Gail Shister | 'Friday Night' writer scorns the competition

0 Comments | Philadelphia Inquirer, The, October, 2006 | by Gail Shister

It serves us right that ABC's Dancing With the Stars clobbers NBC's Friday Night Lights, says Chestnut Hill's Buzz Bissinger, on whose book the drama is based. "America is getting what it deserves - crappy, stupid, artificial reality TV," says Bissinger, 51, a former Inquirer reporter and writer for NYPD Blue.

The acclaimed freshman Friday stars Kyle Chandler as a high school football coach in a small Texas town. It tackles such explosive issues as race and religion with understated dignity. Exec producers include Peter Berg, who produced the '04 film; and The Da Vinci Code's Brian Grazer. "It's distressing that so many people are flocking to a show that's obviously contrived and ridiculous," Bissinger says. "Our show is about real issues. It's a shame it's been struggling."...