Hire a coach who has never worked in soccer, hand him an English club, and wait for the collapse: that is the set-up of Ted Lasso, a 2020 comedy-drama series with Jason Sudeikis in the lead.
What is Ted Lasso about?
Ted Lasso knows American football. Soccer is another matter, yet he crosses the Atlantic to manage a team in England all the same. The club he inherits is a troubled London side playing at the top level of the English game, and nobody is pleased to see him. The players are cynical, the town has its doubts, and the new manager is learning the sport as he goes. Ted's answer is a stubbornly upbeat approach to people that the show calls the Ted Lasso Way. Each episode, at around 43 minutes, tests whether that outlook can win over a dressing room and a fan base that expected a very different kind of appointment.
About the cast
Jason Sudeikis heads the cast, with Hannah Waddingham, Jeremy Swift, Brett Goldstein, Brendan Hunt and Juno Temple alongside him, and Tanya Reynolds and Rex Hayes also credited. Direction is shared among many hands across the run: Declan Lowney, MJ Delaney, Matt Lipsey, Erica Dunton, Tom Marshall, Elliot Hegarty, Destiny Ekaragha, Ellie Heydon and Zach Braff are all listed as directors.
Context & significance
On paper Ted Lasso is a sports series, and football gives it a calendar of matches, pressure and results. In practice the comedy and the drama carry more weight than the scoreline. The premise is a classic fish-out-of-water arrangement, an American in English football, and the humour grows out of the gap between Ted's manner and the guarded people around him. That balance makes it approachable for viewers who do not follow the sport at all, while supporters will recognise the world of a club under scrutiny. The series is an American production set in England, and it has been received with real enthusiasm, standing among the best-loved comedies in the K-Time catalogue. Persian-speaking households get two ways in: a Persian dub for easy group viewing and Persian subtitles for those who want the original voices.
Watching Ted Lasso on Ktime
To watch Ted Lasso, log in to a K-Time account; reading this page requires nothing. K-Time is a Persian-focused streaming service for Iranians living abroad, with a Farsi interface throughout, and this series comes with a Persian dub as well as Persian subtitles.