There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
ATX Television Festival programs an 'FNL' reunion
By Kimberley Jones, 11:06AM, Fri. Apr. 20, 2012
Friday Night Lights forever: Cast and crew will reunite for a special event at the inaugural ATX Television Festival, which runs June 1-3.
Cofounded by Caitlin McFarland and Emily Gipson, the ATX Television Festival means to mix fandom with craft talk, celebrations of old shows with sneak peeks at new content. On the shortlist of gone but not forgotten: Firefly, Lone Star (episode #104, which never made it airwaves), and Friday Night Lights.
FNL exec producers/writers Jason Katims and David Hudgins will be joined by eight confirmed (so far) cast members, including Adrianne Palicki (Tyra Collette), Jesse Plemons (Landry Clark), Michael B. Jordan (Vince Howard), Gaius Charles (Smash Williams), and Brad Leland (Buddy Garrity) at an outdoor Alamo Drafthouse Rolling Roadshow event held at the parking lot of the San Jose Hotel. The sob-making pilot episode and final episode will be aired, followed by live music from cast members Alicia Witt and Dora Madison Burge; the event is free and open to the public.
Other programming is restricted to festival badgeholders (badges are on sale here), including an advance screening of the season two premiere of MTV's Teen Wolf small screen reboot and a panel featuring creatives from Adult Swim shows NTSF:SD:SUV and Children’s Hospital. Slated to talk at the fest are a host of showrunners/producers/writers/and/or directors such as Bill Lawrence (Scrubs, Cougar Town), Jane Espenson (Battlestar Galactica, the indispensable www.janeespenson.com/), Liz Tigelaar (Revenge), and Ben Edlund (Firefly, Supernatural, and cartoonist creator of The Tick).
For a more complete list of shows and actors slated to appear (hell, we didn't even get to Judy Greer or Paul Scheer or Tom Cavanagh...), check out the website here. Need a little push? Industry professionals like Garry Marshall and Chris Gorham shill for the fest at ATX Television Fest’s YouTube channel.
A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.
Sarah Marloff, June 11, 2018
Sept. 6, 2024
ATX Television Festival, ATX Television Fest, Friday Night Lights, Caitlin McFarland, Emily Gipson, Teen Wolf, Adrianne Palicki, Jesse Plemons, Michael B. Jordan, NTSF:SD:SUV, Children's Hospital, Bill Larence, Jane Espenson, Liz Tigelaar, Ben Edlund, Judy Greer, Paul Scheer, Tom Cavanagh, ATX TV Fest 2012