Ted Lasso

Lasso’s can-do attitude is hard to believe, but once his sincerity becomes clear, audiences will find themselves rooting and laughing with, and not at, this lovable American.

There’s nothing groundbreaking about the way Ted Lasso’s story beats play out, but the show — a mix of workplace antics, sentimental sports inspo, and soapy romance — is undeniably winning.

It works because some serious comedy writers are on the team and have made improvements to the Ted Lasso cartoon from the NBC ads. ... The writing is sharp and fresh..

Ted is never a caricature or even an idealistic impossibility (like Leslie Knope could be in the more exaggerated “Parks” moments); he feels real, which is essential to the show’s compassionate purpose. Surrounding Ted are a group of amiable, well-defined characters.

I keep wanting to make an unlikely comparison between “Ted Lasso” and “Schitt’s Creek,” even though “Ted Lasso” is a lot slicker and it’s set in England. The reason is that they’re both feel-good comedies with simple premises that feature some well-sketched out characters. Their best strength is not in plotting or in punch lines so much as in delivering thoroughly likable ensembles, where even the not-nice ones are kind of endearing.

Ted Lasso has a feel-good vibe about it that overcomes the first episode’s lack of funny lines. And it helps that Sudeikis is amazingly likable and he’s hooked up with Lawrence, who always knows how to get the most out of his show’s characters.

The series is less sharp than the original promos, but there are other compensations. Lasso’s boundless optimism, in the face of so many different shades of cynicism, slowly wins us over. He’s not a total ingenue, either, and has enough spine to give the episodes texture. Ted Lasso ropes you in, even if it’s more by likability than laughter.

“Ted Lasso” is a gleefully ridiculous show based on a ludicrous premise. ... But as Ted settles in—and the players treat him with contempt, and the press excoriates him and the fans call him filthy names—“Ted Lasso” casts a certain spell. .... The people surrounding Ted are complicated, plausible humans. Ted is the cartoon, although there are moments when he reveals an intelligence and savvy utterly at odds with his aw-shucks Americanism.

Even if the show's ability to capture on-field action is a little hit-or-miss, by the end of 10 episodes, I was getting misty over the team's results and over the journeys of several characters. That, ultimately, means more to me than whether or not I'd qualify Ted Lasso as "hilarious.

“Ted Lasso” is a show about a man finding his rhythm and makeshift family on the other side of the world. There are some growing pains in the first season, but don’t give up on this team.

Lasso’s good-humored, unflinchingly honest and polite character appeals as a type we don’t often see in a single-camera comedy in the post-anti-hero TV series era.

Thanks to an infectiously affable performance by the likable Sudeikis, a terrific supporting cast and a surprisingly warmhearted center wrapped inside all the sitcom wisecracks, “Ted Lasso” is a charming, easygoing little biscuit of a treat.

These 10 episodes cover enough interpersonal ground, and end satisfyingly enough, to engender some doubt over whether Ted Lasso has the stamina for an ongoing series, or if it’s more of an underdog sports movie extended and broken into chapters. Based on the last few episodes, it’s also entirely possible that the show could turn its quirky optimism into canned uplift—otherwise known as the Parks And Recreation problem. But if nothing else, the best moments of Ted Lasso finally reveal what a Jason Sudeikis vehicle could and should look like.

Sudeikis, playing against type, may be the big surprise here. He is, if not charming, at least disarmingly grating in this In-over-his-Head turn.

Ted Lasso’s overall impression is that it’s a fine show arriving in the wrong moment, and that impression holds true for most of Apple TV+’s programming.

The series is extremely likable throughout, but it’s more a hypothetical comedy than an actual one. There are long stretches where Juno Temple — as Jamie’s girlfriend Keeley, who is “sort of famous for being almost famous” — is the only actor even trying to sell what few jokes are in the scripts.

The story's gooey nature is fair game, but it’s nearly maddening by how unfunny it is, specifically being based around someone the world could use more of. ... Filled with played-out jokes like the pronunciation of “jif” or a plethora of culture shock moments like Lasso calling tea “hot brown water.” Like much of the show, it all feels very safe, which is often just a nice word for lazy.

Determinedly cornball. ... In its relentless positivity and commitment to making its audience comfortable while maintaining a sheen of pop-cult knowingness, “Ted Lasso” is the dad pants of sitcoms.

While Sudeikis is fine, it would take a much better script for this immediate connection to work and instead the charm feels forced. Instead, it’s the British supporting cast who prove more engaging with slightly more nuanced characters to play. ... But brief sparks aren’t quite enough to power us through a sitcom that one would need to seek out to watch on a weekly basis.