'Friday Night Lights' scores second season

NEW YORK, May 11 (UPI) -- NBC's highly acclaimed but low-rated football drama, "Friday Night Lights" has been renewed for a second season, the network announced in New York.

The network also gave the go-ahead to four new, hour-long dramas: "The Bionic Woman," "Chuck," "Journeyman" and "Life," Variety reported.

Whether "Friday Night Lights" would be renewed was up in the air. To date, the show averaged only a 2.3 rating or about 6.1 million viewers overall.

The renewal of "Friday Night Lights" follows NBC's re-upping another highly praised but low-rated show, the Tina Fey comedy "30 Rock."

"We were confident but all experienced enough to know that anything can happen," said Peter Berg, "Friday Night Lights" executive producer. "It was never a sure thing."