"FNL" back on NBC this week

In a week when the biggest freaking show on television makes its usual understated debut ... and a cult classic enters the home stretch with the first of 10 new episodes ... it's going to be a little difficult for "Friday Night Lights" to suck in any leftover oxygen in the room.

It can't help that "Friday Night Lights" had its actual season debut four months ago on DirecTV, in an arrangement that both sealed its financial security for this season and quite possibly its doom. DirecTV, the satellite king, poured money into the show and kept it alive. In return, it got to take some portion of its already-dwindling promotional mojo. In fact, the 13th episode and season finale will air 8 PM CT Wednesday on DirecTV's Channel 101, just two days before the handoff to NBC, which begins airing the third season at episode one, airing 8 PM CT Friday.

I've seen three episodes from this season, which revolve around Coach Taylor's (Kyle Chandler) attempts to make good his promise to his most talented alumnus, Smash (Gaius Charles); and his wife Tami's (Connie Britton) attempts to run Dillon High her way. Maybe it's me, but it seems that satellite money has calmed down the show a bit. The pacing is still pretty frantic, and you never forget that the writers, like the Dillon Panthers, are always on the clock. But the story lines aren't as farfetched as last season's (think dead guy in a river) and seemed truer to the spirit of Buzz Bissinger's book about Texas high school football and its dual role as both an escapism and escape.