Ted Lasso and the Simple Power of Being Nice
Ted Lasso, a comedic streaming series from AppleTV+, is a strange show for its time. The show itself is simple, with straightforward plotting, an uncomplicated timeline, and relatable human-sized characters dealing with relatable human-sized obstacles; which makes it a notable exception for the 2020/2021 slate. It’s strange in that the show originated as a character Jason Sudeikis created for NBC back in 2013 to sell Premier League soccer (we’re going to stick with the American spelling throughout this article to avoid confusion and out of patriotism!) to audiences unfamiliar with the sport. It’s strange in that Ted Lasso isn’t hosted by one of the dominant streaming platforms (Netflix, Hulu, HBOMax, Amazon Prime, Disney+) but by AppleTV+, a service that clearly put a lot of money into shows that few people watch and even fewer people talk about.
The strangest thing about Ted Lasso, however, is just how relentlessly and genuinely nice the main character is, and how the series sees that niceness not as naivety or ignorance or innocent idealism, but as a strength. Niceness is Ted Lasso’s superpower, and the show reflects this in its plotting and its characters. I can think of no other scripted series currently running on any cable television channel, broadcast network, or streaming platform, as dedicated to its main character’s pleasant philosophy, to being nice, as Ted Lasso.
That makes the show strange as hell for 2020/2021.
Ted Lasso (the show) premiered on AppleTV+ in August of 2020. It concerns Ted Lasso (the character, played wonderfully by Jason Sudeikis), a recently successful Division II college (American) football coach, plucked out of Wichita, Kansas and hired to coach a fictional English Premier League Soccer team by the name of AFC Richmond, based in London, despite knowing literally nothing about Soccer. The new team owner, Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham, also wonderful), is trying to sabotage the team for personal reasons by hiring a man with no relevant experience. Ted Lasso (the character again) must then prove himself by winning over his understandably skeptical new team, the team’s dedicated fanbase, and Rebecca herself, using only the power of his charm and goodness.
That’s it. I have now fully described the (spoiler-free) plot of what turned out to be one of the most enjoyable series I’ve watched in the last twelve months. This is not a political show, or an issues show, or a show about mental illness or addiction or the sad future or past of our world, though this article isn’t meant to diminish series with such things on their mind. Ted Lasso is just a show about a genuinely nice guy winning people over because he is what he presents himself as: nice. Good. Like I said, it’s a simple show.
But it’s a deceptively simple show. One that understands the work involved in being truly, genuinely nice. There were many lazier routes the plot of the series could have taken. The show could have made all the side characters surrounding Ted Lasso so laughably incompetent in their jobs and their lives that Ted becomes a hero simply by staying positive and completing his work adequately. This is the Emily in Paris route, the 2020 Netflix streaming show most often compared to Ted Lasso due to the brightness of the series and the low-stakes of the plot. The problem with this route is the niceness feels weaponized comparatively; it’s less flexible, less understanding of other’s problems, and too shallow and too easy to be as enjoyable a watch.
Ted Lasso could have also leaned more heavily into the echoes of the 1989 film, Major League, already buried in its premise. The show could have made the owner, Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham), into nothing but a villain. An enemy around whom Ted Lasso could rally his team to fight against, a foil against which his niceness would shine that much brighter. But that’s not Ted Lasso’s (both the show and the character’s) style. Instead, the show makes Rebecca the second most important character, and her arc of moving on from her past while learning to trust and like people again (mostly because of Ted Lasso) is one of the most moving of the series. In fact, the scene in which she confesses her plans to Ted, combined with Ted’s beautiful, simple, and heartfelt response, is perhaps the best of the whole season. It is a scene that required a foundation of real character work, and an understanding of the constant effort required in being good; as a show, in your work, and as a person.
Because whereas Emily in Paris shows the benefits of niceness without the obstacles, and Major League offers a shortcut to success through making someone else an enemy; Ted Lasso is about putting in the work to be good. There are only two shows I can think of that concerned themselves with this struggle in any sort of serious way, and both have ended their runs. Bojack Horseman went at this struggle in a much darker fashion and a sharper, more painful sense of humor, though it did make sure to never to forget that the point of the series was to watch Bojack get better, become good. It was a series smart enough to know that being good and nice is work, and not something to be taken for granted. Ted Lasso is the only show currently airing that acknowledges this truth as clearly as Bojack ever did, though it smiles a lot more when it does.
The other major television influence I see in Ted Lasso’s philosophy is Frasier. Airing from 1993 to 2004 on NBC, Frasier depicted it’s titular character moving from his Cheers set in Boston to Seattle to host a therapeutic radio call-in show. As it was a network sitcom from the nineties, it had too many episodes to form much of a coherent narrative or consistent themes; but the one constant was that Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammar) had morality and principles that made him stand out. He would be affected by certain calls from his radio-show, he would deal with moral quandaries involving his family and take them seriously, he tried not to lie, he treated women with so much more visible respect than his show contemporaries on Friends or Seinfeld. All of this made him an oddity in the world of the show and the world of television then and now.
Just as Ted Lasso is an oddity. The show doesn’t shy away from the struggles that a person such as he would face. People regard him with suspicion, believing such a nice person has to be fake. Or they underestimate him. Ted Lasso doesn’t win every game he coaches. In fact, he may lose more than he wins this season. Some people he tries to win over with his goodness are more intractable and hurtful than he expects. There are major personal and professional setbacks he must go through, and sometimes he does get down, very down. Sometimes he feels his burden, the weight and exhaustion of the effort of goodness. Ted loses his temper exactly twice during the season and each time is somewhat shocking to witness. But he also apologizes after each incident, he takes responsibility as a good person should, and he tries to better himself and those around him.
While Frasier Crane is a much more sophisticated and educated person than Ted Lasso, I believe both would strongly agree on their moral philosophy. That being good and being nice are worth the effort. It’s kind of sad how rarely you see that in television, isn’t it? Maybe Ted Lasso is the start of something new. Or maybe he’s not. Frasier ended almost 17 years ago now, and the television landscape has only grown darker. Either way, I think Ted Lasso would smile under that ridiculous mustache of his, throw out some Kansas-based nonsense, and keep up the effort. That’s the final lesson of Ted Lasso Season 1:
The effort to be good might be worth it all on its own. Now start trying. It’ll be hard. But Ted Lasso will be trying right along with you.
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