Up until Friday night, Friday Night Lights was the best show on television. Last season the show was unlike anything ever seen on TV. It was like being invited into a small town in Texas to meet the people who live there. The characters, no matter how flawed, were likeable and had an inherent humanity. No any more.

For those of you who don’t know, Friday Night Lights, is based on a best-selling book and film. Both covered a school year in a town where high school football is the people’s religion. The show is about relationships and the simple struggles of life.

It is filmed in a very unique way that allows you to take in the quiet moments of the characters. The camera hangs on the actors longer than is usually allowed on TV. The only other show I recall doing anything remotely similar was the great Homicide: Life On The Street. The actors are not told where to stand and how to look at the camera while they spew their words. Instead, the cameramen are expected to pick up whatever instinctive moves the actors make. The result is refreshing. Or at least it was.

I’ve worked was a writer for a long time now and the one thing I can sniff out in a second is bad studio notes. The season opener of Friday Night Lights is clearly a victim of idiot suits who seem to think they understand the creative process. The simplicity of Friday Night Lights is out the window, replaced with over-bearing and unnecessary amounts of conflict, and of course, a killing.

It was very painful to watch. The humanity had been stripped away from the townspeople as they were turned into obvious, cookie cutter TV characters you have seen on so many shows before. Last year, much of the conflict was subtle, or God forbid, internal. Not this year. Now every scene is over-flowing with conflict. Everything has been taken up a notch or ten, which has made the show completely unbelievable.

NBC put a lot of money into promoting the show last year but it never caught fire. It has a strong cult following and critics love it. Networks know one thing: If they promote a show heavily and it does not catch on, then there is something wrong with the show. Never mind that the idiots put a show called Friday Night Lights on Tuesday night. I don’t know how that could possibly cause any confusion. So, the suits went to their studio manuals and decide to make the show more "explosive." This way, they can eliminate the audience who already love the show and not bring in any new people because the show will never have enough explosions for the stupids.

One example is the new, retarded plotline of Tyra. Tyra is a bad girl. Last season we watched as she slowly began to tire of her own behavior, change and befriend the town nerd. There was an episode in which she was waiting for him in a diner, but his car had broken down. A man was checking her out. As she left the diner, the man attempted to sexually assault her in the parking lot. The attempt failed, but Tyra was changed forever. We then watched her struggle with internal conflict. So, what to do this season? How about having her attacker inexplicably stalk her in the opening episode? Then her nerd friend can beat the stalker to death with a pipe. Then they dump the body in a river. Sound like we’ve gone off the small town plot line a bit? Did I mention the nerd is now inexplicably on the football team? You know, the team he made fun of all last season?

Last season we watched the nerd struggle with his place in the world. The actor, Jesse Plemons is awesome and the writing brought an amazing amount of realism to the character, who was obsessed with girls. This season we can watch him unravel as the police try to figure out who killed the rape-guy. Super. I totally relate to that.

This show reeks of being ruined by studio notes.

Really? Because you’re just an ex-assistant who doesn’t have a creative bone in your body. But, by all means, force you ignorant opinion onto a great show.

Fuck off NBC and fuck off suits.