In an interview with Fresh Air's David Bianculli, Friday Night Lights star Kyle Chandler confirmed that a third season of the Austin-filmed show is on....

It's not official yet, but yesterday evening Nikke Finke reported on her blog that NBC is making a deal with DirecTV to keep airing critically-acclaimed and locally-filmed Friday Night Lights. ...

"Unfortunately, no one watches it": NBC's head entertainment honcho seems pessimistic about the chances of a third season of Austin-filmed Friday Night Lights. KLRU's Tom Spencer to head up Austin Area Interreligious Ministries. All of the City's diesel fleet will soon run on bio-diesel. 17-year-old charged with two counts of sexual assault on the Texas State campus....

Photo from KXANWhen you're tuning in to tomorrow night's episode of Friday Night Lights, keep your eyes peeled for a cameo appearance by local weatherman Jim Spencer. On the show, KXAN's Chief Weathercaster warns of a tornado approaching the fictional town of Dillon, TX. The episode spoiler reveals that a rival high school is subsequently damaged by the twister, forcing both teams to share Laribee High's weight room, football field and lockers. Antics doubtlessly ensue.......

Woman who had worked as pharmacist for the CVS on Riverside had fake documents. 60 soldiers who had been serving in Iraq for over a year return home to Ft. Hood for the holidays. Look what our city might be gifted: a 60-foot saxophone sculpture!...

Photo by jmtimages on flickr Help out: Volunteers needed to take people with mobility issues through the Trail of Lights. Austin/Travis County EMS asks people to not block the driveways at fire and ambulance stations; it's not against the law, but it does slow their response to emergencies. The NY Times thinks the Justice Dept. needs to take a look at the Texas Youth Commission. Body of murder victim's mom found in San Marcos. Jerry......

Photo by The Chaninator™ on flickr Travis County officials hope to extradite former UT student from Peru; in 1996, her drunk driving led to the death of her passenger. Attorney General Greg Abbott's office collected $2.3 billion in child support last (fiscal) year. Chief Acevedo to decide today if any disciplinary action will be taken against Sgt. Olsen for the death of Kevin Brown earlier this year. Secretary of Defense Gates visited Fort Hood this......

Image from nbc.comAustin's favorite high-school football drama, Friday Night Lights, could be changing networks. Radar is reporting that ESPN is in talks to bring the critically-acclaimed, but little-watched, show into its lineup of original programming. Friday Night Lights, which follows the lives of the fictional Dillon High School Panthers, films in and around Austin. Despite winning critical awards and having a loyal following, the show has moved time slots three times and has struggled in......

As Austinist's music staff were preparing for Fun Fun Fun Fest coverage, we realized that many of the festival's headliners had kindly spoken to us for interviews over the last year or two. For any of you who may have missed the original pieces, or for those who have recently discovered these fine acts, a recap and links are presented below. Explosions In The Sky - Saturday, 8:40pm, Stage One: Austin's Explosions In The Sky......

Connie Britton, of Friday Night Lights fame, appeared earlier this week on the Late Show with David Letterman. Dave brought up filming in Austin and she discussed Keeping Austin Weird. They also had a lengthy conversation about Leslie, whom she couldn't recall by name, as well as her interactions with our actual mayor.......

Have you been missing out on NBC's Friday Night Lights? Did last season's Wednesday night showing time not gel with your schedule? Well, we're going to give you five reasons why you should make time to watch this award-winning, but low rated, show. 1. The show is filmed in Austin. Local landmarks show up on the show, from EZ's in the opening credits to the Dairy Queen on Manor (where Matt works) to Brackenridge Hospital......

As Fantastic Fest kicks off tonight, Austinist will be bringing you previews of films playing at the festival. We begin today with Wendigo director Larry Fessenden's latest, The Last Winter. An interesting yet practical genre mash-up, the film is an eco-horror piece concerning the fate of an oil crew who are damaging the environment in rural Alaska. There's no serial killer here: the antagonist(?) is actually the planet, which begins to fight back when......

You know how Texas has those new Film Incentives dollars to throw around now? Well, they're not limited to movies and Friday Night Lights only. The gaming industry gets a piece of that, too. And since there are over 50 gaming studios already in Austin (not to mention the availability of increasingly slick development/programming courses) it's a given that gaming will continue to blow up here in the Capitol City. But all that's a major......

ACL Previews Austinist Launches Dedicated ACL Page! Preview: Manchester Orchestra and Patterson Hood Preview: Ian Ball and the Little Ones Interview: Paolo Nutini ACL Band Clash, Round 2: The Killers Vs. Björk Weekly Features Tales Of Mere Existence Hots On #9: Sound Off New Release Tuesday: Frisell's Floratone The Argyle Academy New Movie Releases: The Invasion, Superbad, Death at a Funeral, and More Truesday: Friesday The Laurie Show News, Features, and More Travis County......

NBC's sweaty teen pigskin drama Friday Night Lights, now shooting in Austin, is still casting extras. And they made a MySpace page about it! Now, interested young hopefuls eager to sample the Dionysian craft-service spoils of the new Texas film incentives plan may simply hit up FNL on MySpace for instructions and call times. They're casting football players, cheerleaders, teachers and students, and seeking all ages and ethnicities. However, their MySpace page does hold one......

