FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS Recap, Cut Scenes & Applebees

1 Last night's FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS was excellent. Tami's decision to take the money the boosters had donated for a new scoreboard and use it on academics did not sit well with many folks in Dillon. Buddy brought the mayor to school to talk to her but Tami didn't waver. By the end of the episode, Buddy informed her the board was going to have a hearing on this situation in two weeks. Meanwhile, Eric continued to work with Smash to get him ready for a college workout. Smash was getting discouraged and the coach was having trouble getting a school to come see him. By the end, Eric had gotten Smash a walk on with Texas A&M. I'm sad to see the superb Gaius Charles leave the show, but happy he is getting a proper send-off. In the ongoing Lyla and Tim saga, Lyla encouraged her boyfriend to attend a family dinner to talk up new booster, Joe McCoy, who is an alum of Oklahoma University, a school that may be interested in Tim playing football. Buddy threatened Tim before the dinner which made him quiet and withdrawn. Tim ended up hardly saying a word the entire time and eating raw squab to boot. Lyla was upset but they made up before the show was over. Tyra ran for Student Body President, and thanks to her promising a prom where everyone would get laid, she won. Tami was disappointed at how low she would stoop to win the election. Matt's grandma's dementia started to get worse and as a minor he could not officially be responsible for her. So he borrowed Landry's car and drove to parts unknown to find his mother, and got her to sign a document making him an emancipated minor. I had assumed Matt's mother was dead so this was a shocker. 1 It was a real treat to watch 50 minutes of this wonderful show uninterrupted by commercial. And after the show, a scene that was cut between Buddy and Joe also aired. It provided some insight into the Buddy/Joe dynamic and how things work in the Dillon booster club heirarchy. How on earth is NBC going to edit this show down to 38 minutes when it airs these episodes of FNL early next year? The cut scene also made me wonder how many interesting scenes get cut ever week from FNL and other shows. A number of FNL scenes take place at Applebee's. This is the ultimate product placement. They seemlessly work the show in and out of the restaurant and it feels like it is a true part of Dillon. In last night's show, Julie had taken a job there and ran into an upset Matt outside. Also, half the town packed the place after the latest Panther victory. Perhaps daytime soaps should consider similar arrangements with businesses to add advertising dollars to their shrinking budgets, and make their (mostly fictional) towns seem more authentic.