When we were in Boston visiting Patrick and Katie last week, we visited Katie’s condo. While she was baking a strawberry/apple pie and a lemon/coconut cake (lactose-free), Diane and I watched Apple TV’s Ted Lasso. Katie recommended it and that was enough for us.
Ted Lasso is a 10-episode series featuring Jason Sudeikis as an American college football coach who knows almost zilch about soccer who is hired to coach a struggling professional European soccer team. I knew nothing about Ted Lasso before I started watching this “fish-out-of-water” comedy, but within a few minutes I knew I was watching something Special!
Ted Lasso enjoys brilliant casting. Hannah Waddingham plays the new owner of the AFC Richmond soccer team. Hannah has just divorced Rupert Mannion (Anthony Head), her cheating ex-husband and the former owner of AFC Richmond. Jeremy Swift plays Leslie Higgins, the sycophantic Director of Football Operations. Brendan Hunt plays Coach Beard, Lasso’s taciturn long-time assistant and friend.
Nick Mohammed is terrific as Nathan Shelley, the team’s former kit man-turned assistant coach who lacks confidence but knows a lot about soccer. My favorite character–other than Ted Lasso–is Juno Temple‘s portrayal of Keeley Jones, a model who works for AFC Richmond. She’s smart and sassy!
Jason Sudeikis expands on the character he developed in a series of promos for NBC Sports‘ coverage of the Premier League. Sudeikis’s Ted Lasso might not know much about soccer, but he does know a lot about coaching and leadership.
Last week, Ted Lasso scored 20 Emmy nominations—the most ever for a rookie comedy series. The Second Season of Ted Lasso started on Friday, July 23, 2021. You’re going to love Ted Lasso! GRADE: A
Everything I’ve read about it makes me think TED LASSO is a series I’d like. But I already have four streamers (HBO MAX, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu). And though I wouldn’t be averse to adding another one, the most likely addition at this point would probably be PARAMOUNT +, not APPLE TV. Among people I know, Netflix is the clear leader with Amazon Prime second and HBO MAX coming on strong. I don’t know a single person who has APPLE TV.
Michael, Apple TV is offering a month for free. The TED LASSO episodes are about 30 minutes long so you’re looking at about 5 hours of viewing pleasure.
A Lot of people have taken the Apple free period and watched just LASSO…and, as Patti would recommend, FOR ALL MANKIND and DICKINSON might not be one’s worst choices.
Why TCM and Criterion aren’t more aligned than they are is puzzling. But, then, HBO is not putting THE WHITE HOTEL episodes on HBO On-Demand, presumably to drive a sliver more traffic toward HBOMax. (And why aren’t they putting JETT and other Cinemax series that were cut off before their time on HBOMax?)
Todd, I’m baffled by the program strategies of the streaming channels.
No Apple TV, no Disney +, no Hulu, no Ted Lasso.
Jeff, think about taking advantage of the free Apple TV offer. You and Jackie would love TED LASSO! And you could also watch Schmigadoon!
I have Apple TV and although it doesn’t have as much as some of the others. it has several great shows. Ted Lasso, For All Mankind and Dickinson. It is only $5 a month and I think over time Netflix has less and less as does Hulu. This has got to end soon. All of these are adding up to as much as my cable bill. Plus I get Criterion, which for me is the greatest value because these movies are not on anywhere else.
Patti, are you going to watch Schmigadoon! ?
Why lactose free, is one of you intolerant? No Apple TV or any of the other special or plus stuff, so we couldn’t watch if we wanted to, which, since we don’t like soccer, we wouldn’t.
Rick, you can sign up for Apple TV for free. The soccer parts are just a metaphor for the world of sports. Ted Lasso is actually coaching for Life.