Friday Night Lights
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Amazon and NBCUniversal expand Prime Instant Video deal, let you stream Parks and Rec in one place
Amazon and NBCUniversal Cable & New Media Distribution today announced a deal that will expand the mega-retailer's streaming selection by hundreds of episodes, including the likes of Parks and Recreation, Parenthood, Friday Night Lights, Heroes and Battlestar Galactica. Prime users will be able to check out older seasons of those shows on their computers, iPads, Xbox 360s, PlayStation 3s and, of course, Kindle Fires. Non-Prime subscribers can also try out Prime Instant Video's 22,000 movies and TV shows for one month, gratis. More information and lots of excited quotes about the deal can be found after the break.
Netflix, NBC Universal content deal brings Battlestar Galactica, SNL and more to Watch Instantly
Just in case a throwaway mention of a streaming-only subscription for US customers wasn't enough, an agreement adding plenty of recognizable content from NBC to its Watch Instantly service might help Netflix distract from a recent string of PR gaffes. Starting next week, cable shows from the media giant's stable like Psych, Battlestar Galactica and others, episodes from the most recent seasons of NBC shows including The Office and 30 Rock will be available. Not good enough? Why not throw in every season of Friday Night Lights and Saturday Night Live, with new eps of SNL added the day after they air for the next three years. Seems like a win/win to us, with many hours of new content for Netflix while NBC cashes a fat check for old seasons of Monk and Law & Order:SVU -- as much as we love Tony Shalhoub as a neurotic private investigator, those DVD boxed sets just weren't moving like they used to. The only question left is whether HD streaming for any of these is on deck, until we hear back just check out the full press release after the break.
First seasons go on sale on the PlayStation Store
The US PlayStation Video Store is having its "First Season Summer Sale." From now until September 17th, you'll be able to download episodes from the first season of 30 Rock, Battlestar Galactica, Eureka, Friday Night Lights, Heroes, Psych and The Office for only 99 cents each in SD. (HD episodes are $1.99 each, and will only work on the PS3.)
DirecTV goes public with The 101 fall lineup
We won't come close to saying that a dedicated HD channel is reason enough to make the switch to DirecTV, but if you've been teetering, have a look at what you'll be seeing / missing out on this fall. The satcaster has just unveiled its fall lineup for its exclusive The 101 channel, and before we go any further, let us emphasize that each and every show mentioned will be delivered sans commercials. As you well know by now, the third season of Friday Night Lights will begin on October 1st at 9:00PM ET / PT, and for fans of that, they'll surely dig the companion show Live From Dillon. DirecTV is also planning new seasons for Supreme Court of Comedy and Rock & A Hard Place, and it's even bringing a sneak preview of the new original series from Starz Entertainment, Crash. Not bad DirecTV... not bad at all.
Friday Night Lights S3 tackles DirecTV on October 1st
Earlier this year, we heard that the struggling Friday Night Lights series would return for a third season, but in a rather peculiar way. Now, we finally know the start date for the aforesaid drama. Beginning on October 1st, DirecTV subscribers will be the only ones out there able to catch the third season on the satcaster's own The 101. The partnership was struck in order to keep the lightly watched show from going under prematurely, and for those operating sans DirecTV, you'll just have to be patient until it hits NBC in the coming months. Good luck resisting the urge to torrent -- you know Tim Riggins couldn't.[Image courtesy of TVJab]
Screen grabs: Matt Saracen has iPhone trouble, is still really cute
Screen grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today's movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dt com. Poor Matt, this guy has it so hard. If he isn't having relational trouble with Julie Taylor, he's disappointing his dad, his coach (Julie's dad, conveniently enough), his team, or the entire town of Dillon, Texas. Last thing the guy needs is an iPhone telling him he's wrong, so we're going to pin this Friday Night Lights upside-down incident on Zach Gilford, the man behind the cute-shy quarterback legend that is Matt Saracen. You disappoint us, Zach. [Thanks, EJ]
Season 3 of Friday Night Lights to air on DirecTV's The 101 first, NBC second
It's not atypical to see shows ink exclusive deals with carriers every now and then, but this one's pretty bizarre. Apparently the third season of Friday Night Lights has been green-lit for production, but in an effort to "spread production costs while rekindling a series," all 13 new episodes will air first on DirecTV. In other words, by the time all non-DTV subscribers see S3 in early 2009, customers of the aforesaid sat provider will have already experienced the baker's dozen. Filming is slated to resume sometime this summer, and DTV users will have access to the new season on October 1st on The 101; sometime after the Super Bowl (in 2009), it'll broadcast on NBC. Weird, huh?[Via Chicago Tribune, image courtesy of PopTheology]
iTunes: Free Wednesday
Friday Night Lights has finally debuted on iTunes and you can now download the first episode for free. The show is critically acclaimed but doesn't seem to have found a wide audience yet. Also today, here's an update with the Japanese Single of the Week for those of you readers with iTunes Japan accounts. US: Friday Night Lights, Episode 101Audiences cheer the first season of this poignant and powerful drama. The intimate storytelling and the inspired performances involve the viewer with an authentic portrait of life, love, family, and friendships that really hits home. Japan ??????????????????: Testin Me (Vocal) by Peven Everett???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????11?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????•??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????/???????????????????????????????????????????? ABB ???????????? ABB SOUL ?????????????????????????????????????????? "Testin' Me" ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? R&B ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
HDTV Listings for October 3, 2006
What we're watching: We don't understand why a show named Friday Night Lights is making its debut on a Tuesday, but we'll roll with it. Also new tonight is the CW season premiere of Veronica Mars, alongside the movie Walk the Line on HBO at 9. The Major League Baseball regular season is finally over and the Detroit Tigers face the New York Yankees tonight in a first-round matchup on Fox.
