Friday Night Lights

A small, turbulent town in Texas obsesses over their high school football team to an unhealthy degree. When the star tailback, Boobie Miles, is seriously injured during the first game of the season, all hope is lost, and the town's dormant social problems begin to flare up. It is left to the inspiring abilities of new coach Gary Gaines to instill in the other team members -- and, by proxy, the town itself -- a sense of self-respect and honor.

Across the country, high school football unites small-town communities. But when a heinous murder shatters that Friday night dream world, the crime ripples beyond those immediately impacted, and the community will never be the same again.

In America, football is king ... and nowhere is football bigger than in Texas. Esquire Network takes viewers inside the grown-up world of youth football in FRIDAY NIGHT TYKES, a new 10-part docuseries airing Tuesdays at 9p e/p, debuting January 14 with two back-to-back episodes at 9p and 10p e/p. With exclusive access to the 8 to 9 year-old Rookies division in the San Antonio region of the Texas Youth Football Association (TYFA), FRIDAY NIGHT TYKES follows five teams on and off the field throughout the 2013 season, from pre-season training through the state championships. Along the way, cheerleaders cheer, tailgaters barbecue and the crowd goes wild, but intense rivalries flare, parents and coaches clash and the young players face some very adult pressures and concerns, from extreme training drills, heckling from rabid fans, and balancing on-the-field expectations against a typical off-the-field childhood.