When Friday Night Lights began airing in 2006, it earned a lot of praise from casual audiences and critics alike for just how authentic the show felt. The dialogue was natural, the pacing of arguments was intense, and the camera work made the audience feel like they were actually on the high school football field.

The series gave the audience a look at a small town obsessed with high school football, but it also brought raw emotion to the screen and featured storylines for both the teens and the adults tuning in. It was a rare gem, and though its five seasons are still available to stream on multiple platforms, for fans looking to fill the void left behind once it's finished, these television shows just might do.

10/10 Heels Brings Family Drama To Wrestling

Stephen Amell in Starz's Heels.

There are a large number of wrestling fans who don't look at the sporting event as a real fight, but as performers telling a story of heroes and villains (aka heels). Heels demonstrates that idea, but it also brings the audience into the family drama of it all, grounding the larger-than-life performances in real emotions.

Former Arrow star Stephen Amell leads the cast, and though the show only debuted in 2021, it's clear Amell, as well as cast members Kelli Berglund, Alexander Ludwig, and Alison Luff know a thing or two about making the drama real and can carry the show through a few more seasons.

9/10 One Tree Hill Starts With Small Town Sports

The cast of One Tree Hill pose together against a steel door

While Friday Night Lights has football, One Tree Hill has basketball. Both shows center on the teens and the adults connected to one high school team in a small town where it always feels like the future is riding on the game-winning shot.

The difference here is that rather than focus on new generations of high school athletes as Friday Night Lights does in its later seasons, One Tree Hill maintains much of its core cast for its full run, following the original basketball players into their adult years as spouses and parents. The show allows its audience to grow with it.

8/10 Necessary Roughness Moves To The Pro-Circuit

A psychotherapist sits in on a meeting for Necessary Roughness

This short-lived series didn't focus on high school football, but instead, on the surprising emotional turmoil surrounding professional football and other high-profile careers. The drama followed a psychotherapist who worked with pros instead of students.

Considering so many shows with football at their center focus more on the players or the coaches, Necessary Roughness provides a unique perspective on the sport. It's not solely focused on the field and the people on it, but the dreams being chased in a show like Friday Night Lights become reality here, for better or for worse.

7/10 Bloodline Features A Familiar Face

Kyle Chandler and Linda Cardillini star in Bloodline

If fans are looking for performances that will really draw them in instead of another athletic story, Bloodline is a good follow-up to Friday Night Lights. The series stars Kyle Chandler as the sibling at the center of the Rayburn family drama as he's left constantly cleaning up after his law-breaking siblings.

Chandler, of course, played Coach Taylor for the entire run of Friday Night Lights, and while both of these roles are respected authority figures in their small communities, they are very different people. Bloodline is a much darker series, but it certainly allows the audience to see just what else Chandler can do.

Ted Lasso in the locker room

Trade Texas for England and American football for the sport the rest of the world calls football (soccer), and the audience has a new favorite series in Ted Lasso.

Like Coach Taylor, the title character has the best interests of his team at heart. His team, brought together from all over the world, becomes a family unit. It has a lot of the same sensibilities as Friday Night Lights without the grittiness, making for a decidedly more comedic take on a sports arc with plenty of moments of sincerity and heart.

5/10 Titletown High Gives The Audience The Real Lights

The coach is flanked by his players on the sidelines of a game in Titletown High

If fans want to see how Friday Night Lights would play out when it wasn't scripted, Titletown High is the reality show for them. The Netflix series follows a real high school football team's wins and losses.

In fact, it follows one of the most decorated high school football teams in history, and it does a decent job of mixing the personal lives and the lives of the players on the field to give the audience a full picture of the kids at the center of a quest for a title. The drama of the show comes from stories the crew doesn't have to make up and a coach who has already filmed numerous reality shows in the past.

4/10 Nashville Makes The Setting A Character

Rayna and Juliette pose together on a sofa for Nashville

It's always strange to think of the place a show is set as a character, but there are a few television programs that truly make that happen. Friday Night Lights is one of them, as the small town of Dillon is clearly defined by its football and by how everyone in town interacts with it.

In Nashville, the city is defined by its connection to the country music scene. The drama can be a bit soapy at times, but Connie Britton (of Friday Night Lights) knocks her starring role out of the park, portraying a country singer reacting to turmoil and trying to hang on to her career.

3/10 Outer Banks Allows Its Teens To Be Real People

Sarah Cameron and the Pogues hide behind bushes in Outer Banks

Though Outer Banks is certainly more of a teen soap than Friday Night Lights, it's also grounded in the relationships between the friends at the center of the story in the same way.

There's certainly plenty of adventure in the series with treasure hunts, kidnappings, and hostage situations, but the pull for the show is the family the group of teens forms. Just as the Friday Night Lights audience loved the friendship between Landry and Saracen, and their integration into the football team, the Outer Banks audience is focused on the love between the Pogues.

2/10 Parenthood Matches The Emotions

The Braverman family gathers in the backyard in Parenthood

Parenthood centers on the Braverman family and explores the dynamics of their children growing up. While it's not an athletic series, it has emotional storylines reminiscent ofFriday Night Lights and even its dialogue has similar a similar rhythm.

That's likely because many of the members of the creative team for Friday Night Lights are also involved in Parenthood, including showrunner Jason Katims. There are even cameos from a few Friday Night Lights cast members over the course ofParenthood's seasons.

1/10 All American Is The Modern Day Equivalent

All American premiered nearly 15 years after Friday Night Lights, but it sees many similar story beats play out in contemporary times. That's because it's also a series centered on high school football players.

The difference is that All American looks at the high school athlete story through the lens of young Black Americans, something Friday Night Lights only attempted in its final seasons. Friday Night Lights rarely featured racially charged storylines in its series, so All American makes for a welcome change in perspective.

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