In its three seasons, “Friday Night Lights” has been faced with several fourth-and-long situations. Always a darling of the critics, “Lights” never has gotten the ratings and always has seemed to be one dropped pass from cancellation.

On Monday, however, NBC and DirecTV made the surprise announcement that the show isn’t coming back just for next season, but has been renewed for two 13-episode seasons. DirecTV once again gets first-air rights, followed by NBC.

After an inconsistent second season, “Lights” has bounced back with a compelling season featuring some of the best acting on network or cable TV. Having already watched the entire third season on DirecTV, I was struck with how the season finale (which airs on April 10) was written so that if the show wouldn’t be back, it would have acted as a solid series finale.

Thankfully, it wasn’t the end and we’ll get another two seasons of Coach Eric Taylor and the Dillon Panthers.