In 2013 NBC acquired the broadcasting rights for the UK’s Premier League soccer. They knew they had to find a way to entice American audiences to watch the sport, you would think they would call a famous soccer player but they called Jason Sudeikis.
Before his career at Saturday Night Live, Sudeikis was in a comedy troupe with Brendan Hunt. During this time in the early 2000s, the two had conceptualized a character that was an American football coach hired to an English soccer team without knowing anything about the sport. With NBC’s help, Ted Lasso was brought to life through a series of commercials used to promote NBC’s coverage of the premier league.
The commercials were a hit. They collected millions of views on YouTube and helped NBC establish a solid viewership of English soccer in the United States.
By 2019 Sudeikis, Hunt and Joe Kelly had written and sold a pilot to AppleTV Plus. The show, simply called Ted Lasso, would premiere exclusively on the streaming platform in August 2020. The first season would go on to be nominated for 20 Primetime Emmy Awards during its first season; this makes it the most nominated first-season comedy in Emmy history. It won seven Emmys that year and would win four more the next year.
The show is about American football coach, Ted Lasso, moving to England with his assistant coach, Coach Beard, to lead a fictitious Premier League team, AFC Richmond. While Coach Lasso lacks knowledge of the game, he is filled with optimism and determination.
Warning for possible spoilers ahead! Here are four of the reasons I think you drop everything and watch this show.
It’s Quotable
Personally, if a show has great quotes scattered throughout it, it will automatically become a favorite of mine. Let me tell you, there are a lot of great quotes that I’ve picked up from this show, “be a goldfish,” being one of my favorites. Some context behind the quote is that Coach Lasso was trying to help a player not focus on past mistakes, so he tells him about how goldfish only have 10-second memories. By being a goldfish, you can leave your past in the past and focus on it right now. I think we can all benefit from that kind of mindset. Quotes like this one are all throughout the show and I think the balance of funny one-liners with quotes like these is part of what makes it such a good show. The one-liners are pretty great as well, when asked if he believes in ghosts, Coach Lasso responds, “I do! But more importantly, I think they need to believe in themselves, you know?”
The Themes
Every episode has a theme behind it. Most of the themes are ideas that are carried throughout the season but sometimes they are topics only discussed for one or two episodes. The big overarching themes throughout the whole show are ones like friendship and family. The show not only highlights the family aspect of being on a sports team but of working with a small close-knit group of people.
There are two deeper themes carried through the first two seasons that I think will also be featured in the new season. One of these is about dealing with mental health in sports. The sports world often seems like a place that pushes back against attempts to talk about participants’ mental health, but Ted Lasso tackles it head-on. Ted experiences panic attacks while working at AFC Richmond. Many of the episodes feature several of the characters tackling their mental health while being with the team. Tied directly to this theme of mental health is the theme of dealing with trauma. This theme is not addressed much until the second season, but the show does not shy away from the topic. One of the main characters in the second season is a therapist that comes to help the team after an incident in the first episode of the season. She ends up sticking around to help certain characters deal with their trauma throughout the season.
While the show addresses some hard-hitting topics it almost always comes back to its overarching themes of friendship and family. We get to see these characters navigating the world around them through all kinds of fun scenarios. There’s a Christmas episode that is all about giving back. One of my favorites in the first season is an episode about not judging a book by its cover. The theme in my all-time favorite episode is just about being a team and how a shared experience can unite a group.
No matter what you are looking for, Ted Lasso has it.
The Characters
This show features a cast of characters that you can’t help but love. Each time I watch the show I find myself picking different characters as favorites (except Roy Kent, who’s my favorite all the time). Each character is so well developed, and we get to see storylines featuring all of them. They each have their own story to share, and the show does a fantastic job of telling these stories.
Season 3 is Coming
The new season of Ted Lasso premieres on March 15. The season will feature 12 episodes and despite the show’s massive popularity and success, this could be the end. The creators planned out a three-season arc for the show, but fans are still hoping they decide to continue on. If this is the end, wouldn’t you want to experience it firsthand and avoid all spoilers?
I speak from experience when I say you can watch the first two seasons in one weekend. Run, don’t walk to find a free trial for AppleTV Plus. Season 3 is coming, and you don’t want to miss out.
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