winning isn't everything.

NBC VIDEO 'Friday Night Lights' Oct. 3: Matt Lauer talks with Kyle Chandler about his role on NBC's new show. Today Show Entertainment

A lot of pressure for Coach Taylor. But Chandler is having a ball.

"Everything is just working so nicely," he reports during a recent visit to Manhattan from Austin, Texas, where the series is shot. "It's all coming together."

A strapping fellow clad in white dress shirt, Levi's and boots, Chandler doesn't seem too far afield from his character. He has a robust Southern accent, a product of his rearing in Loganville, Ga.

He even played high school football for two seasons, "but I was no good," he says. "The first year, I was a fat, chubby kid, and I got the hell beat out of me on the football field. The second year, I was tall and lanky. I got the hell beat out of me again."

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