NBC - FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS REMAIN LIT

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS REMAIN LIT

Saying that he had "structured an innovative deal" with DirecTV to keep Friday Night Lights alive, NBC Entertainment Co-Chairman Ben Silverman announced Wednesday that the critically praised but low-rated series would return to the air next fall with all-new episodes that would first air on the home-satellite company's entertainment channel, The 101, beginning in October and then rerun on NBC early next year. In a conference call with reporters, Silverman said that he wanted to save the show because "if I had one more person on a plane tell me it's their favorite show, I was going to lose my mind." Terms of the deal were not disclosed, and on its face it would appear to guarantee that ratings for the series would remain low, since many of those watching it on DirecTV would unlikely tune in again for the reruns on NBC. That prospect did not appear to faze Silverman, who said that the deal allowed NBC "to have this jewel of a show and not even need to expand its audience to succeed on a financial basis." In a statement, Friday Night Lights executive producer Peter Berg said that he is "excited to be a part of something that feels legitimately groundbreaking, and new."

03/04/2008