At the risk of being still more redundant than usual, I’ll own that this recent heat wave has been kicking my butt pretty harshly. And with yet another birthday that I’m candidly not all that thrilled about–and the extremely growing prospect that it will be quite lonely–fast approaching let’s just say that I’ve been in better moods than the one I’ve been in lately.
I tend to see media as necessary therapy as well as pleasant diversions, though typically August is quite lean in that department. The big summer box office releases have pretty much been deployed, the broadcast and cable networks are exclusively in reality and rerun mode and even the streaming platforms often are on cruise control.
So with those two convergent urgencies as a backdrop I’m that much more excited about the unexpected surprise of a fourth season of TED LASSO than I otherwise have been or would be. I was admittedly a johnny-come-lately to the party that started during lockdown but I more than made up for lost time when what was supposed to be its swan song dropped in March, 2023. When that happened, my musings were both effusive with praise and tinged with pious hope:
I’m hooked. Period. And I should have been hooked when that first season dropped. Because in the summer of 2020, when the world was in lockdown and little new content was available anywhere, TED LASSO was exactly what the industry, and, frankly, humanity needed. And now I know why that was the case.
The world could use a lot more TED LASSO. It doesn’t seem like too many other outlets are intent on making anything quite as positive, or capable of making anything as good. Whatever the cost might be to make a few more seasons, and, yes, give more people like me a reason to continue to find $7 a month in our couch cushions to keep subscribing despite its relatively meager library and its array of critically acclaimed yet denser and less bingable originals, should be considered a write-off.
And when S3 did indeed conclude in two and a half months later there was lament but what turned out to be some prescient insight from USA TODAY’s Kelly Lawler:
Sure, there might be spinoffs (that Richmond Women’s AFC certainly has the potential for a whole new cast of lovable characters), and Apple could shell out so much dough that Sudeikis could be lured into unraveling the fitting end he wrote for Ted. (Much like the complicated U.K. soccer leagues that Ted and friends discuss in the finale, it’s indeed all about money).
Lo and behold, that’s the exact path that the series took. FORBES’ Toni Fitzgerald confirmed that in her preview from yesterday:
The beloved series, previously thought to have concluded, sees Ted Lasso return to the UK for a fresh challenge. This season, he’s tasked with coaching a new women’s professional soccer team, a venture bankrolled by owner Rebecca. Familiar faces like Coach Beard, Roy, and Keeley are also back for the adventure. The 10-episode season introduces new characters, including a new coach and a star player, and features a recast Henry Lasso in a more prominent role…They’re joined by a host of new characters, including Alice (Tanya Reynolds), a new coach on the staff, and Gemma (Abbie Hern), a star player balancing professional soccer and law school.
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER’s Lacey Rose shared some additional thoughts from a cast that sounds both effusive and surprised in her preview piece from yesterday:
The new season is not a spinoff – but it isn’t a traditional continuation of the mothership either. “You’re like, it’s not Frasier; Cheers still exists,” says Brett Goldstein, writer/executive producer who also plays Roy Kent, in THR’s July 22 cover story. “It’s more like you’re adding a room to the bar.” The first episode of the new season was filmed last summer in Coach Lasso’s (and Sudeikis’) native Kansas City, and both Temple and Waddingham were admittedly nervous to be back. It had been more than three years, after all. “We were like, ‘How do we do this? How do we do this?’ And then we sat down to eat ribs and we went, ‘Oh, right,'” says Waddingham.
In the wake of how Kaycee was recently able to become a global soccer hotbed and a new favorite destination after its impressive hosting of World Cup matches, this plot point has also aged quite well.
While TED LASSO will typically be a Wednesday appointment series moving forward, as the fine folks at Apple tend to do when they just can’t wait to share it with the world they are dropping the S4 opener at 9 PM ET tonight. Which means for this week I’ll have to time-shift my other summer escape that returns once again to HBO and therefore its MAX iteration at exactly the same time. Yep, HARD KNOCKS is back, and this time around it feaures one of my favorite teams, as Ari Horton of SEAHAWKS.com humble-bragged yesterday:
This will be the first time that the Seahawks will be featured in the series, and it will be the first time, since the show’s inception in 2001, that the series will follow a reigning Super Bowl champion.
While the filming of all things Hard Knocks has been a new experience for the team, head coach Mike Macdonald is approaching this experience with the mindset of this being a great opportunity for the team. “I told the guys they are going to capture what we do, and they do a great job of doing that,” Macdonald said. “Let’s be us. We want them to capture us. We are proud of who we are and how we do things, so there is really no reason to try and change anything or try to be something we are not.” He added, “You can’t control what they capture, what you can control is how we go about our business… I don’t know if I’ll watch it, but I’ll be looking forward to seeing what they come up with.”
As was the case exactly a year ago when another team I adore was profiled I’m agog for the series’ unique ability to elevate otherwise obscure secondary players’ dramatic storylines to national relevance as well as showcasing more prominent players in their natural habitats. One of the most familiar of those who delivered the Pacific Northwest a trophy last February seems pretty excited too:
(Q)uarterback Sam Darnold said before the Hard Knocks camera crews started filming, there was conversations in the quarterback room about who would change the most once the cameras were rolling.
“No one’s really changed,” he said. “Which I’m proud of. It’s been fun though. After the first three or four days, you forget the cameras are there, which might be a bad thing, but I think we’re all used to it at this point. It was nice to hear that they record 300 hours of film every single day and only one hour gets used throughout the day. That was very nice to know that.”
We only get five installments of this season of HARD KNOCKS; guess times are already tougher around WarnerMount. But beggars can’t be choosers, so I’ll take what I can get. These two feel-good shows, some extra strength Tylenol, and a pretty good cry might just help me get to Labor Day in one piece.
Until next time…