Best tv shows like Friday Night Lights
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Friday Night Lights is an American drama television series based around a high school football team situated in Texas. The series takes place in the fictional town of Dillon: a small, close-knit community in rural Texas. Particular focus is given to team coach Eric Taylor and his family, Tammy and Julie. The show uses this small town backdrop to address many issues facing contemporary American culture, including family values, child development, life lessons, school funding, racism, drugs, abortion and lack of economic opportunities.
IMDB Rating: 8.7
IMDB Votes: 71000
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 44 min
Plot tags: sincere, realistic, sentimental, serious, suspenseful, mysterious, dramatic, grindhouse, teen, light hearted
Best tv shows and movies like Friday Night Lights (2006):
Similar in 83%
Playmakers (2003)
Plot Summary:
Playmakers is an American television series that aired on ESPN from August 26, 2003 to November 11, 2003. It depicted the lives of the Cougars, a fictional professional football team in an unidentified city. The show starred Omar Gooding, Marcello Thedford, Christopher Wiehl, Jason Matthew Smith, Russell Hornsby, and Tony Denison. The show, which ran eleven episodes, was the first original drama series created by ESPN. Although the ratings were very high for ESPN—Playmakers was the highest-rated show on the network other than its Sunday night NFL and Saturday college football games—ESPN eventually canceled the series under pressure from the National Football League, who thought professional football was being negatively portrayed.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 491 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, captivating, realistic
Similar in 76%
All American (2018)
Plot Summary:
When a rising high school football player from South Central L.A. is recruited to play for Beverly Hills High, the wins, losses and struggles of two families from vastly different worlds - Compton and Beverly Hills - begin to collide. Inspired by the life of pro football player Spencer Paysinger.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: motivational, captivating, emotional, inspirational, thought provoking, ambiguous ending, multicultural
Similar in 78%
Greenhouse Academy (2017)
Plot Summary:
When teen siblings Hayley and Alex enter an elite boarding school, they find rivalry, romance and a mystery related to the recent loss of their mom.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Family, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 25 min
Plot tags: colorful, children's program, captivating, light, feel good, futuristic, intellectual, colourful
Similar in 88%
NBC Sunday Night Football (2006)
Plot Summary:
NBC Sunday Night Football is a weekly television broadcast of Sunday evening National Football League games on NBC that began airing on Sunday, August 6, 2006 with the pre-season opening Hall of Fame Game. Al Michaels serves as the play-by-play announcer, with Cris Collinsworth as the color commentator and Michele Tafoya as the sideline reporter. Fred Gaudelli and Drew Esocoff, the lead producer and director respectively, carry over their duties from ABC's telecasts of Monday Night Football. John Madden, the color commentator for the first three years of the program, retired prior to the 2009 season; Collinsworth succeeded him. ESPN, which aired Sunday night games from the 1987 through 2005 NFL seasons, took over Monday Night Football from sister network ABC starting in 2006. In the 2011–12 season, it was named the highest rated, most watched TV program in Nielsen ratings. In second place was American Idol, a show that had previously held the title of most watched TV program for eight consecutive seasons and eight straight years. Starting in 2012, under the new NFL television contract, a Spanish-language simulcast will eventually air on sister network Telemundo; currently like all networks with NFL television contracts, NBC's SAP channel features Spanish-language audio, though promoted by NBC as "provided by Telemundo".
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Sport
Country: USA
Duration:
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, realistic, non fiction
Similar in 82%
The Bronx Is Burning (2007)
Plot Summary:
The Bronx Is Burning is a television drama that debuted on ESPN on July 9, 2007, after the 2007 MLB Home Run Derby. It is an eight-episode mini-series adapted from Jonathan Mahler's best-selling book, Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bronx Is Burning. The book focuses on baseball's triumph over the turmoil and hysteria of 1977 New York City and how the New York Yankees came to embody the hopes and fears of an unforgettable summer with Billy Martin and Reggie Jackson's warfare under George Steinbrenner's leadership. The show stars Daniel Sunjata, Oliver Platt, and John Turturro, while executive producers Mike Tollin, Brian Robbins, Joe Davola, writer and executive producer James Solomon, and director Jeremiah Chechik work on the show. The series is produced by ESPN Original Entertainment in conjunction with Tollin/Robbins Productions. Filming began on September 18, 2006, in Connecticut and New York. The 2007 debut of the series marks the 30th anniversary of the 1977 World Series win for the Yankees, the first under Steinbrenner. After airing on ESPN, episodes could be viewed on ABC on Demand.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, realistic, clever, humorous, epic, stylized, mad
Similar in 77%
Beyond the Break (2006)
Plot Summary:
Beyond the Break is an American drama series set in Hawaii, that debuted on The N in June 2006.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 728
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sexy, touching, serious, realistic, exciting
Similar in 80%
Eagles (2019)
Plot Summary:
Eagles revolves around a few teenagers living in the Swedish ice hockey town Oskarshamn while experiencing friendship, love, and rivalry on the ice.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance, Sport
Country: Sweden
Duration:
Plot tags: light, sincere, romantic, touching, captivating, sentimental
