I’m not going to lie, I’ve been waiting for tonight for quite a while. Because I’m one of those people. I’m one of the few that has been into Friday Night Lights from almost the beginning.

A friend of mine said there are two kinds of people: Those who love Friday Night Lights and those who haven’t seen it. I can’t disagree with that statement at all.

Tonight, those of us who don’t have DirecTV or haven’t run out to pick up the DVD will finally get to see the final season of Friday Night Lights as it begins its run on NBC. We once again get to see Connie Britton and Kyle Chandler. We once again get to see a cast of previously unknown actors grow before our eyes. We get to watch ourselves get captivated by the storylines.

Here is a story previewing the final season of the show.

Here are a couple of excerpts:

“If there were justice in the complicated realm of pop culture, “Friday Night Lights” would have spent the past five years loading up on Emmy awards and adorning magazine covers. Instead, it has mostly lurked on the prime-time sidelines as television’s most understated and underappreciated masterpiece.”

And more:

“I know what you’re thinking: Here’s another preachy TV critic spewing an eat-your-vegetables kind of sermon. Guess again. I’m urging you to give “Friday Night Lights” a chance not because it’s good for you in the way that say, “The Wire,” is good for you. I’m urging you to watch because this just might be the blind date that pays off in the TV love of your life.

From town rabble-rouser Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch) and troubled but talented quarterback Vince Howard (Michael B. Jordan), to beauty-queen heartbreaker Becky Sproles (Madison Burge) and headstrong Jess Merriweather (Jurnee Smollett), this show is teeming with characters who worm their way into your heart. Just give them two or three episodes to form a bond and, odds are, you’ll find yourself cheering their triumphs, crying over their disappointments and cringing at their mistakes. Why? Because they feel so incredibly honest and real.

And speaking of real, the performances of Chandler and Britton as Eric and Tami Taylor are off-the-charts brilliant. Like any long-wedded couple, their characters frustrate and annoy one another, but at the end of the day they always fall back into each other’s arms. With a pleasing mixture of humor, warmth and playfulness, they personify TV’s most authentic depiction of a modern marriage – and they do it so well that you forget these are actors at work.”

My advice is much like the advice in the story: Give it a shot. Either start tonight. Or start watching old seasons of the show on Netflix (you can stream previous seasons). I think you will like it. Because there’s a dirty little secret about the show: It’s not really about football. It’s only  the most honest show about teenagers and growing up in a smallish town that I’ve ever seen. You don’t have to like sports, you don’t have to like football, you just have to like good television.

How fired up am I? I’ve been watching episodes from the the first season again on Netflix. Once again, I’m hooked. I can’t wait to see what happens.

Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose.