My second day of ATX TV Season 15 began with breakfast at my hotel and then headed over to the Omni for another trip to the BritBox Unboxed activation. I tried to game the trivia system this time in order to make the leaderboard, answering as many questions as possible by just selecting A every time instead of wasting my precious 60 seconds reading the questions. I managed to get 15/44 correct, placing me on the leaderboard. I took a couple more AI photos, selecting different options from yesterday, and this time when I opened a box, I won some socks.
Afterwards I headed downstairs to the Pluto TV Badgeholder Lounge, but they were filming an episode of We Are Austin LIVE!. So I stood in the hallway and watched their live interview with All Creatures Great & Small star Nicholas Ralph.
As I was heading upstairs, I ran into some friends who were going to the BritBox activation, so I joined them. I had noticed that those running the booth had wised up, and I had already been knocked off the leaderboard by someone who got 12/13. So accuracy was now more important than the sheer number of correct answers! On this second go-around for the day, I managed to get 10 correct, but also had too many wrong answers, and failed to regain my spot on the leaderboard. At the end, I opened a box containing another pair of socks,, but one of the other folks I was with got the tote bag, so we swapped.
Everything in this new Omni venue is so close together, and the BritBox activation was only a few steps from the Ballroom for my first panl of the day, and a line was already forming, so I decided to join it.
My first panel of the day was “Funny AF presented by Universal Studio Group”, which featured some funny folks from various Universal comedies, including actors Chelsea Frei (The Paper), Belissa Escobedo (Happy’s Place), Precious Way (The Fall & Rise of Reggie Dinkins) & Oscar Nuñez (The Office, The Paper). The panel was moderated by Damian Holbrook (TV Guide Magazine / TV Insider), and it was a really fun conversation. They talked about how they got interested in/started with comedy, working with some big name stars, some of the dramatic projects they’ve worked on, and more. Chelsea Frei and Oscar Nuñez work together, so there was this constant fun roasting banter between them. Oscar Nuñez was “on” the whole time, constantly making the audience laugh with his antics and self-deprecating age humor. At one point the person sitting next to me laughed when h was about t say he was “old”, and Oscar immediately ran with this, calling out the audience member in a fun way.
After the panel ended, I immediately got back in line for my next panel in the same ballroom, “THE PAPER presented by Peacock”, though I had a Fast Forward pass for this one. The panel was moderated by Hunter Ingram (Variety, The Wrap) and featured Co-Creators/EPs Greg Daniels & Michael Komen, and stars Sabrina Impacciatore (“Esmeralda”), Melvin Gregg (“Detrick”), Chelsea Frei (“Mare”) & Oscar Nuñez (“Oscar”). Sabrina talked about how she didn’t want Esmeralda to be hated by a U.S. audience and wanted to make her loveable, so she gave her a bit of a innocent girly voice. However, the creators admitted that she was originally written to be a Sylvester the Cat before she changed it to more of an “aggressive Tweety Bird”. The panelists also talked about about setting the show in Toledo, how the ensemble got to know one another, the use of improv and physical comedy, and more. It was a fun time, and Oscar was once again back to his same tricks, staying almost in character the whole time.
After the panel, I headed downstairs to the Pluto TV lounge, where I ran into some friends who were playing the memory matching game. I played this so many times, trying to see if I could get all 16 matches in the allotted 60 seconds. I came incredibly close one time, getting 15 of the matches and running out of time when I just had the final card left to click. During this process I earned more pins, and managed to complete my collection.
I grabbed a giant cookie and headed back upstairs for my next panel, but stopping in the BritBox activation one more time as some other friends were going to give it a try. This time I got the metal bookmark. Now there are just 2 prizes I haven’t managed to get—the pin set and the free year of BritBox.
My next panel was in the same ballroom I’ve been in all day. It was “ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL”. I have thoroughly enjoyed this PBS show, and was shocked when I saw it on the list of panels—it’s not something I would ever expect to find at a U.S. TV festival, unless it was something like a PBS Con. So I had used a Fast Forward pass on this one. As we walked in, there was some free swag on the seats—a bandanna, a sticker and a friendship bracelet for the series. The panel was moderated by Melanie McFarland (Salon), and featured star Nicholas Ralph (“James Herriot”), Executive Producer Sharon Moran, and Animal Coordinator/Trainer Jill Clark. They talked about all 6 seasons of the series (thus far), the relationships on the show, working with the animals, filming the birthing scenes, making a series the whole family can watch together, the pressure of remaking such a beloved TV show, and more. They also showed a clip of the seventh season, which is coming in 2027.
After this I went back downstairs for the second half of the Pluto TV’s Happy Hour, where I got a bit of food and a drink and met up with some more friends to compare our days.
Afterwards, I headed over to the Paramount Theater for the night’s big marquee event, “FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS: 20 Year Reunion & Texas Made Award”. It got off to a bit of a late start, but it was packed. While we were waiting, they passed out mini commemorative pennants.
The panel opened with a performance by the fictitious band from the series, Crucifictorious (Jesse Plemons & Stephanie Hunt), and then everyone took the stage. The panelists included four of the creatives behind the series—Jason Katims (Showrunner / Executive Producer), David Hudgins (Executive Producer / Writer), Jeffrey Reiner (Executive Producer / Director) & Kerry Ehrin (Consulting Producer / Writer), as well as at nearly a dozen cast members, among them Connie Britton, Kyle Chandler, Gaius Charles, Brad Leland, Adrianne Palicki, Derek Phillips, Jesse Plemons, Scott Porter, Stacey Oristano, Louanne Stephens & Aimee Teegarden.
The panel was entertaining, especially with Connie Britton roasting Kyle Chandler about not being Billy Bob Thornton. Some of the cast members talked about their character’s relationships, and there were jokes about the decision to have Jesse Plemons’ character Landry kill a man. Louanne Stephens aka “Grandma Saracen” gave a really great speech and shared a fun story about Zach Gilford accidentally touching her boob and jokingly giving him a hard time. Scott Porter had called Zach, who couldn’t be there, on his phone at one point. The topic of the reboot came up, and none of the actors really seemed that thrilled, though Louanne jokingly said she’s still available. Jason Katims assured folks this was just in the talking phase and no logistics as to if it would be a continuation or a reboot were decided, and they would only be doing it if it felt like they had a reason to.
The moderator of the panel didn’t really do a good job of moving things along and getting everyone involved. The majority of the cast didn’t even speak until the final 5 minutes when he tried to get them to all discuss where their characters would be now.
At the end of the panel, the series was presented with the second annual Texas Made Award. Ironically, last year’s inaugural award went to Billy Bob Thornton’s Landman. Katims didn’t give any speech, and it was just as well as things were already running overtime.
Afterwards there was a “FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS Homecoming presented by NBC100” celebration across the street at 800 Congress. When you walked into the patio, you were given a bracelet with a food and 2 drink tickets. The food was served on the patio and included beef sliders and hot dogs, chips, popcorn and brownies.
Inside, there was a station to make your own mum. This must be a Texas thing because I’ve never heard of this mum tradition. It’s basically a giant ribbon attached to a (fake) mum that you deck out with all kinds of trinkets, jersey numbers, etc. and wear over your neck. The folks I talked to from Texas knew all about this tradition, but no one else seemed to have heard of it.
There was also a station where you could choose from a Panthers Football hat, a rally rag or a cowbell. They ran out of the hats very quickly, so I opted for the towel. Also inside the venue were a few bars with themed drinks, a photo opp, and a screen playing a slideshow of photos from previous FNL-related ATX appearances. I spent some time eating and talking with friends before heading out.
Each day there are more panels than you can possibly attend, with some tough conflicts to decide between. Some of the other panels I wasn’t attend on day 2 were for shows The Vampire Lestat and Homicide: Life on the Street. There was also another “A Late Night Show with Greg Iwinski” live talk show that overlapped with the FNL event.
Most of these ATX panels will eventually make their way to the ATX TV YouTube channel/Podcast, so you should be able to watch/listen to them in the near future.
