Ted Lasso season 4: It looks good so far

I remember when season 1 of this show first aired. This was a strange one because the whole concept for this show was based upon a comedy short about an American football coach getting a job accidentally as a soccer football coach in England because the owners of the club wanted the team to fail. Not exactly a brand new story but Jason Sudeikis kind of nailed the role of being a dedicated coach who didn't know much about the game but did an excellent job of managing people and I think we could all see that this was going to result in eventual success.

It stayed interesting for 2 seasons but then the audience kind of dropped off. They waited a little while and decided to make a season 4. I personally had forgotten this show existed and maybe that is why it seems kind of fresh now that we have had a bit of a break.

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In season 4 Ted is back in Kansas City and has decided to not be a professional coach anymore for the sake of being around his kid. I know that it has been a while since I watched the show because I don't recall there ever being a child in the picture. Oh well, move on I guess.

He is approached by his old friends from the Richmond Football Club about coming back to London to coach a women's soccer team and he initially turns the offer down. The hilarity comes in reverse at least in episode 1 because now we have a bunch of British people who are unaware of American culture and they end up really liking it. I've been to Kansas City and can attest to the glory that is their BBQ. So that much of the story is definitely on point.

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At the end of the first episode it is clear that Ted is going to take the job that he initially turned down but this is not a real surprise because there is no show if he doesn't take the job.

Season 3 of Ted Lasso was kind of not well-received because they sort of changed the format and changed it from a silly comedy into a dramatic attempt and this wasn't a great idea. They also changed the runtime per episode to 1 hour instead of 30 minutes and again, this was a mistake. The 1 hour episodes were kind of a slog because there wasn't really enough information or things happening to justify this. What we ended up with was a lot of what I call "filler" and my distaste with this was kind of the way people felt across the board.

In season four they seem to have come to a consensus that 1 hour is too long but 30 minutes is not enough. At around 40 minutes per episode, at least up to this point, it stays entertaining the entire way through.

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It hasn't happened yet but I can already see how there are going to be some problems with season 4 because they are going to recycle old situations that they already did in seasons 1 and 2 but this time, it will be with a girl's team instead! This wont stay fresh for very long but time will tell. Apple does pretty well in the writing department. I would say that they do it better than any other streaming giant these days so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

At the moment this is one of only a handful of series that I actually pay attention to even though there are scores of them out there right now.

Should I watch it?

I think this kind of depends. If you haven't seen the first 3 seasons I think you might be a bit lost but at the same time the recycled situations and jokes will be brand new to you. If you did however, see the first 3 and liked them but thought they got a bit stale due to repetition, enough time may have passed for you to give this one a shot at least.

This is a feel-good comedy that makes you feel all "warm and fuzzy" and will probably make you miss your family and friends. I do like it when a show can make me feel this way and Ted Lasso has always managed to accomplish this. With a good soundtrack and some rather good performances by the main cast, this is one of those shows that I like to keep in reserve for rather relaxed viewing. It isn't necessary to intently follow the story or the characters so closely, this isn't some lore-filled discombobulation like House of the Dragon, this is just some easy-going watching.

I like it and think that most other people will as well.

_{the only legal way to watch this at the moment is through an AppleTV+ subscription}