Photo: Courtesy of NBC.We love when worlds collide. And, we really love when those worlds are TV ones. Because to love a show is to believe its characters actually live and breathe in a parallel universe, just doin' their thing until we run into them at the car wash one afternoon. We don't have cars. But, still, you can imagine our joy, our rapture, our infinite relief when we heard two Friday Night Lights characters would appear on four webisodes of Parenthood in the ultimate casting double-dip. Yes, we love this so much we want take it behind East Dillion High and get it pregnant.
This Thursday, Landry Clarke (Jesse Plemons) and Billy The Lesser Riggins (Derek Phillips) will trade the Texas heat for the San Francisco fog and turn up at Parenthood's fictional recording studio, The Luncheonette — both in full FNL character. Apparently, Landry's band, Crucifictorious, will spend a day at the recording studio with Mae Whitman's character, Amber, and her handful of a cousin Max. While we can certainly assume Landry's there to take Crucifictorious to the next level, we can only guess what Billy's role will be. Manager? Roadie? Big bro emeritus? Whatever it is, fingers crossed that we get to hear how Tim Riggins is doing on his big, beautiful piece of Texas land. There's got to be at least one little Timmy dawdling around, diaper-clad, football and six-pack in tow.
Now, to make this crossover a reality, it helps that the two shows have a little real-life intersection going on: They both share the same showrunner, Jason Katims. And, Katims has proven he's not above a little cross-pollination here and there. He's already brought several FNL actors to Parenthood, including Matt Lauria, Minka Kelly, Jurnee Smollett, Michael B. Jordan, and even Derek Phillips, who played someone else entirely at Crosby's wedding. But, this is the first time the actual characters will be reprised. Now, all we need is Connie Britton as Tammy Taylor to knock on our bedroom door — life advice at the ready, hairbrush in hand — and we'll have everything. Everything. (TV Guide)