 Henry Goldblatt , writing for Entertainment Weekly , gave the episode a grade B. He accused the show of abandoning the " racial diversity and the gritty poverty " of the film , but still allowed that Peter Berg had " kept the thrust " . The Matt Saracen character was singled out as particularly promising . While positively contrasting the show with other teen @-@ age dramas like One Tree Hill , Goldblatt also had doubts about its staying power . Variety 's Brian Lowry called the show " Earnest , beautifully shot and perhaps more organically religious than anything else in primetime " . Still , he felt the show was " like one of those family programs middle America and conservatives pine for that too few of them actually bother to watch " . He pointed out that the show had to compete with both House and Dancing With the Stars , among women as well as men , in order to survive . The Washington Post critic Tom Shales called the show " Extraordinary in just about every conceivable way , " particularly emphasising the quality of the cast . Shales did have issues with the documentary style of show 's camera movements , but still thought it could be the " best new drama series of the season " . 
