FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS Returns Tonight

1 The best show (and soap) on television, FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, returns tonight to kick off its third season on DirecTV's The 101. The show will air 13 episodes on the satellite provider before moving to NBC for "reruns" early next year. In Season 3, Coach Taylor (Kyle Chandler) has a new boss — his wife. Tami Taylor (Connie Britton) is the principal at Dillon High now. Smash has graduated. Tyra and Landry are now split, and Lyle and Tim are together. Here is a news and review roundup about tonight's episode: Bright ‘Lights’: Fans will go wild as Panthers kick off new season (A-) LIGHTS cuts a laserlike focus on the dreams and aspirations of those in Middle America. This is an admirable kickoff to what looks to be a championship season. A Return to West Texas for Another Football Season In its third season FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS still charges along with so much to recommend it. FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS scores a touchdown FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS brought in a star out-of-town quarterback once before - Voodoo Tatum - and Matt survived. But maybe there's a second agenda now. Maybe the producers are thinking that if the show comes back for a fourth season, they'll need replacements for the seniors. It's a dream. But hey, dreams are what Friday night lights are all about. FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS kicks off season on DirecTV tonight If you have DirecTV, enjoy “Lights” now. If you don’t, be assured the wait for it to hit NBC will be worth it. FRIDAY NIGHT survivor ...the creative challenge remains the same as it has been from the beginning: Convince high school football fans -- a subculture so huge and fervent in some regions that the term superculture would be more accurate -- that the show gets their lives right while at the same time convincing everybody who spent high school hiding from football players that an hour with the Panthers won't spark convulsive flashbacks. LIGHTS stays brilliant despite downsizing There's no denying that the show looks a little worn, a victim perhaps of budget pressures that may have moved the series from cost-efficient to cheap. But even a reduced LIGHTS is better than most TV series, and a reduced LIGHTS was all we were going to get. 'Friday Night Lights' deal may herald a new era TV funding Basically, in exchange for getting first dibs on new "FNL" episodes now being shot on location in Texas, DirecTV is subsidizing the series' costs to the extent that it's still a worthwhile proposition for NBC, which plans to run slightly different versions of the same episodes on its broadcast network early next year. The producers have had to trim between 5% and 7% from the show's previous per-episode budget of approximately $2 million. But they promise that hard-core fans -- which "FNL" has in large proportions relative to its puny overall audience, which averaged 6.2 million total viewers last season, according to Nielsen Media Research -- won't notice a difference.

Judi Evans Selling Cemetery Plots

1 Emmy award winning actress Judi Evans has made a career in soap operas--a talented actress with a great sense of humor, who has the uncanny ability to cry on demand. But work is drying up. CNBC'S Jane Wells works with Judi's husband, who told her that the soaps business is dying off, and Judi has picked up extra work in the "dying" business. Literally. She is selling cemetery plots to bring in extra income and keep herself busy in between auditions. She loves it. Wells asked Judi to write a guest blog on how--and why--she's gone from acting to working for Rose Hills Memorial Park. Only in Hollywood, kids. Here's the blog from Judi: "Being an actress can be a waiting game. For most, it's waiting tables. For all, it's waiting for the phone to ring. I have been lucky, better yet, blessed enough, to have worked on soap operas for over 20 years. With that being said, it has made me somewhat of a workaholic. I thrive when I'm busy, and make myself and my family crazy when I'm not busy. Waiting around for my manager or my agent to call is not my forte. When works slows, I want--no, I need--some kind of job to take on, and fast, before I make everybody crazy. In college at 16, I landed my first contract role at 18 on "The Guiding Light". That left me without a degree. We all know that in this day and age it is truly difficult to find a good paying job without a college degree. I consider myself to be an intelligent and hard working individual creating high expectations for myself. Yet I could not come up with a career path besides acting, no matter how much I wracked my brain. With work slowing down over the summer, I spent a day at the beach with my good friend Carrie. While we watched our sons play, I brought up my dilemma to her. She mentioned that she had had a friend who had worked at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier and just loved it. It was a great job with benefits and better yet, you had the opportunity to help people. Having always shied away from any talk about death, I was for a brief moment hesitant. But then, the thought of helping people through a difficult time truly appealed to me. Well, the seed was firmly planted. I went home, looked up Rose Hills on the computer, and as it happened, they were looking for Pre-Need Counselors, so I applied online right then and there. During the first interview, Jason, the recruiter, mentioned how being an actress could work to my advantage. As an actress you must be in touch with your feelings and the feelings of those around you. As a pre-need counselor the same rule applies. Also, in sales, it's important to believe in what you are selling. Again, in acting, the same rule applies. In order to make the moment believable, you have to believe in that moment. When I began working there I found there were so many concepts to advance planning that had never even crossed my mind. First off, property and funeral are two separate transactions. Having never had to be a part of the funeral planning process I had no idea. Property is property, and like any other property it is subject to inflation. The upside is, with cemetery property, you are not subject to property taxes. The difference is, no matter what the economy, people will always need to be buried. You know the old adage; nothing is for sure except death and taxes. The advantage to pre-planning is to lock in at today's prices because by the time you may need property or funeral, the price will probably be double, or even triple what it is today. And, not to be prejudiced, but Rose Hills is the most picturesque memorial park I have ever seen. It is also the largest, in not only the United Stated, but in the world. To top it off, of all the property Rose Hills owns in the close to 100 years of operation, it has only used about half. In essence, I now have the opportunity to get people thinking about the future, and the future of their families, and help them find a sound financial way to plan and fund their funerals and procure cemetery property. As much as I love acting, and I do, it brings me a great deal of pleasure to interact directly with people and also help them along life's journey. Still new to this business, I often wonder what my reaction will be when I eventually walk into someone's house, and they gasp and call out one of my character names and ask me what I'm doing there. So do I say, "Yes I was such and such character on that show, but now I'm here to help you plan you funeral", or do I offer them an autograph if they buy cemetery property? I haven't quite worked that one out. Seriously though, I've always felt blessed, and now I can pass those blessings along as well."

Marcil To Host Lifetime Series

Lifetime's new reality competition series, BLUSH: THE SEARCH FOR THE NEXT GREAT MAKE-UP ARTIST, will premiere Tuesday, November 11, 10:00-11:00 PM ET/PT, on Lifetime Television. In the hour-long, six-episode series, contestants from around the country will compete for a contract as a professional artist with Max Factor, a cash prize of $100,000 and the opportunity to be the make-up artist for an upcoming In Style photo shoot. Emmy Award-winning actress Vanessa Marcil (ex-Brenda, GENERAL HOSPITAL) has been named host of show. In Style's internationally recognized fashion director Hal Rubenstein and industry make-up artist and author Joanna Schlip will serve as judges. Famed make-up artist Charlie Green will act as a mentor guiding the contestants through their challenges and offering encouragement, advice and insight. In each episode of BLUSH: THE SEARCH FOR THE NEXT GREAT MAKE-UP ARTIST, the contestants, all living under one roof in Los Angeles, compete in two different make-up competitions, designed to test the skills and personality traits - including compassion and confidence - necessary for success in the field. Following the second challenge, one contestant will be eliminated.

Nancy Lee Grahn's Chat For Obama

Here are some of the highlights of the chat held at NancyLeeGrahn.com earlier tonight. Many of the actresses are still online so head over there and post your thoughts. "Clearly the thing that troubles me the most is that both McCain and Palin believe that there should be abstinence only education. This means that education of young men and woman about STDS including HIV and AIDS in schools would be thrown out the window. Because Barack wants to empower women not only at home and globally, I believe Obama would be the best champion in the fights against AIDs." - Kimberly McCullough "I think that people respond to a familiar face and it is incubent upon us in the entertainment industry to use our familiarity with the audience to give a voice to issues that the average voter would not ordinarily pay attention to." - Jane Elliot "I went to Ohio last weekend to visit my son in college and and I volunteered to go on the road because Ohio is a batteground state and I wanted to do something. Even though you may think that one person can't possibly make a difference and it may be hard to throw yourself out there, I would have to say I'm glad I did it. I met amazing people and I registered 25 people to vote and it didn't matter how they were going to vote, I was proud to have helped people become involved in this political process. If I can say one thing, it's to become involved in whatever capacity you can." - Mary Beth Evans "As for soaps, and I say this with love, but they tend to more concerned about offending less people so they tend to not take sides and ride the middle on most issues which unfortunately makes it a lot less compelling." - Nancy Lee Grahn

Fumusa's New Play "Fault Lines" Opens

1 Actors Noah Emmerich, Josh Lucas, Jennifer Mudge and Dominic Fumusa (ex-Gray, AS THE WORLD TURNS) attended the opening night after party for their new play, "Fault Lines," at Commerce last night in New York City.

SORDID LIVES' Olivia Newton-John Performs At Gala

1 Todd McKenney and Olivia Newton-John (Bitsy Mae, SORDID LIVES) performed last night at her fundraising gala event at the State Theatre oin Sydney, Australia. Funds raised from this gala event will go towards a research and care facility as part of the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre Appeal.

"Soaps In The City"...IN LA Cover Shoot

At "Michael Fairman On-Air On-Soaps" this week, the ramp up begins for our "Soaps In The City" charity fundraiser for the upcoming AIDS Walk Los Angeles and official launch party for www.michaelfairmansoaps.com on October 16th. It starts with your first look at the behind-the-scenes video and special interviews from our cover shoot for IN LA Magazine hitting the newsstands today, September 30th. Y&R's Michelle Stafford, DAYS' James Scott, B&B's Heather Tom, GH's Kimberly McCullough, along with Michael Fairman, took part in this very special and historic cover shoot, which for the first time in IN LA's history, has soap stars featured on the cover! Make sure to check out the special "Soaps In The City" and IN LA cover shoot special which included shoot photo gallery, videos, and confirmed attendees. Lots of terrific content at http://michaelfairmansoaps.com/SITC/. 1 Photo credit: John Paschal/JPI Studios