Connie Britton Image by Wikimedia Commons

By Elissa Strauss July 3, 2013

When “Friday Night Lights” ended I cried for two full days, partially because my and the whole world’s favorite show was ending and partially because I was losing my best friend. As the final credits rolled and the camera panned out on Coach and Mrs. T walking hand-in-hand on a football field not in Texas, I knew that the time had come for me to say goodbye to Tami Taylor, once and for all.

I have never really gotten over this loss, which explains why I squealed with delight when I got an email this week from Planned Parenthood telling me about their new campaign featuring Tami.

Connie Britton, the actress who played Taylor, had commissioned t-shirts that read “What Would Tami Taylor Do?” on the front and “standwithtexaswomen.org” on the back. The money raised goes to fighting Senate Bill 5, legislation that, if passed, would dramatically restrict access to abortion in the state.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Britton explained: “The character Tami on ‘Friday Night Lights’ is a Texas woman deeply committed to her community and to standing up for what is right for her neighbors and the people she loves. I have been inspired by how people around the country have united to stand with the women of Texas, and I can’t help but think that, in this moment, we all have the opportunity to join with and become strong, powerful Texas men and women.”

You see, everyone, Tami Taylor never really went away! Her spirit remains inside the very mind, body, and hair of Connie Britton.

In hindsight, it all makes perfect sense. If Tami Taylor could have had such a deep impact on those of us who just watched the show, she surely had to have left a mark on the woman who embodied her. The woman who, mind you, played her as she advised a young girl on abortion with a nuance and delicacy rarely seen in TV or film. How foolish of me to have grieved her like I did!

We’ve had hints that Taylor lived on in Britton before, from the actresses’s profile in the New York Times Sunday magazine, in which she explained how Tami’s feminist evolution was a result of her refusal to play a static character. And then there was Britton’s new program “Nashville,” which, unlike most shows, has strong female leads who aren’t routinely punished for having power.

So, just as Dorothy learned that she had the power to return home all along at the end of “The Wizard of Oz,” I have learned that Britton has the power to take us back to Tami and that mythical land of Dylan, Texas whenever us women need it. And from the look of things in Texas, we need it. Tami forever!

Follow Elissa Strauss on Twitter at @elissaavery.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount