Thanks for the recap. I love this show. Matt Saracen is the cutest character on TV right now.

Great recap! I really think this is just about the best show on television right now. I'm with you on Matt's jerky Dad... just go away!

I am in love with Matt after this episode!! I am so worried, though! About this show, I mean! Crap -- I'm gonna get into it like Conviction and then NBC is gonna break my heart again. : (

Thanks for the recap!

awesome recap for an awesome show...

If we all agree this is the best show on TV right now, we just have to convince every one we know to watch. The plot is not that difficult to pick up on... And who would not get addicted to this writing and these kids???

And while MAtt's dad was a jerk, did anyone else think he looked alot like Matt will look in 15 years?

Hello!
I had to stop reading before I finished the first page to sign in and comment on how funny this recap is! Love it! I wasn't sure that I wanted to read a recap on this show. I love FNL and watched all of my recorded epi's for the first time a couple of weeks ago. I watched all of them in 2 days! Hee hee I love this show. But, I was aprehensive about the depressingness possibility of this recap. Not so! Funny funny funny, thank you!!!

Matt's jerk dad has to go! Hopefully back to Iraq and they'll never mention him again! Lyla and Jason getting back together didn't surprise me... I think she was sorry for cheating on Jason, and she really loves the guy. This show rocks, I hope it doesn't get the ax!! Great recap as usual!

I got hooked on this show a couple of weeks ago (I watched all the episodes online while at work). It it is an okay show. If you think Tim is hot, check the actor out in The Covenant. Damn.

The fact that this show is about football but does not actually show that much football is nice. It shows the story that a lot of football shows miss.

Thanks for the great recap! I continue to thoroughly enjoy your screenshot captions.

I hope they're going to make Matt's dad more three-dimensional. I can see why a character like him would be distant from his son and not able to deal with the stress of his mother's Alzheimer's, so hopefully the writers will bring that out instead of making him out to be Pure Evil.

I don't like Jason and Lyla together. Her chirpy can-do attitude about his paralysis gets more annoying every time she spouts her "we can do this together!" platitudes. I'd much rather watch something develop with Lyla and Tim---and Jason find someone new who can actually handle being with a disabled person.

Landry is the best. Every time he comes on the screen I know something quotable is about to happen.

I'm really loving this show and these characters. NBC, please don't cancel it!

Thanks for another stellar recap Screampillar. I just got to watch the ep last night, and there has yet to be a really subpar episode yet. I'm heartened to see a little more activity in the comments. Maybe we can break into the double digits . . . woo hoo! It would be a shame if this show doesn't survive. Hopefully NBC will have the faith to stick with it for another season and maybe it will pick up some viewers in summer reruns. I don't get why this show isn't a hit. Great writing, appeal for adults and teens, and MILF/wondermom Connie Britton to boot!

I'm a little more sympathetic to Matt's father's character. The guy has two weeks home and probably just wants some quiet and he's bombarded with hassles, which he probably has trouble dealing with due to a combo of PTSD and guilt about leaving his son to deal with more than he can, or should have to, handle.

Additionally, most soldiers who serve in combat or dangerous deployments think of their fellow soldiers in their unit as family, and with his belief in what's he's doing in Iraq, and his sense of duty and loyalty to them I'm sure it is unthinkable to Matt's father to "pussy out" of his deployment and leave his comrades to fend for themselves.

The last scene where Matt's dad is shown displaying some tenderness toward grandma makes it look like they will be developing his character further.

It wouldn't surprise me if we end up seeing Matt moving in with the Taylors when dad goes back to Iraq and grandma goes into the home, which would make for some great drama having the feared boyfriend living under Coach's own roof.

I think Matt's dad would be a more three-dimensional character if only they got an actor who could emote more than the same semi-blank, semi-indifferent face than the guy they chose. The writing of his character isn't terrible -- I think it does speak to what JasonR refers to above. The damn guy just can act to save his life, and it's killing the character.

In any case, I dig FNL, but I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that it'll be wiped off the schedule either at the end of this season or the beginning of the next one. I mean, look at the number of people who comment -- it's like a fractional percentage of the Real World Denver's postings, and come on, that show sucks (although, yes, I watch it religiously as well, so who am I to judge).

Dubbledubs, I'll give you that. It's either bad acting or bad direction. The actor was obviously chosen more on his physical resemblance to the actor who plays Matt than for his acting chops, or he's playing the Saracen deadpan thing a little too hard. I'll give him another episode before I pass judgment.

I love this show, but I don't think it will survive. Especially since it will soon be up against American Idol. They should move it to a different time following a better show to keep it alive.