TV REVIEWS : ‘Against the Grain’ Offers No Surprises

Texans, as the common wisdom goes, graze on football. From an early age, the state’s athletically inclined inhabit the gridiron the way longhorns do the Southwest’s grasslands.

More than just a game, football is serious business, a definition of character that to many provides a sense of belonging, even an identity. The dying Texas burg in “The Last Picture Show” froze this phenomenon in a ‘60s time warp, its scraggly high school footballers preoccupying many townsfolk in ways that would boggle outsiders.

Covering some of the same turf is “Against the Grain,” an NBC drama series premiering at 8 tonight on Channels 4, 36, 39. The setting is a small Texas town where the Sumpter High School football team is on a pedestal lower only than that of the defenders of the Alamo. Like a lumbering, thick-necked lineman who intercepts a pass on his own 10-yard line and sees a clear path to the opponent’s goal, though, “Against the Grain” starts gasping at midfield and ultimately collapses.

A nice thing about this hour is its interest in values, and John Terry gives a pleasing, understated performance as Ed Clemons, a local businessman and former football legend himself who talks his way into a year’s trial as coach of the worshiped Sumpter squad.

The zealous boosters, including some of his own pals, bash the idealistic Ed almost immediately. For one thing, he emphasizes education as well as football (“Tell me something you learned in English today”). And even more revolutionary, he gives the boot to the team’s coddled star quarterback--a class-cutting jerk with an attitude--and replaces him with his 16-year-old son, Joe Willie (Ben Affleck).

The latter is an inexplicable, klutzy move that not only puts his son in a difficult spot but also guarantees Ed the animosity of nearly the entire town, including Joe Willie, who doesn’t want the quarterback’s job. Meanwhile, Ed’s wife, Maggie (Donna Bullock), looks on worriedly.

Although its inconsistencies begin to spread gratingly as it heads into its second half hour, “Against the Grain” is fairly pleasant viewing until it impales itself on its artificial, unrealistically giddy ending. At that point, all problems are magically resolved thanks to Ed, and to a script that goes with the grain of formulaic television.

Deep in the heart of Texas.