Ted Lasso Season One Early Review

I’ve found it.

I’ve finally found it.

I have found my favorite series in 2020…and with four months to spare. Ted Lasso, the newest original series from Apple TV+, a comedy centering around a character born from NBC Sports promos for coverage of the English Premier League (that’s soccer for the uninitiated) several years ago. It is a series that on its surface can be easily summed up in two words – funny and sweet, one of which this reviewer has seldom used to describe a television series before. But upon a deeper examination, it offers a heart-warming story that is the emotional respite I didn’t know I needed.

The premise consists of a newly divorced Premier League team owner, Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham), who decides to hire an American college football coach with middling success named Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis) to run her team. There is a hidden agenda to this, of course, but as Lasso and his coaching partner, known only as Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt), attempt to win over the owner, the fans and the locker room, their lives begin to change for the better. At its core, Ted Lasso doesn’t offer much in terms of originality. After all, we’ve all seen underdog stories, especially thrust upon a sports landscape which in the beginning might cause viewers to unfairly judge the series by comparing it with other sports series or films with similar stories. But the series, much like its titular character, slowly begins to win the viewer over with its heart and unrelenting charm. Sudeikis pours every ounce of kindness into Lasso who is rife with comedic ramblings, obscure cultural references, and unflinching optimism that make it extremely difficult to root against him.

For a series with such an unbelievable premise, there is much to admire about Ted Lasso. The cast is extremely well-chosen from Sudekis, who is also a producer and co-creator, Waddingham, Hunt, Juno Temple (as Keeley Jones) and many more. Each is an essential supporting cast member that is given ample time to shine and opportunities for development that can easily get lost in-between the comedic guise of the series. In truth, that is the series’ greatest strength; its ability to approach the viewer as simplified entertainment but secretly offers much more value than initially perceived. Co-creator Bill Lawrence is no stranger to developing well-crafted television series (see: Scrubs, Spin City and Clone High) and that quality permeates through every fiber of Ted Lasso as all of its characters experience growth on some level that is both satisfying and still unfinished as we only get to see one major chapter in their lives.

In the end, Ted Lasso is a series I didn’t know my heart needed. In these recent times, it’s been easy to fall into an overly-judgmental trap while consuming any series or film, but this particular series became a pure and special binge that never wavered in its approach to telling what is perceived as a simplistic story with an even more simplistic main character but is, in fact, something more. It creates an emotional attachment to its characters that allow you the freedom to celebrate in their successes and hurt when they regress. Many viewers might find it easy to dismiss the show as a whole, but its positive message and unapologetic wholesomeness that asks nothing of its viewer other than to be entertained and laugh for a little while is something we all need right now.

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Trying my best to get all thoughts about TV and Film out of my head and onto the interweb.