Could Emmy Award wins next month by the DirecTV/NBC series "Friday Night Lights" save the show from cancellation?
Most industry observers were surprised Thursday when the show's two main stars, Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton, were nominated for Emmys as best actor and actress in a drama, with Rolin Jones nominated for best drama writing.
Now fans of the show are hoping the renewed publicity and recognition surrounding the show might be enough to salvage on more season beyond 2010-11, which is scheduled to be the show's fifth and last.
Shooting of the 13 episodes in Austin, Texas, for season five, which will premiere on DirecTV this fall, is expected to finish by the end of July. Individuals familiar with the production of the show told TheWrap that the finale episode is going to creatively bring a conclusion to the series.
The cast has already been released to do other show pilots, and some of the producers have already locked up new projects.
But insiders at NBC Universal said because the show's storyline surrounds high school kids, it would be possible to bring in a cast of new faces if the show were to continue and some of the current cast moves on.
"It probably would be a bit of a long shot right now, but we never say never," one individual at NBCU told TheWrap. "The show is currently winning its time period on NBC this summer and it did show growth on DirecTV this season."
"FNL" has been averaging 4.1 million viewers at 8 p.m. on Friday nights on NBC in repeats, with a 1.3 18-49 rating that has won its time period for six straight weeks since the end of the May sweeps.
The decision for the show to continue would be made by the executive producers, including Peter Berg and Imagine's Brian Grazer, along with NBCU's Universal Media Studios, NBC and DirecTV.
The show was going to be canceled two years ago, but NBC and DirecTV worked out a deal in which they would share costs and have DirecTV televise the first run of 13 episodes for the 2008-09 season in the fall, with NBC rebroadcasting the series in the spring. That same deal worked for this season and will for next.
"In the television business over the years, there are many shows that were hanging on by a thread and wound up becoming hits, so you never know," an individual at NBCU said. "You can't say that if the show wins the Emmys that will save it for sure. But the timing would be right." The Emmys will be announced on Sunday, Aug. 29, just weeks after the series finale is done shooting and soon enough to keep people in the fold.
Financial details of the current joint telecast deal between NBC and DirecTV have not been disclosed. The show will have backend money coming in this fall when ABC Family begins televising the series in syndication.
ABC Family has said it is not interested in producing new episodes. However, the show being televised from the beginning in syndication on ABC Family could draw new interest to the series and help fuel viewing of new first-run episodes on NBC and DirecTV.
Patty Ishimoto, VP of entertainment for DirecTV and general manager of DirecTV's The 101 network, which televises "FNL," told TheWrap, "We haven't talked with NBC about [renewing] it. But we are huge fans and so are our customers, so we'll see what happens."
