TED LASSO: SEASON 2

You fell in love with that incredible new TV show. And then it ended! Don’t despair — Boyd Hilton recommends the sibling shows to watch next

THE FIRST TEAM (BRITBOX)

A few months before life-changingly glorious football-based comedy Ted Lasso arrived last summer, another football-based TV comedy aired on BBC Two, and while it turned out to be slightly less life-changing, there’s still plenty to enjoy about The First Team. Created by Damon Beesley and Iain Morris (The Inbetweeners), the six-part series even featured a Lasso-esque misguidedamericans-get-involved-in-english-“soccer” theme. The reliably funny Will Arnett appeared as a wilfully ignorant owner of a fictional Premier League club, while Jake Short played a plucky American player suddenly thrust into his team.

COUGAR TOWN (DISNEY+)

To help turn Ted Lasso from a character featured in publicity skits for NBC’S soccer coverage to the subject of his own series, Jason Sudeikis turned to US sitcom veteran Bill Lawrence, who’d created shows such as Scrubs and Spin City. Lawrence’s least celebrated but most impressive pre-lasso achievement is Cougar Town, which initially felt like a crass post-friends vehicle for Courteney Cox. She plays a divorcée grappling with new romantic possibilities, but over the course of 102 episodes it became a good-hearted showcase for Cox’s skills and a rare lead role for a woman in her late forties.

THE LAST MAN ON EARTH (AMAZON PRIME VIDEO)

Between doing mainstream Hollywood movie comedies, Jason Sudeikis took on a lovely recurring role in this cult post-apocalyptic comedy, which ran for four seasons from 2015. Created by and starring Sudeikis’ Saturday Night

Live buddy Will Forte, the series starts with Forte’s character Phil believing he’s the only survivor of a global virus, before finding living humans after years of searching. Sudeikis plays Phil’s brother Mike, an astronaut who crashes to Earth to meet up with useless Phil and his fellow survivors in Malibu, and provides many of the show’s most emotionally resonant moments.

BETTER THINGS (BBC IPLAYER)

If Ted Lasso represents the apotheosis of a new wave of sincere and uplifting yet sharply written TV comedy, Pamela Adlon’s Better Things is a key part of the movement. Adlon is a single mother and struggling actress dealing with the demands of her three daughters and the ludicrousness of LA. But it’s the celebration of the simple achievements of everyday human interaction that gives the show its Lasso vibe, as Adlon finds profundity in the seemingly mundane aspects of motherhood. Few comedies are as consistently, audaciously poignant. TED LASSO IS AVAILABLE ON APPLE TV+