‘Lights’ star will run plays for another season

Season one ended on a couple of life-changing notes. First, Tami alerts Eric that she’s pregnant — an event neither was expecting, as their only other child is now in high school.  And Eric has accepted a job a few hours away from Dillon, as an assistant coach at a major university in Austin. It took him a while to make up his mind and give the college a firm answer, but when they pushed him for a decision, he told them he’d take the job.

So what happens now? Chandler doesn’t think Taylor would back out after giving his word.

“He shook hands with the guy,” he says, recalling the scene. “He’s going to explore his dream while [Tami is] pregnant. I want to see Coach in as much trouble as possible. I want him in a dilemma.”

That shouldn’t be too difficult to arrange. Following a year in which he watched his teen daughter turn into a young woman, saw his assistant coach being accused of racism and was forced to risk his career to help his star running back turn his life around after taking steroids, “dilemma” is where Coach Eric Taylor lives.

And Chandler can’t wait to bring it on again next fall — surrounded by a cast and crew that mean more to him professionally than anywhere else he’s worked before.

“I’m excited (about the future),” he says with vigor. “What we have here, as actors and artists, every actor would fight for.”

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

MORE FROM TELEVISION OPINIONS

40 years of diversity on ‘Sesame Street’

40 years of diversity on ‘Sesame Street’ Is Leno’s 10 p.m. experiment nearing an end? TV snobs are wrong about ‘Two and a Half Men’ For ‘Big Bang’s’ Sheldon, the nerd is the word Sykes and late night TV’s new color barrier Proudly un-hip, ‘NCIS’ still tops ratings Monty Python the original kings of gore ‘Glee’ has rabid fans, but they deserve better Newsweek: Is 'FlashForward' the next 'Lost'? Newsweek: 5 flagging TV shows that need to end   Add Television Opinions headlines to your news reader: