Introduction by Will Leitch, founding editor of Deadspin

Called one of the best shows on TV by more than a dozen media publications, including Time and Entertainment Weekly, Friday Night Lights is not just one of the most critically acclaimed shows on air, it’s also one of the most watchable. Despite its focus on high school football, its masterfully crafted characters and honestly portrayed relationships make its portrait of small town Texas life compelling and relatable in ways that have nothing to do with field goals or touchdowns.

A Friday Night Lights Companion: Love, Loss, and Football in Dillon, Texas explores the victories and pitfalls of Dillon, Texas – both the town itself and those who live and love there. Because Friday Night Lights is so much more than just a teenage football drama: it’s about the struggle to not get trapped in the circumstances one is born into. It’s about love, it’s about loss, and, yes, it’s even about football.

• Dave Campbell’s Texas Football managing editor Travis Stewart provides a moving tribute to the power of high school football, by way of unlikely hero Matt Saracen
• Jonna Rubin shares the lessons she’s learned from the best marriage on television: Eric and Tami Taylor’s (lesson number one: drink more wine)
• Television Without Pity writer Jacob Clifton offers a meditation on one of Friday Night Lights‘ most fundamental values: being a part of something bigger than yourself
• The Washington Post‘s Jen Chaney reminds us what we love most about all our favorite Dillon residents, from Tim Riggins to Buddy Garrity to Jess Merriweather
• New New Media author Paul Levinson shows how the alliance between NBC and DirecTV saved Friday Night Lights
• And more writing and reflections on Friday Night Lights

Contributors: Jen Chaney, Jacob Clifton, Jeremy Clyman, Kiara Koing, Paul Levinson, Ariella Papa, Paula Rogers, Jonna Rubin, Sarah Seltzer, Kevin Smokler, Travis Stewart, Robin Wasserman, and Adam Z. Wilson