Phyllis enjoys watching Friday Night Lights on the Internet

When the "Internet" started, I was struck by how it lacks the late night quality of radio, television, and 24-hour convenience stores. If you turn it on in the middle of the night, it's too bright and just the same as it was when you went to bed. There is no 3-6 am dj who keeps strange company through the wee hours, no old re-runs. No obscure movie you swear no one but you had ever heard of. Even cable TV has special programming late at night. Pornography, they tell me.

But with the advent of the Internet, I also had hopes that one day, I would be able to watch whatever TV show I wanted whenever I wanted. They also tell me you can do this with dvds, and videos before. It's not the same. And I don't want to watch season one of Lost when season three is just ending. I want to jump right in with the rest of the people. I am slow, though, and I can't always get the timing right to be in front of the television when my shows come on. I hear there is something for that, too. TIVO.

I prefer the Internet. Finally, I can watch TV online. Through a winter of broken hips, arthritis, and bad luck, I have had a lot of time to convalesce. I sit at the desk, watch TV on the laptop, and knit presents for all my young women friends having babies.

Lately, I watch Friday Night Lights. Hank swears he never would have expected to find me watching a show about high school football in small town Texas, but I had heard from a mole that it was good, so I thought I would try it out. These young people are deep and troubled beyond their years, especially Riggs. He carries a burden so great it makes his hair exhausted.The number two quarterback, Matt,is sweet, unsure, and quiet. He's thrust into not-quite greatness when the real number one QB breaks his neck in the first episode and spends the rest of the episodes showing us that people in wheelchairs do best when they are male athletes.

I am most taken with the TV mom, coach-wife Connie Britton. With cleavage that could signify a much drunker mother, she is tough and kind. Everyone wants to pour their hearts out to her, which is great since she is a guidance counselor and political campaigner for a lesbian republican (for whom she didn't vote--come on, she's doing it for the schools!).

Thirteen episodes in, through two weekends, a bout of pneumonia, and much knitting and ripping, I am sort of hooked. I know the Panthers win the state championship (I checked on Television Without Pity). Sorry. Spoiler. I enjoy more the pretty young love of Matt and Julie, the coach's daughter. I like dynamics between the coach, oiled with integrity, and his no fool wife. And when I am done with Friday Night Lights, I think I will start watching Lost. I just saw my first episode last week. It was the season finale. They get off the island!