Congratulations! Friday Night Lights has leveled up.

I have no actual proof that Peter Berg, Brian Grazer and David Nevins—the production team responsible for the NBC drama Friday Night Lights—play role playing games, but having watched the first season of their show, I have a hard time believing that they don't. Solid narrative involves character development, that's a given; but rarely is that development so abrupt that it seems as if the characters have reached a new level. For example, when the paralyzed former quarterback, Jason Street, teaches the new quarterback, Matt Saracen, a fade pattern that Saracen insists he lacks the arm strength to throw, his first two attempts prove that he does, in fact, lack the arm strength to throw that outside fade. Then, as if throwing it two times earned him enough experience points to level up, Saracen hits his receiver's outside shoulder not once, not twice, but consistently, and for the remainder of the season.

I initially thought this phenomenon was limited to the acquisition of greater physical gifts, and chalked it up to the production team's desire to show improvement without having to regularly resort to montages; but as the season progressed, it became clear that this logic also applied to the character's emotional and intellectual development. For example, when the wildly irresponsible Tim Riggins first encounters the annoying son of the single mother who moved in next door, he treats the child like all wildly irresponsible teenagers treat annoying third-graders; then, on a day when he is spectacularly hungover, Riggins converses with the boy and temporarily fortifies his Intelligence attribute enough to provide him the mana required to cast an ensouling spell, which he does, resulting in a permanent +1 bump to his total magicka.

Has there ever been another series in which character development was this aggressively tiered? 

Comments

[Ahistoricality]

Well, there were certain characters in Star Trek: Voyager which vacillated between idiot and genius depending on a coin flip: you never knew at the start of an episode which it was going to be.

[Mike Russo]

I haven't thought that, but I have thought that a FNL type setup would be perfect for a roleplaying game -- you have a natural party structure for the main characters, the high school setting gives you tons of relationships and drama to play with, and you can make the weekly games into an analogue for the interstitial combat that happens in most RPGs -- fairly rules-heavy set-pieces in which the players need to think tactically and work together -- but using the results to push ahead the drama in the other sections so it's all fairly unified and makes sense within the narrative.

I actually pitched my regular gaming group on this idea, but sadly only got limited interest, since mostly it's easier to stick with the usual fantasy/sci-fi/horror tripes. Sigh.

[Mike Russo]

Tropes! I mean tropes!

God I hope that wasn't a Freudian slip, because that would just be depressing.

[happyfeet]

When Xander became soldier Xander I thought that was kind of super abrupt really.

But that's different.

[SEK]

Well, there were certain characters in Star Trek: Voyager which vacillated between idiot and genius depending on a coin flip: you never knew at the start of an episode which it was going to be.

You used something that refers to groups and things to refer to people! You're the worst pedant ever! (Sorry, I did mandatory office hours all day and feel the need to subject others to the shortcomings my interior monologues brought to my attention.)

That said, I see what you're saying, but what makes this show so odd is that you're never quite sure who's going to level up when, which means that at any moment some random fullback will X-treme! Chrysalis! and emerge moments later the second coming of Herschel Walker. Which is fine and all, surprise-wise, but it doesn't make for the best narrative development. (Although having watched a few more episodes, I think the writers migth could be aware of this and be playing with it ... which is why I shouldn't write about unfinished projects.)

I haven't thought that, but I have thought that a FNL type setup would be perfect for a roleplaying game -- you have a natural party structure for the main characters, the high school setting gives you tons of relationships and drama to play with, and you can make the weekly games into an analogue for the interstitial combat that happens in most RPGs -- fairly rules-heavy set-pieces in which the players need to think tactically and work together -- but using the results to push ahead the drama in the other sections so it's all fairly unified and makes sense within the narrative.

Russo, you're a geek after my own heart ... by which I mean, the fact that you used the word "interstitial" in a post about football and role playing games overbrims with awesome.

When Xander became soldier Xander I thought that was kind of super abrupt really. But that's different.

Which, as you well know, exactly. You may not remember, because I didn't write it up, but I taught that episode a few quarters back to no good end. The students couldn't follow the scene changes, which saddened me because, you know, Buffy's wonderful, but not Joyce.*

*Sorry, I've waited for years to employ that pun ... yet now that I have, I think it might not have been worth it.

[James T]

Ahist: Sounds like the Idiot Ball.

[Endy]

On the one hand, it's only a really crap DM who lets you get away with leveling up in the middle of a fight, so it's sort of an inaccurate take on D&D you're basing this on. On the other hand, for real-world strength training and muscle-memory based tasks you really only get the benefits of training after you rest and heal(this is especially pronounced for those still growing), sometimes skills really do plateau and then break through. On the...*casts spell*...on the other hand, maybe improvements in the complexity of interpersonal relationships in the show are an example of the writers leveling up.
In answer to your question, Record of the Lodoss War...and also, ReBoot's tiers were even more abrupt...

[Ahistoricality]

Ahist: Sounds like the Idiot Ball.

Sort of, but in this case (and yes, I'm thinking mostly of the vastly overrated Seven of Nine character) I think there was more confusion among the principle writers (and the series bible, which allowed them great lattitude) about the character, because the genius/idiot aspect was rarely central to the plot.

You used something that refers to groups and things to refer to people! You're the worst pedant ever!

Unless "it" refers to the quality ("idiot or genius") rather than to the character (who, in some views, is an "it" not a "sie," especially when the character is in some way fundamentally inhuman). Try and out-pedant me, will you?

(Sorry, I did mandatory office hours all day and feel the need to subject others to the shortcomings my interior monologues brought to my attention.)

So, you had a bad day; why should I suffer?

[KWK]

I've thought there were similar issues with "24", though reversed in effect--sort of a leveling down, rather than up (then again, maybe Jack Bauer had to go down a level to go up a level?). I'm specifically thinking of situations when the writers would decide hours after one of Jack's near fatal experiences that he suddenly had to deal with various physical/emotional repercussions. These bursts of character "development" tended to be subtle compared to other abrupt changes, though, like bright and sunny conditions at 4:59:59 PM, followed by pitch blackness at 5:00:01.
The writers could more easily get away with this sort of thing when the episodes aired weeks apart, but the DVDs made them glaringly obvious. Then again, "24" is neither Joyce nor Buffy, so perhaps my expectations of verisimilitude are a tad high, and I need to try harder to suspend my disbelief (along with my moral reasoning) when I watch that show.