I am – Hercules!!


NBC’s small-town Texas soap “Friday Night Lights” shoots in Austin, this site’s HQ, and one of its major recurring characters is a guy in a wheelchair named “Herc.”

Hey now.

I’ve watched each of the first 21 episodes. It’s plenty diverting. Its title theme is amazing. The series’ showrunner, writer-producer Jason Katims, is a big talent who worked on one of my all-time favorites, “My So-Called Life,” before he graduated to create two more of my all-time favorites: “Relativity” and the TV version of “Roswell.”

If you haven’t seen the show, it’s a serial about a small-town Texas football team, the Dillon Panthers, which took the state pennant last year and may again this year. The state championship game is what drives tonight’s season finale. Entertainment Weekly gives the episode an “A.”

Could be the series finale, or not. A major player high up at NBC is said to be in love with the show, even if the low-rated hour is concluding before the commencement of May sweeps.

Is the show perhaps too predictable? Is “yes” the answer to all of the following questions?

* Will starting quarterback Matt Saracen see his confidence suffer now that he’s learned coach Eric Taylor has accepted the head coaching position at Austin’s esteemed Texas Methodist University?

* Will the Panthers’ performance cause Taylor to renege at the last minute on his acceptance of the TMU position?

* Will handsome longhair star fullback Tim Riggens make a play for Tyra Collette, his superhot ex?

* Will Tyra plant a big wet one on ubernerd mathlete Landry Clarke?

* Will cheaty cheerleader Lyla Garrity reconcile with cheaty quadriplegic assistant coach Jason Street?

* Will the Panthers come from behind to win the state championship in the game’s final minute?

* Will narcissistic star running back Smash Williams discover his bipolar girlfriend dead or dying by her own hand?

* Will no one wake to the fact that beast-ish dealership king Buddy Garrity’s chromosomes couldn’t possibly sire a creature as dreamy as daughter Lyla?

8 p.m. Wednesday. NBC.

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