Similar in 84%
Spinning Out (2020)
Plot Summary:
Kat Baker is an up-and-coming, high-level single skater who is about to turn in her skates after a disastrous fall. When Kat seizes an opportunity to continue her career as a pair skater with a talented bad-boy partner, she risks exposing a fiercely kept secret that could unravel her entire life.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 48 min
Plot tags: inspirational, uplifting, psychological, suspense
Similar in 78%
The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers (2021)
Plot Summary:
In present day Minnesota, the Mighty Ducks have evolved from scrappy underdogs to an ultra-competitive, powerhouse youth hockey team. After 12-year-old Evan is unceremoniously cut from the Ducks, he and his mom Alex set out to build their own ragtag team of misfits to challenge the cutthroat, win-at-all-costs culture of competitive youth sports.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 40 min
Plot tags: humorous, captivating, entertaining, uplifting, teen comedy
Similar in 80%
Home Ground (2018)
Plot Summary:
When a newly promoted football club lose their trainer just before the start of the league season, a female, Helena Mikkelsen, gets the historic chance to coach the team, even before an ambitious retired professional.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: Norway
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: realistic, psychological, inspirational, captivating
Similar in 87%
The Slaughter Rule (2002)
Plot Summary:
A young man finds solace with a young woman, his mother, and a high-school football coach who recruits him to quarterback a six-man team.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, cult classic, indie film, independent film, emotional, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 78%
All the Right Moves (1983)
Plot Summary:
Sensitive study of a headstrong high school football star who dreams of getting out of his small Western Pennsylvania steel town with a football scholarship. His equally ambitious coach aims at a college position, resulting in a clash which could crush the player's dreams.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 20000
Genere: Drama, Romance, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: realistic, talky, melancholic, sentimental, sincere, feel good, touching, serious, inspirational, erotic
Similar in 77%
One on One (1977)
Plot Summary:
Henry Steele is a basketball phenom at his small town high school, but when he matriculates to a big city university on a scholarship, soon realizes that he has few skills outside the sport. Expected by his coach to contribute significantly to the team, Henry is overwhelmed by the demands on his time, the "big business" aspect of college sports, and the fact that he never fully learned to read. Things look bleak for Henry when Janet Hays, a pretty graduate student, is assigned as Henry's tutor. Her intellect and strength lift Henry out of his doldrums just in time to battle the coach, who attempts to rescind Henry's scholarship.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, sincere, melancholic, grindhouse
Similar in 84%
Brian's Song (2001)
Plot Summary:
The story of professional football players Gale Sayes and Brian Piccolo, and how their friendship on and off the field was affected when Piccolo contracted a fatal disease.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, emotional, serious, realistic, inspirational, uplifting
Similar in 85%
23 Blast (2014)
Plot Summary:
When a high school football star is suddenly stricken with irreversible total blindness, he must decide whether to live a safe handicapped life or bravely return to the life he once knew and the sport he still loves.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: sentimental, uplifting, serious, realistic, christian film, motivational, independent film, inspirational
Similar in 87%
The White Shadow (1978)
Plot Summary:
The White Shadow is an American drama television series that ran on the CBS network from November 27 1978, to March 16 1981.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 86%
Make It or Break It (2009)
Plot Summary:
Set in the world of competitive gymnastics, the series follows a group of teen Olympic hopefuls as they train for their day in the spotlight.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: feel good, serious, captivating, teen, sentimental, realistic
Similar in 90%
The Junction Boys (2002)
Plot Summary:
Tom Berenger leads an outstanding cast in this bone-crunching dramatization of legendary college football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant's debut at Texas A&M in the summer of 1954. The often unnerving story finds Bryant ducking the school's good ol' boy network of rich, influential alumni by spiriting his new team away to a makeshift training base in a tiny town called Junction. There, Bryant runs the equivalent of a POW camp, brutalizing an oversized, underdeveloped bunch of rowdy young men and tormenting those who seek medical attention for cracked spines and deadly heat exhaustion. Berenger delivers a warts-and-all performance as the vulgar, monstrous, yet much-respected Bryant, and the direction by seasoned television vet Mike Robe is brisk and almost explosively charged. Whatever one thinks of Bryant's punishing methods, the film does not flinch from telling its powerful tale. --Tom Keogh.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 979
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, sincere, captivating, realistic
Similar in 84%
Everwood (2002)
Plot Summary:
After the death of his wife, world-class neurosurgeon Dr. Andrew Brown leaves Manhattan and moves his family to the small town of Everwood, Colorado. There he becomes a small-town doctor and learns parenting on the fly as he raises his talented but resentful 15-year-old son Ephram and his 9-year-old daughter Delia.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, realistic, serious, sincere, rough, suspenseful, medical drama, teen, light hearted
Similar in 89%
Underdogs (2013)
Plot Summary:
