After five seasons, this summer marks the end of Friday Night Lights as a television series. Despite being so highly-regarded by critics and fans, Friday Night Lights was hurt through lack of promotion by NBC in the form of television and online marketing.

Many of the main characters changed as the series evolved, but the Taylor family was a constant in every episode. Get to know them!

Coach Taylor

Coach Eric Taylor is your typical football coach, a man overwhelmed by the expectations of a small Texas town and the responsibility to become a father figure of sorts for his players, yet a man who knows no other way. Described by director Peter Berg as “a typical Texas high school football coach”, Taylor is fiercely loyal to his family and football team and grudgingly accepts the hoopla that surrounds high school football in the town of Dillon, Texas.

Midway through the series, Dillon High School splits into East Dillon and West Dillon, and Taylor is sent to coach at the much poorer, more urban East Dillon. As Coach Taylor always does, he works for the respect of his players and builds a power at East Dillon despite the rough conditions.

The marriage between him and his wife, Tami, is the focal point of the series and is the “rock” of the show as the rest of the characters and situations are constantly changing.

Tami Taylor

If the Taylor marriage is the rock of the show itself, then Tami is Coach Taylor’s rock throughout all five seasons. Tami, played by Connie Britton, who was also the coach’s wife in the movie Friday Night Lights, is a strong and intelligent character who works as a guidance counselor, principal, and guidance counselor again throughout the show.

Tami is often Eric’s moral compass, especially with situations that involve one or more of his players. She urges Eric to do the right thing when faced with issues involving players, coaches, administrators, and his own career and family and really provides the guiding force for the Taylor family.

Julie Taylor

One of the more interesting subplots to Friday Night Lights is the maturation of Julie Taylor, the teenage daughter of Coach and Tami Taylor. Julie begins as a high school freshman new to Dillon and struggling to adjust to being the coach’s daughter in a small town that lives and dies with football. Eventually, she thrives in Dillon and uses her considerable amount of academic talent to her advantage. She even follows her father to East Dillon when the schools split despite being a student at the much more well-off West Dillon.

Julie’s relationship with Dillon quarterback Matt Saracen is a major part of her role in Friday Night Lights, and their innocence gives a tenderness to a show otherwise going heavy with hyperbole. They fall in love in Season One and go through the trials and tribulations of a typical teenage romance, and even by the end of the series we are left unsure of their future together.

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