The "Hidden" Message...In "Ted Lasso"

 Like millions of you, I've followed the exploits of Ted Lasso and the adventures of the Richmond Greyhounds as the lovable team battles relationships, anxiety attacks, bruised egos, and other soccer teams to somehow triumph against improbable odds.

I've blogged about the show before, about how the show "won me over" the way the show's namesake won over everyone--the players, the owner, the fans as an "fish-out-of-water" protagonist. I thought they way they did it was brilliant, but I noticed something watching Season Two this fall...

Something even more brilliant...

Something I almost missed.

The show, among the other amazing things it does well, is a voice, a voice for a much-maligned group, a segment of the population that has been pretty much hammered on for years. What Ted Lasso does is stand up for the human male. It's a story about men, but what it isn't is a story about how terrible men are, how they are not destroyers of societies, not greedy selfish pigs, not walking evil in gym shoes.

This isn't to say that these men are without fault--far from it. The series many times shows men in all their unflattering glory. But what it doesn't do is begin with the premise that all men are the root of all evil. It shows men's weaknesses, but also their strengths. It shows how men don't necessarily want to just use women for their own selfish needs, among other things. 

I have no proof of this, but my theory is part of what has made Ted Lasso such a success We get to see men being men, without the labels that follow around men like these days like a bad penny. Like I said...no proof, just a thought...a thought I'd like to believe is right, and I think we need to see more of in entertainment.

Maybe others would, too.

Can't wait for next season.

The Genius...Of Ted Lasso

 Back in the day, when only three networks existed in America (not counting PBS...), everyone pretty much knew when a new series hit the airwaves. That's the world in which I grew up. We'd hear about a show or read about it in the newspaper, and since there wasn't much to watch, if the buzz was good, we'd get excited to watch a new show.

Fast forward a few decades...there are more new shows than a person could possibly watch. There's so many, it's hard to know if any are worth the time. We've been burned before when we hear of the next greatest show and we check it out--many seem never live up to the hype.

I'd heard about a new show on Apple TV+ called Ted Lasso. I read some blurbs from friends on Twitter, most of them I trusted, but I was leery. I learned the show was about an American football coach hired to manage an English soccer club. 

Couple of things...

First, I know many of the attitudes Americans have for soccer, and it's not pretty. We (Americans...) think not much of the game, or its fans, or its players. We think what we call "football" is superior to a team of eleven kicking a ball around for 90+ minutes. Not all Americans, but many. Personally, I love the what we call soccer--I fell in love while living in Europe during a World Cup tournament and I did not want to see a show belittle their game. Also, I'm not familiar with Jason Sudeikis's work. I found out he wrote for SNL and I haven't watched that show in fifteen or so years. A lot of the humor on the show--from what I understand--likes to belittle people with certain attitudes on religion, politics, and other things. I didn't want to see a show that belittled, well...me. And I didn't want to see another example of the "stupid American idiot."

Hence, a few reasons I was leery.

A couple of months ago, I picked up a new phone and it came with a free one-year subscription to Apple TV+. I decided to take advantage of my perk and I fired up Ted Lasso. In the first few minutes, I thought perhaps my suspicions would be confirmed.

But, I kept watching.

And I watched the next episode, then the next. After the third episode I realized something. The episode focuses on an interview Coach Lasso has with Trent Crimm, sports reporter from The Independent (played by James Lance...). We watch as Crimm--mild spoiler here--spends time with the American and the coach wins Crimm over. The reporter still believes hiring Lasso is a mistake and the American will soon be unemployed, but Crimm can't help but like Lasso and even roots for his success.

It wasn't until that third episode that I realized, the exact same thing happened to me. Lasso is loud, obnoxious, even cringeworthy at times, but I couldn't help but love the guy and I rooted for him to succeed. The show won me over, the exact same way the coach won over everyone who he met and worked with. 

It's genius.

I don't know if that was the show's intention. I'd imagine many watched it because they like Sudeikis--they know his work and like what they know. For me, I was apprehensive, but it stole my heart.

Of course, this is a TV-MA show due to language, so if you don't want to hear F-bombs flying with a British accent, wait for the edited version (if that's even possible...). But, if that's not an issue for you, I recommend Ted Lasso. It's a simple little show that rewarded me for giving Coach Lasso a shot.