Mar 8, 2009, 01:02 PM | by Scott Porter

Categories: 'Friday Night Lights'

Well. I'm supposed to be here blogging about Episode 3.8 (what we call it in the biz, 3rd Season, Episode 8, New York, New York) of Friday Night Lights. There's only one problem. I haven't actually watched it. I haven't watched any of my episodes this year. Don't know if I ever will. I can't really explain why, it's just something that I haven't gotten around to. They are sitting there on my entertainment center, in DVD form. They are also resting on my DVR, ready to be Slingbox'ed to my computer for my viewing enjoyment at any time. They might collect dust for a little while longer. I don't know when that time will actually come.

I watched Gaius Charles' exit episodes and was touched beyond belief. The final scene with him flashing that Bazillion gigawatt smile that electrified FNL for three years was just perfect. I wish I could've been there, wish Jason would've had more interaction with all these other amazing characters on our little show that could, and did. I wish I would've had a scene with Jesse Plemons, who basically was my little brother in Austin. I wish I would've had more time with Aimee and Connie and Adrianne. It would've been a pleasure, but I'll just sit back and enjoy their work from afar. And applaud them. After those four episodes I stopped watching. Maybe it's that I just want to remember those five weeks of filming my exit from FNL, as I remember them. Not how they've been edited together to fit into 42-minute episodes for commercial enjoyment. That month was slightly surreal. It was wonderfully bittersweet.

So, that's what I'll talk about here...the steps that led up to Jason Street leaving Dillon, TX, and how Scott Porter remembers it. I got the call in June that Jason Street would be wrapping up and moving on from FNL, that I was becoming a guest star in Season 3. That his entire exit would be told in four episodes. I was at a comic book convention in Philadelphia (Wizard World) getting ready to go sing karaoke with all my nerdy friends. Jason Katims and Peter Berg called me together on a conference call. Conference call? I knew that wasn't a good sign. Sure enough they broke the news to me. Thank God for Pete's straightforward nature, the honesty was refreshing.

addCredit("Mitchell Haaseth/NBC")

It was a punch in the gut, I was upset, angry, but then I really started to think about it. I really feel like we had painted Jason into a corner by cutting him off from so many of the characters on the show over the first two years. There was no other way out, I guess. There was no victory for Jason within the borders of Dillon. Surely we could've kept him coaching, we could've had Riggins move in with him to be his caretaker. We could have done a lot of things differently to keep Jason in touch with the other characters of the show, but what would that have bought him? A victory of living in little Dillon, TX? After we saw his heart? After we saw him struggling to become a man in front of us? After we realized that Street was destined for something more than just sitting, wasting his days away in a town that was too small for him? Those things would've been nice for Jason's longevity on the show, but they would not have seemed right to me. He needed to get out. He needed to show the world that he was capable of greatness, injury or not. Greatness was not to be found in Dillon.

The tough part of getting Jason out of Dillon was the motivation. It came in the form of Erin and Noah. Jason's miracle child, his baby boy. The problem being, no one knew who Erin was. No one really cared, and we had a huge hurdle of trying to get them to care enough to buy into Jason chasing her. This would've all been a lot easier had we not had the writers' strike in Season 2. Over the final seven episodes that were planned for Season 2, you were going to see this kind of Knocked Up relationship form between Jason and Erin. It would have really cemented them as a couple. As two scared kids who connect on a deeper level than they ever imagined. I promise you all that if we had those seven episodes back, you would be in love with Jason and Erin.

We never got those seven episodes back, though. What we did get was a 13-episode order for Season 3. With as large a cast as we have, coupled with our characters growing up by the minute, tripled with need to breath new life and new cast members into the show, four episodes was what we had to get all of that across to you. We had to have a storyline that picked Jason up, confronted him with larger than life challenges, allowed him to conquer, and somehow get out of Dillon to go on to a bright future. I think we did a hell of a job.

