22FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS

Aired: NBC, 2006-2007; DIRECTV, 2008-2011

Peter Berg wrote and directed the pilot of a show that was the second adaptation of H.G. Bissinger's non-fiction narrative about the impact of high school football on the hearts, minds, and lives in small-town Dillon, Texas. The TV series Friday Night Lights, as opposed to the movie of the same name, could sprawl more in its storytelling, arranging itself as "a series of movements" around various characters, executive producer Jason Katims said to the WGAW website. Friday Night Lights, aided by its verite style, came to seem like a deeper glimpse into the heartland than most television series. "It's ultimately not really about a small town, it transcends the small town, and it's about people who are not living in a privileged way," Katims said. "That, to me, is what makes it so compelling. You see surprisingly little of that on network television."