Set in rural Ohio, the birthplace of football, UNDERDOGS is the story of a small-town high school football team destined to play their cross-town rival, a perennial powerhouse, while standing up for an entire community.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Family, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: feel good, touching, realistic, captivating, light, serious
Similar in 84%
Hometown Legend (2002)
Plot Summary:
A teenage drifter finds an opportunity to turn his life around when he joins a high-school football program with a hard-nosed coach.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 797
Genere: Drama, Family, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: touching, feel good, serious, realistic, independent film, sincere
Similar in 87%
One Tree Hill (2003)
Plot Summary:
Set in the fictional small town of Tree Hill, North Carolina, this teen-driven drama tells the story of two half brothers, who share a last name and nothing else. Brooding, blue-collar Lucas is a talented street-side basketball player, but his skills are appreciated only by his friends at the river court. Popular, affluent Nathan basks in the hero-worship of the town, as the star of his high school team. And both boys are the son of former college ball player, Dan Scott, whose long ago choice to abandon Lucas and his mother Karen, will haunt him long into his life with wife Deb, and their son Nathan. Until now, Dan has managed to keep his two sons far from each other. But the past and present collide sharply when Tree Hill's basketball coach recruits Lucas for his team, much to the chagrin of Nathan and Daddy Dan. And the siblings natural rivalry only intensifies when they set their sights on the same girl, Peyton Sawyer. The residue of the past lingers far into the future for the residents of Tree Hill, even as a new generation is rising. Tree Hill follows the lives and loves of these two brothers, their friends and their family as they navigate high school, marriage, and finally... adulthood.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 86000
Genere: Drama, Romance, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, realistic, touching, teen, soap opera, feel good, sweet, entertaining, action adventure
Similar in 84%
Believe in Me (2006)
Plot Summary:
In a conservative small town, a young man's wish to coach high school basketball are tweaked by a school board decision that makes him the new coach of the girls' team.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, inspirational, spiritual
Similar in 82%
Friday Night Lights (2004)
Plot Summary:
A small, turbulent town in Texas obsesses over their high school football team to an unhealthy degree. When the star tailback, Boobie Miles, is seriously injured during the first game of the season, all hope is lost, and the town's dormant social problems begin to flare up. It is left to the inspiring abilities of new coach Gary Gaines to instill in the other team members -- and, by proxy, the town itself -- a sense of self-respect and honor.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 66000
Genere: Action, Drama, Sport
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: inspirational, intense, sincere, serious, captivating, realistic, motivational, sentimental, philosophical, emotional
Similar in 90%
Hoosiers (1986)
Plot Summary:
High school basketball is king in small-town Indiana, and the 1954 Hickory Huskers are all hope and no talent. But their new coach -- abrasive, unlikable Norman Dale -- whips the team into shape ... while also inciting controversy.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 50000
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: inspirational, emotional, realistic, exciting, sincere, captivating, entertaining, independent film, scary, motivational
Similar in 83%
The Final Season (2007)
Plot Summary:
True story of Kent Stock, who in the early 90's, gives up a job and ditches his wedding plans to take over as head coach as the Norway High School baseball team. Kent must win over his players and convince them and himself that he can fill their former coach's shoes and that they can go out winners. In the summer of 1991 Norway High's baseball tradition ended on a triumphant but sombre note.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, realistic, historical drama, serious, captivating, emotional, independent film
Similar in 90%
We Are Marshall (2006)
Plot Summary:
When a plane crash claims the lives of members of the Marshall University football team and some of its fans, the team's new coach and his surviving players try to keep the football program alive.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 64000
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: sentimental, emotional, inspirational, touching, compassionate, sincere, serious, realistic, historical drama, feel good
Similar in 75%
When the Game Stands Tall (2014)
Plot Summary:
A young coach turns a losing high school football program around to go undefeated for 12 consecutive seasons.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Family, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: uplifting, captivating, exciting, sincere, serious, christian film, inspirational, sentimental, feel good, historical drama
Similar in 90%
McFarland, USA (2015)
Plot Summary:
A track coach in a small California town transforms a team of athletes into championship contenders.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 41000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: inspirational, touching, uplifting, feel good, exciting, sentimental, serious, light, emotional, sweet
Similar in 79%
Invincible (2006)
Plot Summary:
Inspired by the true story of Vince Papale, a man with nothing to lose who ignored the staggering odds and made his dream come true. When the coach of Papale's beloved hometown football team hosted an unprecedented open tryout, the public consensus was that it was a waste of time – no one good enough to play professional football was going to be found this way.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 74000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: inspirational, sentimental, motivational, exciting, feel good, sincere, serious, captivating, entertaining, historical drama