Tamara (Erin) was beautifully honest in the Jason/Erin scenes. She walked into a situation where she was playing a bolt out of the blue. Not only did she have the challenge of playing a scared, tired, nervous, young mother, she had to play it on a beloved show against one of its most embattled characters. She played it with a grace and an honesty that I loved. Our scenes felt raw. I was not going to let her or Noah go without a fight. Surprisingly enough, an actress who you had seen twice before, was responsible for a lot of my drive through that last month. Thank you, Tamara.

K-O (Kevin Rankin, Herc), Derek (Billy Riggins), Kitsch (Riggs), and myself called our storyline a circus of idiots. It really was like the four Stooges (Shemp included) reuniting. I laughed until I cried every day that I worked with them. Our scenes, while ludicrous at times, seemed pitch perfect. Flipping the Garrity house with these boys kept me sane over my last month. You want to talk about improv, or getting of the page, we abandoned the script daily and found pure gold in a lot of what we did together. The whole Billy being short joke? Came about organically. It started to recur and it was even funnier to us behind the scenes than it was on camera. That's just the tip of the iceberg.

This show gives us a freedom that is unrivaled. And trusts us to hold ourselves accountable. It's what makes it so special. There was a take of a scene that you'll never see, that I'd like to share with you. It's the lullaby scene with Street and the boys in the Garrity house. The three of them (Herc, Riggs, Billy) are quietly working behind Street as he sings a lullaby to his baby over the phone. Derek (Billy) decided that he was gonna start making cracks about it behind my back, instead of just going along with the "quiet recognition" that was in the script. Street has tennis balls in his wheelchair bag, he uses them to try and improve his dexterity and strength in his hands. As I finish singing, I hear Billy drop some smart-ass line about me and my kid. Without thinking, I grab one of the balls out of my bag and bean him in the neck with it. Perfect shot, had to sting a little. Herc and Riggs start cracking up and Billy gets so damn pissed that he turns cherry red and storms out. That is being in a scene. That is Friday Night Lights.

My closing scene with Minka, where Jason asks her advice one last time, was really tough. Minka and I shared so many scenes over my time on the show, we really grew up together as people and as actors. We wanted to underplay it. To let the audience feel the weight. I haven't seen it, but I really felt like we nailed it. No words could really express the friendship of these two, I hope we didn't get in the way of it.

My last scene with Brad. Buddy Garrity. Gawd was that fun. Giving it to him the way he gives it to everyone else on the show. It was really a respect thing for Jason. He and Buddy had been at each other's throats a couple of times, but Jason never really came out on top. This time he had to show Buddy that he was a man, and that he could be trusted, and I think he did.

There is a scene that got cut out of the last episode with Coach Taylor and Jason Street that I was really proud of. After I got the news that I was leaving, I called Jason Katims up and told him I wanted a scene where Jason would go pick up his box of tapes and trophies from Coach Taylor's office. He didn't remember what I was talking about. What box? I reminded him that in Season 2, after I came back from Mexico, Jason gave Coach Taylor a box. He quit the team for a second time and said that he couldn't look at that stuff anymore. In typical Kyle Chandler fashion, Coach looked at me with those eyes that say a million things at once, waited, then quietly said, "I'll hold on to these until you're ready to come pick them up." It wasn't in the script, but it made so much sense. So, I told Jason I wanted to go pick up the box. He loved the idea, wrote a scene, and we shot it the next day. A simple scene. Coach Taylor was more a father to Jason than his own dad, this was Jason thanking him, Jason really becoming a man, and coach being proud of him. I heard from Jason Katims that it didn't make the network cut. I hope it makes the DVD. It would be a shame for that to lay on the editing room floor.

My last scene with Kevin Rankin was so small, but meaningful. You got to see Herc really support Street. Kevin played it with such meaning, so much heart. It was the unexpected reaction from Herc that made it work. If I told you Jason Street was going to say, "I'm going to New York to be a sports agent," what would you expect Herc's return line to be? "You're an idiot..." or something equally as smart-assed, right? Well. That's not how it was written and not how it was played. He said, "Go for it..." a simple line of support. Kevin is amazing, possibly my best friend from a show that blessed me with lifelong friendships from just about everyone I worked with, and he is possibly the most incredible and generous actor I know. I'm gonna miss our wheelchair fights, homey! Oh, and just so you all know, NO, he is not really wheelchair bound, he's just that good.

