Why Friday Night Lights is the most likable series on television

As Season 5 gets underway I'm once again reminded by "Friday Night Lights" remains about the most likable series on television: almost every scene feels true to life, the conflicts between the characters are realistic and moving, the characters are drawn vividly, there's pathos and humor, the structure of a football season as the team strives to excel give each season a reasonable arc, the series takes on not on issues of adolescent angst but issues of parenthood, addiction, racial tensions and poverty, but never in a heavy-handed manner. The only drawback to Season 5 is that many of the great characters have evolved out of the show or appear only in bits; though new characters have stepped in, there are now very few that have endured through the whole series. The Taylor family is the main constant presence - particularly Coach Taylor and Tammy, who in my opinion is the true star and moral center of the series. Julie is now off at college, and though we follow her freshmen-year turmoil (an affair with a married grad assistant), the season is a little scattered as it branches out beyond the boundaries of Dillon - the small-town life and the various aspirations of the kids who want to get out of Dillon but are afraid of change is what has made the show show poignant. Season 5, apparently the last season, brings the Taylors into the same school again, the racially diverse East Dillon, and the struggles of the kids in poverty is a compelling part of the plot; we also feel bad for the lost soul, Becky, and begin to develop interest in Buddy and his son who comes home to Dillon with serious addictions.