Hot on the heels of the Austin City Council rolling out the incentive red carpet to keep Friday Night Lights turned on, the Texas Legislature passed House Bill 1634 this weekend, also known as the Texas Film Incentive Program. The bill, authored by Rep. Dawnna Dukes (Austin, represent!) and spearheaded by Sen. Bob Deuell (R-Greenville) along side our very own Governor Rick Perry, will set aside $20 million worth of incentives to entice future productions......

What's going on around here you ask? Well... Spring is in full bloom, the ACL lineup was announced last week, the weather behaved nicely for us all weekend, and Friday Night Lights is sticking around. Everything is coming up Austin! What could be better you say?! We've collected the best of last week's Missed Connections for you to find out for yourself... ATTN: 80s Cokehead Guy Did I miss the joke? Because it looked......

Yesterday it was announced that NBC has renewed the small-town Texas drama, Friday Night Lights. Michael Ausiello from TV Guide says that a full season (22 episodes) has been ordered. But more relevant to us: it will still be filming in Austin (guess the incentives worked). We can look forward to more filming in Northeast Austin and other local areas. If you haven't yet seen an episode of the Peabody Award-winning show, all the......

It's not a season renewal, but NBC has asked for six new scripts for the locally-filmed drama. This is the second item of good news for the show in recent days; last week the show was awarded a prestigious Peabody Award for being the only current television series "grounded in contemporary American reality". If Friday Night Lights is renewed, the location of the filming is still up in the air; it could move away......

Austin City Council yesterday voted unanimously to approve economic incentives for NBC's drama series, "Friday Night Lights," in order to keep the production based here. An economic development grant of $40,000 would be offered to NBC Universal if the network commits to filming the second season in Austin; a subsequent $40,000 grant would be presented upon completion of filming. "Austin is becoming the alternative to Hollywood as the kind of ground-zero for independent digital......

Let's be honest: everyone loves SXSW week, but when it ends, you are secretly very ready to move on. Before we do, let's take a look at some of the isolated, crazy, and wonderful moments that make SXSW such an over-the-top sensory experience. – The dude at Girl Talk dancing with a broken pinata on his head. Then passing said pinata to someone else to dance with. – Isaac Hayes talking in his famous......

Explosions in the Sky's soaring melodies and tight instrumental flair burst into Emo's last night, wowing the sold out crowd. Always a local favorite, the band has been garnering more and more accolades through touring and prominent placement on the soundtrack of primetime NBC television series Friday Night Lights, which is filmed here in Austin (at least for now). The band's sound was tight and at times as explosive as the fireworks that gave......

Our favorite local posts of the week:And She Wrote About Austin has Leslie on her fridge. Michael A. posts on his disappointment that one of his Dobie Food Court options has gone away. SxSW Baby! rates local breakfast taco joints so we don't have to (although we notice that El Chilito is missing on their list). Omar G. visited the set of Friday Night Lights and took some great photos. Eileen posts on TXU......

Austinist gets arty with an interactive guide to SXSW, loved some local art galleries and a new art exhibit and lamented the possible loss of "Friday Night Lights" production to New Mexico. Bostonist was happy they finally found an Anna Nicole Smith connection to their fair city and that an Apple Store was opening up. They were less happy that new rules have been established limiting underage shows and that their Governor is spending......

It looks like NBC might move the locally-filmed drama Friday Night Lights out of Austin to save money. It might be possible to use rural east New Mexico (we're thinking the Las Cruces area), but Louisiana for West Texas? Nah. Such a move is being forced on the show to save $100,000 an episode, and the network is considering these states. The city and Texas state lawmakers (even Gov. Perry) are trying to provide enough......

Austin's Explosions In The Sky play powerful instrumental indie-rock that has been compared to Mogwai and Sigur Ros and are widely lauded by critics. Their live shows have become so popular that their Emo's show in March has been sold out for weeks, and multiple-night runs are now needed in cities like New York and Toronto. After a three-plus year wait, EITS's new album All Of A Sudden, I Miss Everyone arrives on Tuesday.......

Austinist reader Christien Bings alerted us to a Myspace bulletin posted by local band Lil' Cap'n Travis, who'll be making an appearance in an upcoming episode of Friday Night Lights. They're currently looking for a handful of paid extras to serve as "Austin Club Goers": The Lil' Cap'n Travis Band will be performing for a scene in the NBC television series, Friday Night Lights on Friday, February 9, 2007. We are looking for fans of......

We learn this afternoon from trustworthy sources that NBC has ordered a full season's worth of episodes of Friday Night Lights. This means more shooting in our area, more jobs for local actors, and it's a great vote of confidence by the network for a show filmed outside of Hollywood. Tomorrow night it's Homecoming in Dillon, and all hell breaks loose. Street now knows that his girlfriend is gettin' it on with his best......

Out at the refurbished Del Valle High School football stadium, a staged homecoming football game was filmed last Friday night and into the pre-dawn hours of Saturday. The “game” was the backdrop for the Austin-based NBC series Friday Night Lights. The show’s pilot premieres tonight at 7:00 p.m. “We wrapped at 4:00 a.m.,” assistant director Michael Waxman said. “I’ve had about 3-1/2 hours of sleep at this point.” Waxman was talking by cell phone from......

Despite Austin's population of just 700,000, there is no denying that we have become the regional hub for film and television production in the Southwest. In fact, no fewer than six films shot in Austin will hit screens between now and Thanksgiving. If you're curious about what those trucks near the Capitol building and at Texas Chili Parlor have been up to, or simply want to support locally made films with your movie dollars......