When “Ted Lasso” was dropped on Apple TV in August of 2020, it was a runaway hit. For two decades, prestige television had been obsessed with complicated anti-heroes such as Tony Soprano, Walter White, and Don Draper. And along came Jason Sudeikis’ affable fish-out-of-water portrayal of a midwestern football coach who is now coaching an English football team and who spits dad jokes like fire and charms everyone in his orbit. It helped that the show was helmed by Bill Lawrence, creator of the beloved sitcom “Scrubs,” who kept the writing crisp and made sure even minor characters were well-cast and well-drawn.
Still, it was clear who the beating heart of the show was. Lasso was the anti-anti-hero — and to say that viewers were ready for a healthy dose of feel-good comedy in the middle of a global pandemic would be an understatement. The first season was indeed exceptionally good. The show was a pop culture phenomenon, and everyone couldn’t stop talking about it.
However, the second season was the Angel Falls of precipitous drops in quality, we’re neck deep in a lackluster season three, and people still won’t stop talking about it. Just a few days ago, The New York Times published this column on how Ted Lasso is a “holy fool” who “reject[s] respectability and embrac[es] humility and love.” As such “holy fools are so profoundly out of step with the broader world that they appear to be ridiculous or even insane and often invite
