Lights still on at NBC

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For Friday Night Lights, the good news is that NBC has given the football drama a full-season pickup despite its ratings struggles. The better news is that the network is understood to be planning to move the show from the Tuesday 8 p.m. slot, out of the line of fire when Fox's American Idol returns in January. NBC on Monday confirmed it has given a full-season pickup to the show, which stars Kyle Chandler as the coach of a high-school football team in a small Texas town that revolves around the local team. Sources say NBC is planning a significant overhaul of its prime-time schedule starting in January to work around the crushing impact of Idol's return on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. There's been speculation that Lights could be headed to a Sunday berth. In its five airings to date, Lights has averaged 6.7 million viewers. With that performance, the full-season pickup underscores how much faith NBC brass has in the show. "We're proud to reward an authentic, poignant series like Friday Night Lights with a full-season order, demonstrating our confidence in its appeal and quality," NBC Entertainment president Kevin Reilly said. The series is based on the book and the 2004 feature film, which was directed by Peter Berg, who is also shepherding the TV version. Story Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved