Now That's Good

Friday Night Lights has been getting huge reviews. You can watch it here on NBC.

There's a couple of amazing things here. First, is the presentation. NBC is figuring out how to use the internet for content and protect their business model. They show commercials during the internet streaming that one can't fast forward through. But the commercials aren't burdonsome to watch, so I don't mind. I love how you can see the show anytime, that you don't necessarily need to watch it on Tuesday night. Good idea.

But then there's the show. I haven't read many of the amazing reviews, so I'll just point out a few little brilliant details within the show.

The main character of the show is the new coach of a small texas high school football team. The entire state expects a championship and so the burden weighs heavily on him. During the big game it shows him trying to catch up on what's going on out on the field. He's watching the game, but it's so complicated and fast, that he needs help from the players themselves to explain what they're seeing and he needs verification to identify who the injured player is at a big moment in the game. This is a pretty incredible and true point of view on leadership. Instead of portraying leaders as all powerful, all knowing entities, whether for good or evil, this leader, while far from being incompetent, has, like everyone else limited information and scrambles around trying to figure out what's going on. Really amazing writing and insight, I think.

Watch for yourself.