By Christina Radish
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Jason Katims on the set of Roswell. File Photo by Christina Radish/Agency Photos.
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A writer with a background in New York theater, Jason Katims brought his talents to television in the mid-1990s, working on both the short-lived 1994 drama The Road Home and the teen drama My So-Called Life. In 1996, after having written and co-produced his first feature, The Pallbearer, Katims created the romantic drama Relativity and, although it was canceled after a brief, but acclaimed run, he didn’t let that deter him, in creating the sci-fi teen drama Roswell in 1999. That compelling series, yet another entry in the writer’s impressive body of work, added a dimension of emotional and romantic realism to science fiction genre.
Now, Katims attentions are divided between two NBC television series, the critically acclaimed Friday Night Lights and the new break-out hit Bionic Woman. He talks to MediaBlvd Magazine about the challenges of maintaining a large ensemble show like Friday Night Lights.
MediaBlvd Magazine> NBC has emphasized that this is not a football show, but that it’s a family show. However, a lot of people like it because it is about football. How do you approach it, when you’re making the show?
Jason Katims> The network has been so supportive of the show, from the beginning. We’re here today because they’ve been so supportive. We’re not really trying to change the show. We’re not saying it’s not a show about football. But, we think this is a show that is for everybody, that should reach a female audience as well. Because of the football thing, it’s been a challenge to show women that they would like the show, too. That’s the thing that we’re trying to overcome, and that’s really about marketing.
MediaBlvd> Last season, most episodes had a football game. Is that going to continue? Are you going to go through a full football season?
Jason> We’re going to go through a season. We didn’t actually have a game in every episode, last season. We had football in every episode. We had the team. We had practices. And, that will continue. We may not play quite as many full-out games as we did last year, but it will be the same idea.
MediaBlvd> Teenagers go through a lot of changes. Are you avoiding having people graduate too soon?
Jason> It was really an exciting idea for us to start eight months later, just for that reason. We love the idea of all the stuff that’s gone on in those intervening eight months, and picking up with people, in the middle of things. Tami had the baby in the first episode. And, suddenly, she’s in Austin with this infant, while her 16-year-old daughter is acting out more than she ever has before. Coach Taylor is coaching at TMU, and this idea of a long-distance relationship that seemed like a great idea, at the time, suddenly doesn’t seem like such a great idea anymore. They’re wondering whether they made the biggest mistake of their lives.
MediaBlvd> How will be developing the Jason Street character this season?
Jason> Early in the season, he found out that he has movement back in one of his hands, which is something that he takes to be very meaningful, and a sign. He sees it as a sign that he’s going to be able to walk again, and he really starts to believe in it. He starts to pursue experimental operations that are going on. What winds up happening, in the show, is that he reconnects with Tim Riggins and Lyla through it. It follows up on what happened between Lyla, Jason and Tim from last season, and resolves all the stuff that had gone on with them.
MediaBlvd> Can you talk about the challenge of having two main characters separated, and creating a two-story thread for them, while having viewers feel like Coach Taylor is still a part of Dillon and that story?
Jason> Right away, the writers knew that was a challenge that we would have to overcome. It’s dealing with the times he comes back to Dillon. It’s dealing with this long-distance relationship, and the nuance of that. It’s dealing with him seeing a little bit of what college football is like, and not being the head guy there. So, there’s a lot of interesting dynamics that come out of that. I think the thing that was crucial in breaking the stories is that, while they might physically be in two different places, we have to keep that connection between them alive. In a lot of ways, that is the core of what the whole show is about.
MediaBlvd> How long can you keep Coach Taylor and his wife in different locations? Are you going to do that through the entire season?
Jason> We’re going to do an arc of that. It’s not going to be the entire season.
MediaBlvd> Was the season finale written before you knew you would be renewed for a second season?
Jason> Yeah, it was written before. We wanted to write it with cliffhangers, leaving things up in the air, so that the network would be forced to pick us up.
MediaBlvd> Were you disappointed when they pulled the reruns off the air this past summer?
Jason> Of course, I was disappointed that they didn’t do better. I wasn’t disappointed in that choice because it made sense. Everything that they have done really has been to try to protect the show. They felt like nobody was coming to the table.
MediaBlvd> Is there any story that, in retrospect, you wish you would have spent more time on?
Jason> In terms of regrets about stories, I have no regrets. The challenge with this cast is how great of a cast it is. It’s a big cast, and the challenge was always trying to get everybody in and keep their stories going, all at once. I’d send (co-executive producer) Jeff Reiner a 60-page script to direct, and he’d say, “That’s not 42 minutes, Jason. It’s got to be 42 minutes.” So, the biggest challenge was trying to write for all of the characters, and keep all their stories going.
MediaBlvd> Are you worried about airing on a night and time when a lot of people who might enjoy a show about football would be at high school football games themselves?
Jason> The really positive thing about the time slot is that we’ve always believed this was a 9 o’clock show, so we’re really excited that we’re on at 9 o’clock. The show is, obviously, a show that we all love, and its’ a very intense show. For it to be on at 8 o’clock, we felt that was always something that was a challenge to get past. And then, being Friday Night Lights on another night was a challenge, too. I’m sure that the high school football people can record it, if they’re at a game.
MediaBlvd> As cool as it is to be able to get watch this show in other formats, are you concerned that that will dilute the people who are actually watching the show on the TV set?
Jason> That is something that all the research at the network has shown is not the case. Getting the show out there as much as possible, in as many forms as possible, helps with the broadcast of the show.
MediaBlvd> Executive producer Peter Berg said that one of the reasons he liked turning this into a TV series was because he was able to explore some of the issues in the book that he wasn’t able to explore in two hours in the movie, like the economic depression of the town, the racism and the town’s obsession with football. Are you still going to be exploring those issues in depth?
Jason> Oh, yeah. That’s the show. The show has this small town for a backdrop, as well as high school football, and the town’s obsession with that. To me, the show is also about this marriage, these relationships, parents trying to figure out how to raise their kids, and teenagers figuring out sexuality and issues about race and class, and all of those things. You don’t usually get to explore all those kinds of things, as a writer, director or actor, in as intimate and detailed a way as we’re getting to. That’s the lifeblood of the show.
MediaBlvd> Aside from the original book, do you do any ongoing research into either what’s going on with high school and college football, or what’s going on with Texas politics, as it relates to the school system?
Jason> Yeah, we continually do research. The writers are all based in L.A., although we make frequent visits to Texas. And, we do a lot of research on the Internet. Plus, we have relationships and connections to a lot of the high school football athletic programs around where we shoot. In order to do a show like this, you have to feed off what’s going on.
MediaBlvd> Have you given any thought to what you would do if someone at NBC wanted you to change the show?
Jason> Honestly, we have not had that experience. I don’t know how I would react. Any time that the network or studio has a question, with the script or storyline, it’s always honestly felt like we’re all after the same goal. They’re basically trying to help us get to where we’re trying to go. I’ve been really positive, in that way. If something really wanted to sit down and have a conversation about changing the show, it’s hard to imagine how we would change it.
MediaBlvd> Do you think people from big cities can relate to this show?
Jason> They may think that they don’t want to watch it, which might be one of the obstacles. Maybe they think they’re not going to relate to it. Similar to women not thinking the show is for them, I think that this show is about everyone. I’m from Brooklyn. I didn’t play football. I don’t have these innate connections to small towns or football, but I’ve decided to dedicate my life to the show. I feel like it’s something that people will connect with.
