At the moment, I'm a fan of two shows on television: Friday Night Lights , which is in its fourth season and is about a high school football team, and Glee , which is in its first season and is about a high school glee club.* But even though I'm a fan of both shows and watch them religiously, FNL is an infinitely superior show to Glee . Infinitely. Like the Sistine Chapel compared to a doodle I made on some meeting notes yesterday. Why? What makes one show so much better than the other? One word, one that I'm sure will be no surprise to anyone whose read anything on this blog before: Characters. FNL is a show so based on character that it actually interested me despite the fact that I don't actually care at all about football.** At all. Ever. The way FNL works is that it develops characters, then puts them in motion, and the stories and conflicts arise out of them. Take for example, Tim Riggins.*** Last year I wrote this about Tim's character: From a story
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