By Duncan RobinsonTuesday 15 Sep 2020Hope BreakfastTV and StreamingReading Time: 3 minutes
I don’t often write reviews. It isn’t my skill set and, honestly, most shows I’m into poll better for the Razzies than they do for the Emmys. However, there are moments in time when I climb aboard the right show at the right time and feel the most appropriate reaction is a love letter.
It happened with Arrested Development – Ron Howard’s legendary show was TV perfection. It won a slew of awards before it was pulled from networks because nobody was watching.
So, I cannot let this happen again.
I am besotted with and utterly in awe of Ted Lasso. In the year of the ‘raging dumpster fire’, Ted Lasso is a glorious phoenix rising from the flames. I have never set a reminder in my phone but, 3pm on a Friday, I have an audible reminder because this show is so good.
Apple TV Plus has had some false starts, The Morning Show had some script issues and really didn’t finish as well as it started, while See is a great show and I love Mamoa but it’s essentially Blind Frontier and didn’t grip me.
Ted Lasso is EVERYTHING.
Essentially, Ted Lasso is a division American football coach who accepts a job coaching a floundering Premiership Football team in the UK. The premise is ridiculous but the show is brilliant. Ted is relentlessly positive in the face of a tsunami of criticism. Ted’s assistant coach is quirky and whimsical. The owner of the team is a breath-taking expression of a powerful women who is coming to terms with the new season of her life.
I can’t fault this show. Every single character is both utterly loveable and broken all at once. Even Ted, with his Southern hospitality and perfect smile, is dealing with his own issues. I have never witnessed a show where I have been so utterly inspired by the writing. Not because it is unbelievable but because it is real, gripping, honest and remarkably wholesome.
The show isn’t sunshine lollypops and rainbows. It is sunshine lollypops and rainbows in the face of life’s problems. Every single character has issues, but it isn’t gratuitous in any way. Where gratuity and obscenity are usually dialled up to 11 for ratings, Ted runs towards Little House on the Prairie and cannonballs in the deep end.
But, honestly, it’s so much more.
Ted Lasso is billed as a comedy but this show blends English and US humour, which, in itself, should see it cemented as hall-of-fame level writing. It’s like some ‘Einstein’ writers were able to pluck a character from Beverly Hillbillies and synthesise them into Faulty Towers.
Ted Lasso is writing and acting brilliance. Jason Sudeikis is so good it’s mouth-watering. Hannah Waddingham is stunning as the team’s owner. Whether it is the comedic relief of Higgins or Nathan; the conflict between Roy and Jamie; or the free-radical chaos created by Keeley, this show has it all. Even the characters I’m supposed to dislike… I love.
Ted Lasso you have my heart.
I repeat, this isn’t a review, it’s a love letter. And, every Friday, I fall in love again with Ted Lasso.