And that leads me into my last bit. Jason and Riggins take New York. We went with a skeleton crew. Jeffrey Reiner was in charge. No one gets this show more than he does. He is fearless, he was handpicked by Peter, and he's just as crazy. Just as brilliant. Kitsch and I didn't really speak a lot about how much this meant. About how much pressure we were under. We had two days to shoot pretty much the entirety of my last episode. Two days to end Jason Street's run on the show. Much like me and Minka, I believe that Taylor and I have really grown together on this show. We let it all hang out in those last two days. We challenged each other. We spitballed and just threw the most random lines at each other to see if we could make the other guy drop the ball. We laughed, we tackled it all with reckless abandon up until the last scene. We weren't careless though. We know Jason and Riggs, 6 and Timmy. We know them inside and out and no one can tell us any different. They live as friends as few get to on this world, with an understanding of each other and a willingness to forgive the shortcomings that they both possess. We just existed in a pocket where things felt right.

Kitsch is gonna be a star, and it was my pleasure to spend my last two days with him. Those two days were insane. We didn't have permits to shoot most of the places where we did in NYC. Reiner said he wanted a scene on a subway car. So we went for it. It wasn't in the script. It was highly illegal, but we just went down to the E line and got on, cameras and all. Would you believe that when we decided to get off, there was a HUGE winding ramp with a "Wheelchair Accessible" sign on it? That's just how things happen on this show. That ramp made it into the episode. We didn't scout that location. We weren't even allowed to be there, but somehow it found us. That's what it was like to shoot this show. All the time.

The scene in Times Square took place on a Saturday Night. Saturday Night, Times Square, 3 Cameras, 2 Actors, 1 Wheelchair. I looked at Taylor and we just started laughing. How in the hell are we gonna do this? I don't know how it turned out, but let me explain how it felt while we did it. We had a wall of background actors trying to keep everyone else out. Four behind me, three on either side of Kitsch and me. Our crew is the greatest crew in the world. Our PAs, ADs, everyone was all trying to protect the cameras. There were constant flashes as tourists and onlookers tried to take pictures. It was incredible. Throughout all of that we had to get a walk and talk, or Roll and Talk, between Jason and Riggs. It was one of the greatest moments of my short on-screen career. The energy was amazing. That's guerrilla filmmaking I guess. Glad to have experienced it.

My final scene was two takes and done. Jeffrey told me he would only use the first. All I really remember about it was Taylor and me actually crying before takes, we would look at each other with tears and just start laughing at how ridiculous we must've looked. I am a man. I don't cry at the drop of a hat, but the emotion was too much. The end of a journey. Growing up with this crew and these actors. My first time really being able to create a character, and now watching him go on to live his imaginary life. It was just too much. To calm myself down, I asked our 1st AD to let me look at football scores on his iPhone, tried to focus on my fantasy football team. It didn't work.

Texas Forever could have been a cheesy catchphrase on any other show. Not on Friday Night Lights though. Those two words carried more meaning than I could've ever imagined from the Pilot on. Every time we said it on the show, it was said from a place deep within the heart. They are words that carry with them, friendship and hope for a future that seemed beyond the grasp of these kids. We said these two words sparingly. Using them only when true friendship was so apparent that there was nothing else to say. Thank you so much for watching the show over these past years. Thank you for allowing these characters to live. Thank you to everyone involved with the show. Cast, Crew, Producers, Writers, Directors. I've said it before and I'll say it again. We caught lightning in a bottle here. We are a special show because of our trust, respect for each other, and dedication to making this show unique and real. I love you all, and I hope this show continues for years and years. Texas Forever.

Scott

Tags: Jason Street Scott Porter Friday Night Lights

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