It's an innovative deal where NBC found a partner who will share costs and exhibition windows," an insider explained.

While Finke also reports that the network execs in Burbank definitely received scads of mini-footballs in a show of support from the show's loyal audience, there isn't any indication at press time that shattered lightbulbs made it any further than the mailroom. Either way, congratulations are due to all who fought for the show to survive. Don't get too excited, though, for all this news really means is that you've just bought yourselves another 365 days in which to start planning NEXT year's "Save Friday Night Lights" campaign. We'll see you then ... same bat time, same bat channel.

• EXCLUSIVE: NBC Picking Up 'Friday Night Lights' After Partnering With DirecTV [DHD]

According to Viacom insiders familiar with the situation, the campaign immediately began to draw the ire of upper management the second it was launched. You see, Friday Night Lights airs on Friday nights, the same night that Best Week Ever premieres a new episode each week. Although the shows are not direct competitors, Vh1 production execs were less than thrilled that the flagship site of their new Digital Programming unit was using Viacom funds and bandwidth to promote a show that airs on NBC. The irony here is rich, especially when you consider that the entire concept of Best Week Ever revolves around content generated by sources outside of the walls of Viacom AND includes significant amounts of programming aired on other networks.

So, what will become of the campaign? At press time, the answer is not clear. All of the archived posts still remain on the site, but not only have there been no new posts on this topic in over a week, the petition is no longer operational. If you know anything else about this situation, please drop us a line at tips [AT] defamer.com. Until then, developing...