Man of the Month: August

You know how famous people are always talking about how hard their lives are with all this fame and fortune? (And doesn't it seem like it's the famous people most desperate for the spotlight who complain the loudest? And they're often the ones with the least reason to be famous). Boo freaking hoo, right?

But do you know when I do feel sorry for celebrities? When they do genuinely amazing work, with little or no recognition for it. This is the syndrome that cancels the My So-Called Lives, Freaks & Geeks and Arrested Developments of the world after 1 or 2 seasons, while keeping 'According to Jim' on the air for 8 years (I wish I was kidding.). This is the affliction that leaves Lauren Graham, she of the brilliant Lorelai Gilmore creation, Emmy and Golden Globe free, while Jeremy Piven of the funny but mostly one-dimensional Ari Gold, makes his way to the podium – again. And this is why, this month, we are celebrating Kyle Chandler as Man of the Month.


Kyle Chandler plays Coach Eric Taylor, the heart and soul of one of the three best television shows on today, 'Friday Night Lights' (The other two being 'The Office' and 'Mad Men' – 'Lost' is too hot and cold) – a show that the Emmys somehow thought it sensical to nominate for “Outstanding Casting,” one of those prizes they don't even announce on the telecast, without recognizing a single member of that outstanding cast in the acting categories. Brilliant.

I've babbled on about 'Friday Night Lights' before – about how tragic it is that it's not more watched and about the reasons for this (People think it's about high school kids; people think it's about football; people think it's about high school kids playing football; all of these people are wrong; etc.). For today's purposes, that's neither here nor there (But those people are wrong.). And while I might love Tammie, played by the brilliant, subtle, smart, sassy, classy Connie Britton, even more than Eric, this is Man of the Month, not Celebrity of the Month. So, this August, we salute you, Kyle Chandler, for being a wonderful television dad, a brilliant deliverer of the well-meaning evil eye, and most of all, for making a football obsessed, middle-aged Texan sexy to a liberal, 20-something, baseball fan of an urbanite. Clear eyes, full hearts indeed.