10 TV Shows That RECOVERED From Jumping The Shark

5. Friday Night Lights

Friday Night Lights Kyle Chandler
NBC

Peter Berg's Friday Night Lights came swinging out of the gate with a terrific first season, which smartly avoided sports drama cliches while benefiting from uncommonly artful direction and a remarkable ensemble cast, led by the ever-brilliant Kyle Chandler.

Despite season one being praised as one of the best new series of 2006, season two was crippled by both the infamous WGA writers' strike, which trimmed the episode order down by almost one-third, and an uptick in offputtingly silly, soap opera-esque storylines.

For example, Landry (Jesse Plemons) ends up killing an attempted rapist and disposing of his body, a storyline which casts a dark, laughable pall over the entire season, and is effectively ignored for the show's remaining three seasons.

Thankfully the rest of the show's run was near enough back to the quality of season one, circling back to the poignant examination of small-town America that made it so acclaimed in the first place.

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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.