FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS TURNS ON THE PRESSURE OF WINNING

(VIDEO) NBC series Friday Night Lights is about a small town football team pressured to win by the locals.

Friday Night Lights director Peter Berg takes the story of a Texas high school football team The Dillon Panthers to the small screen in the series premiere on NBC exploring how the pressure of the town’s pride affects these young players as the new state championship game season kicks off.

Kyle Chandler stars as newly appointed head coach Eric Taylor who must deal with every Tom, Dick and Harry in Dillon, Texas giving him advice on how to steer the Panthers to victory.

“I had no idea how big it is, how much pressure is put on the coaches to win. Yes these coaches care very much about their kids and their welfare and they want to instill values and they do. I’ve never met a coach that doesn’t. At the same time these coaches have two year contracts. If they lose they’re fired. They’re fired, they’re picking up and they’re moving. If you’re a head coach in Austin one day the next week you’re moving your family to Oklahoma and you’re an assistant defensive coordinator. The pressure on these coaches to win is every bit as intense as you’ll find in college.”

All My Children star Scott Porter plays the captain and first string quarterback all American Jason Street who has the weight of the team’s victory riding on his padded shoulders.

“The pressure comes from all angles. You’ve got the town, you’ve got the mayor of the town, you’ve got the local fellow at the car dealership. You’ve got the grocer, you’ve got the stereotypical shoe shine boy telling you what to do, how to run plays, the best way to do it. You don’t even want to go shopping. If you win that’s great, ‘honey I’ll go get the groceries that’s fantastic.’ If you lose I’m staying home today. You don’t want to face the town.”

Friday Night Lights premieres tomorrow at 8PM on NBC.rn

“I think there’s a lot of pressure put on him that he puts on himself just because of the relationship he has with the coach. He doesn’t want to let Coach Eric Taylor down. I think it’s more on a personal level than a city level for him even. I think the friendship and the family and the father son relationship that he’s built I think his number one goal is to win for Coach Taylor.”