BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — One of the greatest things in the great first season of "Friday Night Lights" was the relationship between coach Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler) and his wife, Tami (Connie Britton).
But when last we saw the Taylors, he was headed to Austin and a job at fictional TMU, while she's staying in Dillon with their teenage daughter. Oh, and she's pregnant.
When the series returns (on Friday, Oct. 5, at 8 p.m.)., Tami is in labor, which brings Eric home from Austin. (As with Season 1, Season 2 will cover a high school football season, so it's been eight months of "FNL" time since the first-season finale.)
"She's dealing with this infant and with a 16-year-old daughter who is acting out more than she ever has before," said executive producer Jason Katims. "Coach Taylor is coaching at TMU in Austin, and this idea of this long-distance relationship that seemed like a great idea at the time suddenly doesn't seem like such a great idea. And they're wondering whether they made the biggest mistake of their lives."
Coach Taylor has been replaced at Dillon High. A new coach (Chris Mulkey) has been hired to lead the Panthers as they defend their state title.
And don't be surprised if the Taylors decide at some point that the whole long-distance marriage thing wasn't such a great idea. Katims said the separation is "going to be an arc. It's not going to be the entire season."
Hmmm. ... How might they bring Coach Taylor back to Dillon? Let's see ... we've been told that the new coach (Chris Mulkey) is going to come into immediate conflict with the team and the community.
(SPOILER ALERT: Word is that the new coach is going to get fired in the fourth episode of Season 2.)
Here are a few other things (none of which fall into the spoiler category) to expect from Season 2:
Glenn Morshower ("24") joins the cast as Landry (Jesse Plemons), a cop who used to play football. And Landry is going to try out for the team!
Danielle Alonso ("One Tree Hill") joins the cast as a nurse who helps care for Matt's (Zach Gilford) grandmother. And she and Matt forge a relationship.
Julie (Aimee Teegarden) is still going out with Matt but another guy catches her eye.
The man who tried to rape Tyra (Adrianne Palicki) is back in Dillon.
Lyla (Minka Kelly) gets religion.
Smash (Gaius Charles) claims more than his share of the credit for the state title, putting him at odds with Matt and the rest of the team.
Jason (Scott Porter) is now a full-time assistant coach. And "he gets movement back in one of his hands, which is something that he takes to be very meaningful and a sign that he's going to able to walk again," Katims said. "And he really starts to believe in it and starts to pursue sort of experimental operations that are going on."
'Friday Night Lights'
NBC/Ch. 5 repeats the final three episodes of the first season of "Friday Night Lights" on Saturday at 7, 8 and 9 p.m. If you haven't seen 'em, watch 'em or record 'em. You'll be glad you did.
E-mail: pierce@desnews.com