Ted Lasso Completed Show Recommendation. Have you watched all of seasons 1, 2, & 3 of Ted Lasso? I highly recommend it. Now that the entirety of the show has wrapped (question mark??) and we can see the show in its fullness of time… I can unequivocally recommend Ted Lasso without reservation.
Quick overview of the show Ted Lasso:
If you are living under a rock – Ted Lasso is a comedy-drama television series created by Bill Lawrence, Jason Sudeikis, Joe Kelly, Brendan Hunt, and Brett Goldstein. Hilariously, many don’t realize who these people are (I mean, I think everyone knows that Sudeikis is Coach Lasso.) But did you realize that Brendan Hunt is Coach Beard? Did you realize that Joe Kelly also went on to create Shrinking? (My next watch.) And Brett Goldstein is Roy Kent! hahah.
Anyway, the show follows the story of Ted Lasso (played by Jason Sudeikis), an American football coach who unexpectedly finds himself coaching a struggling English football team, AFC Richmond. Now, while the show is primarily known for its humor and heartwarming storytelling, it also offers a poignant exploration of mental health, a show that REGULARLY delves into various deeply personal topics with extraordinary sensitivity and depth.
Now, one of the primary themes surrounding mental health in the show Ted Lasso is the depiction of vulnerability. Vulnerability from the inviolable perspective of men, demonstrating how individuals, including the titular character, can struggle with their own emotional well-being and face internal challenges while maintaining a positive facade. Ted Lasso himself displays a cheerful and optimistic demeanor, but as the show moves on, the series gradually reveals that he actually grapples with his own emotional pain… deep trauma, loneliness, and the aftermath of a failing marriage. By portraying Ted Lasso’s vulnerability, the show emphasizes the importance of seeking support and demonstrates that even seemingly upbeat individuals can experience internal psychic struggles and shrapnel.
So #1 Vulnerabilities. #2, trauma and grief. Over the course of the show, characters like Rebecca, the owner of AFC Richmond, and Roy Kent, a seasoned player, deal with their own personal traumas and navigate the healing process of deeply profound grief. Rebecca copes with the emotional aftermath of a recent divorce. (Which was actually the prime mover for the creation of the setup of the show.) While Roy faces retirement from his beloved sport and grapples with the loss of his identity as a player and his own mortality even. The show is hilariously adept at walking a balance between humor and tenderness all while journeying with these characters as they confront fears, emotional pain, and attempt to grow beyond the ruts of their past.
Better yet, the show even goes so far as to touch on the stigma surrounding therapy and the importance of seeking professional help. Ted Lasso’s interactions with Dr. Sharon Fieldstone, a sports psychologist brought in to support the team, highlight the benefits of therapy and challenge the notion that seeking help is a sign of weakness. Dr. Fieldstone provides a safe space for characters to discuss their struggles, fostering personal growth and emotional well-being. And all of this came to a head with Lasso’s final interaction with his mother… right? It was there that we see the culmination of all he learned over the course of the previous three seasons.
Ted Lasso goes where no shows have really gone before, by successfully studying the deep ins and outs of mental health through its nuanced portrayal believable characters with real life problems that are recognizable in our own lives. The series emphasizes the importance of seeking support, addressing emotional struggles, and fostering a compassionate environment where individuals can heal and grow. It reminds viewers that mental health is a vital aspect of overall well-being and encourages conversations about these topics with empathy and authenticity.
My Own Personal Ted Lasso
It is no secret for those of you that read my musings here that I might have a slightly tenuous hold on my own personal mental health. I’ve attended counseling for the better part of five years running throughout my life. Instead of dealing with the pain or anger or <insert emotion here> I instead bury it, and soldier on. Which, I realize now, is just a prescription for all manner of health issues and chaos. But it isn’t as simple as all that, right? Just because I now know that I do these things doesn’t mean I’ll stop doing them. I mean. That is obvious to anyone that eats a twinkie while knowing full well they should not eat said twinkie. If you get my lame analogy. We eat the twinkie because it assuages something in our souls, at least momentarily. We bury emotional carnage and stress, because it assuages a momentary desire to be rid of the chaos. But when it’s time to pay the piper for all that buried sewage issues… it becomes a shit-geyser… way worse than the original issue that was buried in the first place.
If Ted Lasso fails, it fails in its required assumptions about the “ease” with which some of these traumas can be course corrected. And yet, to its credit, the overall arc of Lasso’s loneliness, panic attacks, and depression, had a through-line for the entirety of all three seasons. And it could be said that his journey is nowhere near over. (Let’s hear it for shooting your own argument in the foot!) But occasionally, the show would institute a trauma and solve it over the course of just a few shows. And that could feel a bit trite. But really? It is a comedy first and foremost. Secondly it is supposed to be enjoyable entertainment. And just the fact that the show addresses so many touchingly poignant topics so adroitly, and with such aplomb, is a definite credit to the writers and editors for this show. I literally cannot recommend the show enough.
Shows to watch after Ted Lasso??
As mentioned further up this discussion, Shrinking was created by Joe Kelly, and I am hearing really good things about that show in that it marks very similar territory from a mental health standpoint. Welcome to Wrexham, is like a real life Lasso… so much so that Wrexham’s recent promotion prior to the ending of season 3 for Lasso was seen as a “spoiler” for the comedy! haha. Detroiters, the Jason Sudeikis executive produced (and who also plays a recurring role for) this really underrated comedy about two best buds from Michigan trying to make their dreams of succeeding in the world of advertising come true. If you are looking for another sweet-hearted series about a family that is a total fish out of water? Schitt’s Creek is your show. A rich family loses all their money and they end up in this super small town just trying to survive.
Edited by: CY