I’ve just started watching Ted Lasso, and it’s the best series I’ve seen in a long time.
It’s the story of an American college football coach from Kansas, Ted, who is hired to manage an English Premiere League football club. The catch is Ted knows nothing about football, nor England, which sets him up for a wild set of discoveries and adventures.
Ted is likeable from his first minutes on screen, and his cast of supporting characters are equal parts hilarious and human.
There are lots of films and TV series that laugh at the cultural differences between the US and the UK—that’s well trodden territory. But what’s great about this series is the mixing of two sub-cultures I never thought I’d see together: warm mid-western and diehard English football.
You know, after 5 years living in the UK, I still don’t support a Premiere League football team. But now, I may just be a fan of the fictitious ‘AFC Richmond’ coached by Lasso.
I also love that the concept for Ted Lasso started off as an advertising skit from 2013 promoting Premiere League Football on NBC. It’s a good example of how sometimes an idea is so good that it can’t help but have a life of its own.