I’ve never cared so much about fictional people. I think I felt proper real life loss when I knew it was nearly over and I cried non stop through the last few episodes. I might have been ‘going through something’ at time tbh but I’ve not seen anything that looks at the opportunities available for working class kids in the same way so it gets to me.
I watched the entire run in ten days, bunking off work because I was depressed. I was mortally sad when I finished it and didn’t know what to do with myself (ended up watching Parenthood, which has its moments, mainly Ray Romano).
And I almost quit it in the first episode because it seemed like your typical cheesy American high school drama. Which is KINDA is but it’s also so much more.
Brilliant show, yes season 2 (especially THAT plotline) is a bit ropey in part because of the writers strike at the time curtailing it but it doesn’t matter because everything else is so great. Coach and Tami are the best TV couple ever, Matt Saracen is the most endearingly dorky QB ever (it’s mad that Zach Gilford hasn’t had much of a career since this show) and Jesse Plemons is as good in this as he’s been in everything else since.
The good bits are good but the bad bits are truly terrible (Landry and the lesbian! Julie and the college tutor! The Matt Saracen art barn!) and the last series dragggggs. Enjoyed it but can’t ever imagine sitting through it again.