Ted Lasso: What's the point of an Emmy-winning football movie?
Perhaps the most important thing to know about Ted Lasso is that you do not have to enjoy football to enjoy it. After all, the title of the show's character hardly understands the rules themselves.
But that does not stop the so-called American coach from trying to reverse the fate of a fictional Premier League team.
His rather unusual method of killing them with kindness and unconventional training style depends primarily on him before he gradually begins to work out bad moods and arrogant players.
The comedy film from Apple TV became popular the month after it premiered last August, and on Sunday it won some of the best awards at the Emmy Awards.
The show featured the best comedies as well as actor awards for Jason Sudeikis, Hannah Waddingham and Brett Goldstein.
This level of recognition largely reflects the appeal of the show and how much it connected with the audience a year filled with worry and uncertainty amid closures around the world.
Ted Lasso tells the story of a good and well-meaning American coach who is hired to save the fictional Premier League team AFC Richmond - despite complete inexperience.
"I have never coached the sport you call football, at any level," he told a news conference in the opening episode. "Heck, you could fill two nets with what I do not know about football."
But another thing Ted does not know is that he has been hired by club owner Rebecca Welton (played by Waddingham) precisely because she wants the team to break up, in an effort to do so despite her ex-husband.
Ted's unconventional training style and ruthless optimism have to get used to many of the team's bad players with funny consequences.
It's basically a classic cultural comedy. We watch Ted wrestle with British irony and suspicion, but he also slowly but surely defeats those he encounters.
Ted Lasso has probably done the same with TV viewers and instead of targeting only football fans, the show follows the Friday night light after using the sport to explore friendships, relationships and being part of a team.
The character first appeared in a commercial
Ted Lasso's first appearance on television was in fact in television commercials from 2013. At the time, NBC Sports had the commercials to promote his upcoming coverage of the English Premier League in football - known in the United States as football.
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In the ads, Lasso is described as the new head coach of Tottenham Hotspur. It improves fishing conditions out of the water, as Lasso is struggling to master the basics of the game.
("Every team I coach will play hard all four innings," he told a news conference before pointing out that the game was actually made up of two halves.)
The short introductions were well received by viewers and Bill Lawrence, the author of Scrubs, was hired to develop a TV series based on the character in 2017. Some conversations from the first TV commercials were reused in the final series.
Many critics rejoiced at how much more depth had been added to the original Super Bowl commercials. "The Ted Lasso character, an American fool in the commercials, has been turned into a big-minded, optimistic, even charming boy," said Matthew Gilbert, a Boston Globe reporter.
But other critics objected, claiming that Ted should not have been softened for the series. "How I wish it had been written better,
It's fair to say that Apple TV has not yet made as much splash in the streaming market as Netflix, Disney and Amazon. Still, Ted Lasso has played a part in strengthening his footing.
When the streaming service was first launched, much was made of Apple's flagship, The Morning Show, starring Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Steve Carell.
On the side, there was not a large amount of new and original material on the platform to begin with. However, people who bought an Apple product for a year received a free subscription to the service in an effort by the company to get more people to use it.
As a result, many potential viewers were hungry for content and rooted for something else they could enjoy on Apple TV during the pandemic.
Ted Lasso, who landed in August 2020, was fully equipped to fill that void. Many spectators gave themselves a chance without knowing what it was and the show spread from there as word of mouth spread.
Lockdown helped the show find its audience, in more ways than one.
Not only were viewers stuck at home everywhere looking for new TV shows, but Ted Lasso also gave a wholesome and comforting tone that many needed when the pandemic hit the world.
The title of the main character of the show offers compassion, humility and decency, even if it is an insult and abuse. Undoubtedly, his good mood could have been disappointing in the wrong hands, but Sudeikis gave the character wonderful qualities that lifted the spirits of the audience.
It is not surprising for a series that is mostly made on the field and in the football team's locker room, there is no shortage of swords in half an hour of episodes. And yet, the series as a whole gives the same positive mood as Ted.
"Do you believe in ghosts, Ted?" asks Rebecca, the club's owner, in one scene. "I do," he replies. "But more importantly, I think they need to believe in themselves.
"Ted Lasso has no right to be so funny," said Kristen Baldwin of Entertainment Weekly. "This is an accusation for jokes ... But the new comedy from Apple TV + is wonderfully fun, surprisingly thoughtful sports site that of course is not about sports."
However, not everyone liked it. "Everyone I know loves Ted Lasso but I hate Ted Lasso," Chris Bennion told The Telegraph. "I hate his Forrest Gump reputation, I hate his Instagrammable optimism. I hate how he tries to make the British people smile. I hate his mustache."
As is often the case with the Emmys, Ted Lasso was undoubtedly helped by the fact that the second season was shown when the voting took place.
Despite having only their first season eligible for awards this year, the new weekly series helped Apple keep the show fresh in the minds of Emmy voters and helped with the awards campaign.
The third series has been launched, but it could be the last. Sudeikis has previously described the story as a "three-hour loop" and his limited supply could be a factor in it not being more.
"I think we've always wanted it to be three seasons," one of the show's stars, Brendan Hunt, told Entertainment Weekly. "I think it would be pretty cool if we look at how much everyone likes this show that we stick to the guns and actually do three seasons.
"But even as committed to the idea as Jason may have been, none of us were ready to the extent that people love this show ... I think it could soften old hard-working Sudeiki a little.
"I will say that whatever he decides, I will be happy.
