‘Friday Night Lights’ needs a Hail Mary pass

Saracen doesn't have it easy, either. He only became the starting QB when Jason Street, a likeable chap with a strong and accurate arm, model good looks and an adoring girlfriend, was paralyzed in the pilot episode and forced to rethink his life. Before Street's accident, the quiet and modest Saracen lacked confidence but afterwards, as his team crept toward the playoffs, he's developed an unidentifiable sense of what it takes to win.

While throwing touchdown passes certainly helped nurture his growth, it was off-the-field developments that have quickly turned Saracen into a man — even though it’s evident he remains a kid at heart. With his father serving in Iraq, he's been forced to care for his ailing grandmother. Involved with his first girlfriend, he’s confronted tricky relationship issues such as fidelity, male posturing and teenage sex. Yet, no matter how sticky the situation, the young couple seems comfortably happy in each other’s company.

“Friday Night Lights” also hasn’t been afraid to deal with questions of small-town racism, absentee fathers now seeking redemption, abused mothers who think getting smacked around is better than loneliness, and steroid-taking players dreaming of high-paying futures.

TV hits are hard to come by. No matter how much a network spends on marketing, viewers ultimately decide what’s best. You can lead an audience to a show, but you can’t make them watch.

“Friday Night Lights” has constructed a masterful winning strategy, but the game still hangs in the balance. It’s now up to NBC to make the right move.

If the series is canceled, I’ll feel for all those who have spoken out about how TV can still inspire, how it can still connect; but, worse, I’ll grieve for those fictional residents of Dillon. To them, a Hail Mary pass will have dropped in the end zone, just out of reach.

Stuart Levine is a senior editor at Variety. He can be reached at .

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