DIRECTV’s 101 Network brings 'Friday Night Lights' in October

By April MacIntyre Sep 11, 2009, 20:37 GMT

Minka Kelly - Fans will meet the East Dillon Lions when the fourth season of the critically acclaimed and Emmy-winning drama series Friday Night Lights premieres October 28 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on DIRECTV’s The 101 Network. © Glenn Harris / PR Photos

Commercial free and back for new gridiron action, the cultie hit drama, "Friday Night Lights" is coming back in time for the fall.

Fans will meet the East Dillon Lions when the fourth season of the critically acclaimed and Emmy-winning drama series Friday Night Lights premieres October 28 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on DIRECTV’s The 101 Network.

Executive Producer Peter Berg will direct the season premiere, returning to the series as director for the first time since directing the show’s pilot in 2006.

“This season opener is practically a pilot in itself. It puts Coach Taylor at the center of the action in a new school, with a new team, and many new challenges,” said executive producer Jason Katims.

“In addition to the returning cast, we are introducing a host of new characters who will become integral to the fourth and fifth season of the show.”

Four new cast members, as well as the returning characters, will be central to the fourth and fifth seasons of the show.

The premise:

Expanding on the hit feature film and best-selling book “Friday Night Lights,” the show centers on life in Dillon, Texas, where high school football brings the community together -- and the drama of small town life threatens to tear it apart.

As season four opens, a redistricting plan has left Dillon a town divided. Having been ousted from his role as head coach at Dillon High School, Coach Taylor (Kyle Chandler) finds himself faced with the daunting task of building a football team from scratch as well as motivating and disciplining the unmanageable East Dillon Lions players.

Tensions follows Coach Taylor off the field and into the home as he and Tami (Connie Britton), who remains Principal of West Dillon High, find themselves increasingly at odds with one another and the adversarial roles the redistricting has forced upon them.

As one of the main proponents of redistricting Dillon, Tami bears the brunt of criticism from very unhappy parents and students who have been zoned out of West Dillon and into less desirable East Dillon.

An integral member of the newly formed East Dillon Lions is Vince (Michael B. Jordan), whose incredible speed positions him as the Lions best, and possibly only, hope despite his undisciplined skills and unpredictable temper.

Vince quickly finds himself at odds with the team’s new pretty boy and rising star player Luke (Matt Lauria). The running back held great promise playing with the Dillon Panthers, however, due to the redistricting lines he is now forced to play for the East Dillon Lions. Other newcomers include Jess (Jurnee Smollett), the daughter of a onetime NFL hopeful, who is an expert in the sport and will prove to be a crucial part of the new East Dillon team; and Becky, played by newcomer Madison Burge.

Becky is a fifteen-year-old beauty queen who isn't afraid to use her looks to get what, and who, she wants and quickly establishes herself at the top of the East Dillon social hierarchy.

The upcoming fourth season will also focus on the fate of several returning characters including last season’s graduates Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch), Lyla Garrity (Minka Kelly), and Matt Saracen (Zach Gilford) as well as Julie Taylor (Aimee Teegarden) and Landry Clark (Jesse Plemons), whose lives have also been affected by the town’s redistricting. 

Additionally, Coach Taylor finds himself further troubled by a new rivalry with his former team, the Dillon Panthers, headed up by his replacement Wade Aikman (Drew Waters) and the man who masterminded his downfall, Joe McCoy (D.W Moffett).

In March, Universal Media Studios and DIRECTV extended their partnership from last year to produce 26 episodes that would launch the fourth and fifth seasons of "Friday Night Lights," with the series airing first on DIRECTV’s The 101 Network and then subsequently on NBC with 13 episodes each during the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons.

NBC will premiere season four in late spring or early summer 2010.