Friday

Is Friday night’s reign as the TV “death slot” coming to an end?

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Teen has received death threats

When an “on the bubble” show gets renewed, one condition for its renewal is usually that it will have a lower budget. (In case you’re wondering, for example, why most of the final season of Angel took place in offices.) And the surest way to cut the budget is to whittle the cast down from “huge” to merely “really, really big.” And so it is with Friday Night Lights; it was announced today that showrunner Jason Katims will be demoting two of the regulars, Smash (Gaius Charles) and Jason (Scott Porter) to “recurring” status. They will appear when the writers wrap up their stories, but they will not appear or be paid on a regular basis.