NBC did what it could to keep the show alive, moving it to Wednesday nights to get it out of the way of "American Idol" and at one point posting every episode for free download at NBC.com. The ratings held steady, but the show wasn't exactly doing "Grey's Anatomy" numbers.

"Friday Night Lights" is the kind of show that deserves a few chances. It can take several episodes to get used to its slow-burn plot lines, and its documentary-style shaky-cam look isn't for all tastes. The football players and their families sometimes seem to have enough problems to fill two seasons of "ER."

But "FNL" often finds new twists on familiar situations and has developed into one of the best-acted shows on television. As paralyzed quarterback Jason, Porter (who had a notable role of a very different sort as Hugh Grant's `80s pop partner in "Music and Lyrics)" has gone on a journey of self-pity, anger, defiance and resolve. Minka Kelly, as his cheerleader girlfriend Lyla, has a second-nature chemistry with Porter - which she needs, because Lyla is both long- suffering and supportive, as well as haunted by guilt after a brief fling with Jason's best friend, brooding running back Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch).

Gilford and Aimee Teegarden have been charming as bumbling lovebirds Matt Saracen and Julie Taylor - the quarterback and the coach's daughter. They figured prominently in the series' best episode, in which the two virgins forgo a planned night of sex because they decide the time's not right - and wind up in a giggly game of leg-wrestling as her tormented parents wait up at home. Gaius Charles manages to be simultaneously charming and obnoxiously cocky as running back Brian "Smash" Williams, who went through a brief period of steroid use and now has a bipolar girlfriend.

Best of all are Chandler and Connie Britton as Coach Taylor and his wife, Tami, the school counselor who refuses to be shoved into the background as the coach's wife (Chandler was suffering from the flu during the Texas Stadium shoot and declined to do interviews). Britton is one of the few holdovers from the movie, in which she played Billy Bob Thornton's wife - she joined the series on the condition that her TV character be more forceful than her movie character. Britton doesn't have children herself, but she plays one of the few good mothers in a TV landscape overpopulated with smothering and/or self-absorbed neurotics.

"I've always been really maternal," Britton says. "I also had a great mom. So to me on some level, it's a dedication to my own mom in a way. It's one of those things where, in those situations, whether you're a mother or a daughter, it just resonates with you: 'Oh, I remember this moment. I remember the intensity of this moment.' It's really powerful."

In one of the season's most intense scenes, Tami tries to talk Julie out of having sex - and Julie isn't hearing any of it, although ultimately she does as her mother wishes.

Brad Leland, the Dallas-area character actor who plays car salesman and obsessive booster Buddy Garrity, says he believes scenes like that are what make the show so good.

"I love the decisions that the intelligent, smart characters on the show make," Leland says. "(The show has) things that are a bit far-fetched sometimes, but at the same time, it's got those real, genuine moments. Parents and kids can watch and say, `We oughta do that. We oughta be like them.'"