Low rated but critically adored “Friday Night Lights” returns to NBC Friday night for its third season, the Associated Press notes. The season has already appeared on DirecTV as part of a deal that kept the show alive for at least another year. NBC Entertainment Co-Chairman Ben Silverman hopes “Friday Night Lights” on NBC will capitalize on the buzz from the DirecTV deal and the usual critical acclaim, though skeptics worry fans have already seen season three. “Our expectation is the show should not be in any way hurt from this experiment in terms of absolute ratings,” Silverman tells the wire service. “But we’ll have to see. I don’t know yet.”
—Jon Lafayette