The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Jason Sudeikis makes Apple soccer comedy ‘Ted Lasso’ fairly fun
Jason Sudeikis makes up for shortcomings of Apple TV+ soccer comedy ‘Ted Lasso’ with smile-inducing performance
A new Apple TV+ comedy series, “Ted Lasso” is a fishout-of-water story about an American football coach venturing across the pond to coach a team in England’s Premier League.
It’s an OK premise, but that’s not the reason to watch “Ted Lasso.”
The reason is Jason Sudeikis.
Almost never laugh-outloud-funny, “Ted Lasso” is consistently charming thanks almost entirely to the veteran of “Saturday Night Live” and the “Horrible Bosses” movies. You can feel the smile coming across your face with every cornybut-somehow-delightful line of dialogue Sudeikis delivers as Ted, a more-likeable version of the character he’s portrayed as part of NBC’s Premier League coverage.
In the series from tech giant Apple, Ted is hired to coach English club Richmond FC after having won a Division II football national championship at Wichita State. No doubt he is being well-compensated, but Ted also likes a challenge.
On the plane ride over with his assistant coach (Brendan Hunt), a friendly English fan lays things out for Ted.
“You coaching football?” he says. “Man, you are a legend for doing something so stupid. I mean, it’s mental. They’re going to (expletive) murder you.”
On the surface, the team’s
owner, Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham), has given him this job — despite the fact he knows almost nothing about what so much of the world considers to be “football” and has never set foot in England — because the club has been mired in mediocrity for years and because it’s a splashy hire. In truth, though, she is seeking to run the club into the ground out of spite, the team being the one thing her cheating now-ex-husband truly loved in life. (Yes, Rebecca is a variation of Margaret Whitton’s Rachel Phelps character from 1989’s “Major League.”)
As the pilot episode rolls on, Ted arrives in the United Kingdom with almost no grasp for this region’s football terms — as the team’s manager, he’s referred to as the “gaffer,” for instance, practice is “training” and the field is the “pitch” — and never even having tried tea. (As he suspected, it tastes like “hot brown water” and is “horrible.”)
Because he’s unaware his new boss wants to see him fail spectacularly, Ted thinks his biggest challenge is winning over his players, who include proud, curmudgeonly veteran captain Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein) and cocky and selfish star player Jamie Tartt (Phil Dunster).
In the three episodes debuting on the streaming platform this week — the three installments on which Apple has no review embargo — we see Ted make some inroads with the team but still having a long way to go. He also quickly develops a rapport with Jamie’s friendly girlfriend, Keeley (Juno Temple) — a situation Rebecca believes she can use to her advantage.
We can’t help but think Rebecca ultimately will prove to be something other than a villain as we see her gradually warm to Ted as he brings her morning pastries (“biscuits”) in an effort to bond with her. The character also uses an Apple product on screen — a big giveaway she’s not all bad. (Waddingham is no stranger to playing a villain, though, as you may remember her from her days as Septa Unella, the nunlike character who “shame”d Lena Headey’s Cersei Lannister on the fifth season of HBO’s “Game of Thrones.”)
All the side characters and the performers who inhabit them are varying degrees of enjoyable — there’s also Nick Mohammed as quiet-and-picked-on Nathan, the team’s kit man — but, again, this is Sudeikis’ show.
That’s especially true considering he co-created and co-wrote the series.
His partner here is Bill Lawrence of “Scrubs” and “Cougar Town” fame, which helps to explain some of the earnest sensibilities of “Ted Lasso.”
On screen as Ted, Sudeikis is wholly enjoyable, despite the character being folksy to what could be the point of annoyance. Ted says things such as “knocka-doodle-doo” before entering a room and makes an inane joke about how a branding meeting must involve cows, and yet you can’t hold it against him.
It’s also appealing that Ted doesn’t let much get to him, like his nickname among fans quickly becoming an insulting term the British like to use that rhymes with “tanker.” (There is a bit more adult language than feels right for the tone of this show, but that’s a minor gripe.)
At least through the first three of 10 half-hour episodes, “Ted Lasso” goes down a lot easier than a cup of hot brown water. More sweet morning biscuit than a full meal, it’s nonetheless tasty.