In my experience, this is the best television series that was ever canceled so quickly.
The premise is that John Terry's character, Ed Clemons, returns home from the hospital at the beginning of the first episode, after recovering from major, life-threatening injuries he'd suffered in a car accident. After surviving such a painful brush with death, Ed finds that his perspective on life has changed dramatically, so he quits his regular job (at a car dealership, if I remember correctly) and searches for more meaningful pursuits. He finds that there is a job opening for the head football coach at his son's high school, and he applies for the job, not knowing what to expect, because it has been years since he last played football himself.
From there the series explored interesting relationships among many characters from various walks of life. There was such potential for a classic series here that I couldn't believe it when NBC replaced this consistently superior and challenging show with "VIPER"!! There are no words currently in existence to describe my chagrin on that day!!!
I remember that near the end of a couple of episodes of "Against the Grain", when I began to feel that the script might have been getting a bit corny or overly sentimental, the writers always shifted gears just in time and accomplished episode endings that were excellent and unexpected, and left you feeling that you had just experienced classic, thoroughly satisfying entertainment (which is becoming somewhat of a rare feeling in this current era of "reality" programming.)
This series was amazing, and it almost seemed too good to be true.....which it turned out to be, I guess. I miss this show a lot, but with the limited number of episodes broadcast (I think it was only eight or nine) I suppose this one will never be released in any home video formats. That is a pity, because more people need to see just how well-balanced between comedy and drama a family series can be, especially one that never abandons its mature, intellectually and emotionally rewarding themes.
