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‘Friday Night Lights’: All roads lead to Dillon By Kate O’Hare © Zap2it Deeply rooted in the American psyche is the idea of a young person, itching for adventure or fortune or trans- formation, leaving a small hometown and setting out into the wide world, usually landing in a big city, perhaps finding what he or she was looking for ... and perhaps not. And if not, the idea of hav- ing to abandon the city and return home elicits decidedly mixed emotions. But in today’s economy, with many of America’s urban centers facing high unemployment, high taxes and a high cost of living, the prospect of going home may seem a lot more attractive. In NBC’s “Friday Night Lights,” returning for its fifth and final season on Friday, April 15, that choice is a lot easier for many residents of the fictional small Texas town of Dillon (played by locations across Austin, Texas). Many never left, and for some of those who did, noth- ing feels better than being back home. “That level of community and family really resonated with audiences,” says star Connie Britton, calling in from the Austin set of the movie “When Angels Sing,” “Friday Night Lights” returns for its fi fth and fi nal season Friday on NBC. “even audiences who don’t live in that kind of world. In- terestingly, our demographic wound up being not neces- sarily people from small-town Middle America, or the small- town South. “There’s a pure sense of community that people respond to and maybe even aspire to.” As the season opens, the community of Dillon is still split between east and west. High-school football Coach Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler), who led the now-West Dillon Panthers to a state champi- onship, continues as coach of the less glamorous East Stutzman MOTOR SALES , INC. 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While the show is super- ficially about football, execu- tive producer Jason Katims has always believed it’s about a great deal more. “In a way,” he says, “the whole idea of football, and the obsession with high- school football, the beauty of that is that was a way for this town to come together. That’s really what it was all about. “It was something that they shared, and the strength of being part of a community is irreplaceable. That’s an- other reason why it’s maybe not the best thing to grow up and move away.” One thing that helped to make Dillon real for fans of the show was the way it was filmed in Austin. “We shot the show on all practical locations,” Katims says. “We never built a set.” Using real houses and businesses also helped the writers to get to know the characters better. “That allowed us to do things that I didn’t even an- ticipate from a storytelling point of view,” Katims says. “It allowed us to do things that I never even thought of. “For example, we were able to go into every charac- ter’s home that we wanted to. It wasn’t like you had to build the set for that home, and it cost you a lot of money. You weren’t building anything anyway. “So we were really able to go in and get to know, in a deep way, the families and the lives of these characters in a way that, in other shows, would be impossible to do for as many characters.” “Austin became a home to us,” Britton says, “and more than that, it became a backdrop for this town we love. Those of us who are die-hards, we just go back to Austin and pretend that we’re living in Dillon.” “Friday Night Lights” had a rocky history on NBC, and only a partnership deal with DirecTV after its second season allowed the show to continue, airing first on DirecTV’s Channel 101 and then on NBC. After so much struggle, it’s going to be hard to let go. “It was really hard to say goodbye to the show,” Katims says. “I know that, when we were editing the last episode of the show, I was sitting in the editing room, and there were movers literally carrying the furniture out of the edit- ing room. “It was definitely not an easy show to say goodbye to.” Somewhere, perhaps in another dimension, there will always be a Dillon. “Life goes on in Dillon,” Britton says. “That’s the beauty of it. We felt so fortu- nate having five years of the show, we were so grateful for that, but at the same time, it really felt like something that could last forever, be- cause that’s the beauty of the place.” 13024 US 20, Middlebury • 574-825-2965 GET YOUR CAR READY FOR SPRING BILL’S COLLISION - Oil Change - Brakes Check - Alignments SERVICE Weblinks Premiering Sunday on ABC Family, “My Future Boyfriend” stars Barry Watson, Fred Willard and Sara Rue in a futuristic love story. 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