It's Official: FNL Is Back!

NBC delivered the good news Wednesday. One of TV's best dramas, "Friday Night Lights," will be back for a third season next fall.

The network worked out a deal with DirecTV, which will show the episodes on its channel, "The 101," beginning Oct. 1. NBC will then broadcast the series beginning after the Super Bowl in its regular Friday night timeslot.

Of course, for those of us who don't have DirecTV, that means we have to wait until February, and NBC is only making 13 episodes. But for those of us rabid fans of the series, it's well worth the wait, and 13 episodes is certainly a lot better than zero, which seemed to be "FNL's" fate a few months ago.

There's been no official word as to when the series will pick up, but rumors abound that it will be the start of the next football season (senior year for Matt, Landry and Riggins) when it does resume. No word on which cast members are returning, or if new ones will be added.

This new partnership may be the future of TV, since it has become more expensive to produce dramatic programming, and in the age of DVRs, commercial programming is about to undergo a major paradigm overhaul. But if the changing face of TV means keeping the "Lights" on, I'm all for it.

Other returning NBC shows announced Wednesday include: Lipstick Jungle, Medium, Law & Order, L&O: SVU and the 15th and final season of ER.

New shows on the slate include: The Office spinoff, My Own Worst Enemy, Kath & Kim, Knight Rider, Robinson Crusoe, Kings, The Philanthropist, The Listener, Shark Taggers, America's Toughest Jobs and Chopping Block, plus the miniseries The Last Templar and XIII.

THURSDAY'S BEST BETS: Jeff Zucker has often been the object of criticism on this blog, but his guest appearance at the beginning of "My Name Is Earl" (NBC, 8 p.m.) is the highlight of the hour-long episode. While in a coma, Earl imagines his life to be 60s-style sitcom. Paris Hilton also guest-stars in the episode. It's followed by four reruns of "The Office."

"Miss Guided" (ABC, 8 p.m.) wraps up its brief run tonight, and after a "Lost" rerun, "Eli Stone" is new at 10 p.m.

Finally, "CSI" (CBS, 9 p.m.) and "Without A Trace" (CBS, 10 p.m.) return with their first new, post-strike episodes.