MovieChat Forums > Friday Night Lights (2006) Discussion > All the damn inconsistencies

All the damn inconsistencies

posted 7 years ago by forksforrests
6 replies | jump to latest

I recently finished watching the show (for the first time) and I'd like to ask, how do people laud this as one of the best TV dramas of all time when the inconsistencies are through the roof? I tried so hard to love it, and I did enjoy a lot of it, but every time I think about some of these discrepancies, I get frustrated all over again.

1) I won't go over the age thing in depth but as most of us know: Matt, Landry, and Julie were sophomores in season 1 (for those who don't believe me about Julie, watch 1x08 when Tami and Eric are talking in their car, late at night. Tami says "our daughter is a sophomore!". Hard to argue against that one, folks). Smash was a junior. Tyra, Tim, Lyla, and Jason were seniors. How the show managed to f-ck that up over the course of four years, I still don't know.

2) The inconsistency about Eric and Tammi's past. In the pilot, they overtly mention that Eric has coached Jason through pee-wee AND in his freshmen/JV years. How can that be true?? Tammi has always complained that they move around a lot, and Julie acts like she's new to Dillon. Jason's obviously been in Dillon his whole life, so how the hell did he have Eric as a coach in his JV&freshman year? Not to mention, where is Tammi from? At one point, they say that Eric and Tammi are high school sweethearts because Eric stopped her from dropping out, but then they bring Tammi's old boyfriend who was her high school sweetheart. They also mention that Eric and Tammi met in college. Whats the truth?! Are they new to Dillon or not.

3) ALL the characters that went MIA!! How do people just forget about that? Most of these characters were so significant and they just vanished. Waverly, Santiago, JD McCoy and his father+ that coach, the former head coach of Panthers (i assume that's who Eric is talking to in the first few episodes of s1), Smash's s3 girlfriend who advised him on college, Lyla's Christian boyfriend, Jason's new tattoo artist girlfriend that led to his breakup with Lyla, Julie's teacher/editor who she had a crush on. There were a ton more but I'll curb it here. It was so jolting coming back to a new season and having some of these characters go MIA without a word. I want to add Hastings to the list because he was credited as a main character and after two-three episodes, this guy could have been dead for all we knew.

4) Tyra/Landry. It's not like I loved these two but what were the writers doing? In season 2, they did a slow burn and put these two together, for what seemed to be a relationship that was set to run long-term and become something big. Then in season 3, they hit the reset button. Okay. By the end of season 3, we have Tyra/Landry AGAIN and they seem like they will actually make it this time. Landry helps with Tyra's essay, Tyra learns not to take advantage of Landry. Then what? season 4 comes and Tyra is gone, doesn't even come back to rendezvous with Landry, she's a b-tch once again and season 3 meant absolutely nothing. Don't they remember they killed someone together?
Then we have the worst offence of all: the series finale. Where they retcon Tim/Tyra to be some epic love that had been brewing for all these years. These two broke up in the first few episodes of s1 and never once got back together or showed signs of lingering feelings. Tim was all about Lyla. I can't believe Landry was in this episode and then didn't even try to have a mini reunion between Landry/Tyra or even have them mention each other!! What was THE POINT of those two seasons of a blossoming relationship? It was dashed for a throwback to like, the pilot of FNL.

5) How in the world did Tim Riggins get into college. I don't even know how this man graduated high school! He regularly skipped classes, was wasted ALL the damn time, had other people do his homework for him, showed 0 interest in his future (who wrote his college apps?). How did Tim pay for ANYTHING on this show? He didn't start working until after he graduated, so I have no idea how he paid for his truck or the beer or anything...the man was never shown to have a job. I'm sort of glad he ended up in jail because before that, his path had been much too easy. He was forgiven for sleeping with his best friend's gf, forgiven for missing multiple practices or showing up drunk, forgiven for plagiarizing/not doing his own work/skipping class, forgiven for dumping college after ONE day of classes etc.

One major plotline that vanished still cheeses me: in season 1, when Mayor Roddell offered Tammy a position to run her campaign. What happened to that? Or Tammi coaching volleyball, Lyla's Christianity group, Tim advancing in his studies (bc Tammi stopped him relying on rally girls), Riggin's Rigs, Lyla's friendship with Santiago, Julie & college?

A rose is just a rose.

[–] rugbysharks 7 years ago

cant argue with any of these inconsistencies. The Writer's strike that totally messed up the end of Season 2 has a big part to play in a lot of the plot fails obviously. It's amazing really that the show not only recovered from that, but that it went on to become such a massive hit all across the English-speaking world. That's down to the quality of the characters & direction in large part, and also because from season 3 onwards the plot issues do seem to diminish somewhat. Thus by the end of season 5, we've sort of developed a collective amnesia in regards to all the inconsistencies from earlier on. Also, wasn't it Brad Leland who said in the post-finale piece, something like "we all know these characters from our own lives" and I think that again underlines our willingness to forget about a lot of the errors throughout.

I'm still baffled though by things like the story of Santiago, Lila's flip flopping religious/moral beliefs, the McCoy's disappearance and indeed how Tim Riggins managed to even graduate.

[–] forksforrests 7 years ago

Seasons 1-3 are to blame for the inconsistencies (I personally think s4&5 are the only two examples of great television), but yeah, s2 carried into s3 is where I can pinpoint some of the biggest fails.

I think it's the audience's love for Taylor Kitsch's performance that got Tim so far. I know he ended up in jail, but I still think the show went really easy on him. He had a one way ticket to ending up a bum, with his alcoholism, lack of work ethic, free passes etc but the show loved him too much to have him end up like that. I'd still REALLY like to know where Tim got any money from. How was he paying for lap dances at the landing strip, buying beer/pizza/food, paying for gas or fix-ups to his car at all? He never had a job until he graduated so I have no clue.

A rose is just a rose.

[–] rugbysharks 7 years ago

I assumed Billy supported his brother financially and paid for practically everything. Remember that Billy had to be the man of the house because their father had basically abandoned them.

[–] IronHurts24 7 years ago

Your opinion was severely damaged when you said seasons four and five were the only examples of great television because they are very inferior to the first three seasons.

The Riggins gripe makes no sense to me, why are you so worried about where he got money from for beer and lap dances? Weren't you paying attention to the show and how all the players were treated like Gods anywhere they went???? That explains everything about Riggins. He "afforded" things because he didn't have to pay for them. He got into college because everyone else did his work for him. How does any jock athlete graduate when they skip class? It's still happening today in real life. Tim Riggins was personally my favorite character and I was not happy how they decided to end his story but it still gave him redemption as a character by taking the fall for his brother. The fact that you think him going to jail was not enough of a consequence to suffer is baffling.

[–] Tough_Love11 7 years ago

This is how I view season 2...IT DIDN'T HAPPEN. They went into season 3 with new characters, new plots, no mention of the murder, Julie's actions/attitude never happened. I really liked that Tami was the volleyball coach. It was literally a rewrite of the series because there was a writer strike during season 2..

I hate what they did to Matt by bringing in this JD kid. (I only 7 episodes in on Season 3.) The rest, I will have to watch first.

I thought Tim, Lyla, Tyra, and Jason were seniors during season 1.. that is so weird..

[–] farrowood 7 years ago

Also in S1 Lyla gets furious at her dad when she finds out he has been cheating on her mom for years and smashes up a bunch of cars at the dealership and crashes one through the front window. It's never mentioned? Plus at first Buddy sold Chevy cars and Lyla drove an HHR. Next you see her driving a silver Toyota then the scene where she gives back a red Yaris.