Danger, Danger, "FNL"

"Friday Night Lights" continues to wow me, and I hope NBC will renew it despite the mediocre ratings. Yeah, "FNL" is my "save this show" project right now, even though I'm not sure "save this show" campaigns really work ("Freaks and Geeks," "Arrested Development," etc., RIP). Indeed, sometimes I think they can turn potential viewers off, because they make watching the shows sound like some kind of moral obligation. (That said, here's how to petition NBC.)

And so I write this entry out of love, and because I don't want to see "FNL" lose its magic. But the last two episodes have had a distinctly afterschool-special odor about them. Last night, the writers telegraphed a message to us about manic-depression, as Waverly had a manic episode, talked about having gone off her drugs, and then sat sobbing on the kitchen floor. It was mental illness in teens in three or four scenes. And last week, we got a "very special episode" about premarital sex.

Please please please please PLEASE, "FNL" writers. Don't turn this realistically filmed and strongly acted series into must-heave TV! What has been so very powerful about the show is the way it has dodged Big Obvious Messages and taken a documentary-like look at ordinary lives in smalltown Texas. At times, "FNL" has been a wonderful contemporary gothic for the small screen. Don't go all "7th Heaven" on us, and don't confuse public service announcements with drama. You probably won't gain any new viewers, and you'll alienate some of your biggest fans.

P.S.: Please don't forget to push Connie Britton for a best actress Emmy.