It’s been almost a year since “Ted Lasso” dropped the curtain. There are still rumors about a possible return with a fourth season, but this is far from confirmed. The idea was (and still is) that the third would be the last to close. However, along the way left us with many curiosities around.
These are anecdotes that range from its origins in the advertising field to the prediction of events experienced in real football. And without forgetting his obvious inspirations from real people from the world of football.
From a TV commercial to the most awarded series on Apple TV+
There are many carefully prepared series. In fact, all of them. However, “Ted Lasso” was not among the candidates for reign on Apple TV+. It was created in summer, an unusual time for big outings. Moreover, he did it in a catalog in which there were already superb series with first-rate casts, like “The Morning Show” with Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Steve Carell or like “See” with Jason Momoa .
However, everything went well for “Ted Lasso,” winning dozens of awards, including several Emmys and critics’ awards. Milestones for the streaming industry in general and for Apple TV+ in particular, but also for the advertising industry. Yeah, Ted Laso was born from advertising in 2013.
The famous American television channel NBC, which at the time held the broadcast rights to the English Premier League. Their way of promoting these events was to try to connect with a large part of the American public who watches football from afar (or soccer as it is called), given that unlike what happens in Latin America or Europe, it is not at all the king sport there.
The success of the “Ted Lasso” commercials brought it success almost ten years later as a series on Apple TV+.
Well, the idea was to show Ted Lasso, a character played by Jason Sudeikis who was hired to coach Tottenham Hotspur, a historic English team from North London. What’s funny about these spots is that Lasso was an expert on American football, but in football he didn’t even know there were connections. Does the argument sound familiar?
It was not clarified whether it was Apple TV+ that approached the creators of the ads to create a series based on them or if it was the other way around. The fact is that seven years after these commercials, “Ted Lasso” went from being a small commercial to becoming a streaming television series.
What additional curiosity, say that “Ted Lasso” has something in common with the Spanish series “Villarriba y Villabajo”which is precisely both from an advertisement like Fernando de Córdoba reminded us. In the case of Spanish, the now legendary advertisements that pitted two people against each other to wash a giant paella with a white label dishwasher and another with Fairy.
Ibrahimovic, Cristiano Ronaldo and Florentino Pérez had their lines in fiction
Apart from the sporadic appearance of well-known faces from the world of football like Thierry Henry or Pep Guardiola playing themselves, the series did not allude to real people. They did it in a more subtle way, bordering on parody.. And there are several such cases, although there are three that are particularly notable.
In the last season we met a character clearly inspired by Zlatan Ibrahimovic. It was through the character of Zava, arriving at Richmond after a long career with numerous teams and after moving huge sums of money in transfers. Very similar to the career of the Swede, who had already voted definitively last year.
Zava was also the faithful reflection of Ibrahimovic memes. The real player has always been characterized by a personality often described as arrogant and from there were born a multitude of jokes about how Zlatan believed himself superior to others. He never showed any real signs of feeling that way, but when it came to parody, in “Ted Lasso” they decided to go to the extreme with Zava.
Then this Cristiano Ronaldo in the shoes of one of the protagonists of the entire series: Jamie Tartt. CR7 was (and is because he continues to play) one of the most talented players in history and one who has often been looked down upon for his self-centered nature. A bit similar to Ibrahimovic. Jamie Tartt takes on the role of football genius and personal vanity, although his evolution in the series has certainly served to shed all that. In fact, recent seasons have served to compare him to Englishman Jack Grealish, so it may be a double inspiration.
Although there is an important plot and a more than obvious inspiration, it is that of Florentino Pérez’s Super League. Last season, everything revolved around the question of whether or not the Richmond club was participating in a new competition created by a millionaire and which took on elitist and exclusive tones with the others. The ongoing Super League project has changed a lot since it was announced, but in the beginning it was very similar to what the series proposed and the inspiration was obvious. In fact, it even bordered on social criticism, which had a lot of impact in the UK when the competition was announced in real life.
José Mourinho, from assistant to successful coach in Nate’s shoes
Coach José Mourinho, dismissed this week as coach of AS Roma, is one of the most high-profile coaches in the Premier League in recent years. As for “Ted Lasso”, he starred in a commercial and also had his line in the form of parody with one of the main characters of the series. Especially in the third season.
Natthan Shelley, played by Nick Mohammed and also nicknamed Nate in the series, He has several parallels with the Portuguese coach, although at first it didn’t seem like much. In the early seasons, Nate went from being a simple prop man to becoming Lasso’s tactical assistant, somewhat reminiscent of Mou’s early career. And before winning the Champions League with Porto and Inter Milan as his first coach, Mourinho was Bobby Robson’s assistant at Barça.
However, It is in the third season that the parody is more than obvious. Nate becomes independent from Lasso and signs for another big English team. There he not only showcases his football knowledge, but also unleashes the press with his always controversial statements centered on his personality. Very similar to Mourinho’s role with the press, with which he was once called “The Special” (“The Prodigy” was called Nate).
Even if, as in the previous cases, Not everything in these characters was parody, since an evolutionary line has always been followed. In Nate’s case, his love story and self-criticism are particularly notable for being able to return alongside those who were his friends and into a job that truly made him happier than being the “child prodigy.”
The visibility of homosexuality in professional football
Football has modernized a lot in recent years with technological elements such as VAR. However, they remain stuck in the past on many aspects, such as the normalization of homosexuality and bisexuality. The fear of the footballers in the group to speak openly about their sexual orientation is still evident.
The case of Jake Daniels, a British footballer now aged 19, made the headlines in many newspapers in 2022 when he came out as openly gay. He is not the first footballer to have this sexual orientation, nor will he be the last. However, it is not the most common and in ‘Ted Lasso’ they wanted to pay homage to all the “Jake Daniels” of the football world. And they did it with the help of actor Billy Harris as Colin.
In the third season, Colin stars in a plot in which his private life is known and how he wants to hide his sexual orientation for fear of being rejected by his peers. The end of this story opening up to his teammates and seeing how they simply accept his sexual orientation serves as an inspiration to other real players. It may not change things, but it’s one of the small, sweet tributes that many viewers fell in love with the show for.
The best conspiracy theory: Roy Kent was a character created in CGI
Which Brett Goldstein and which eight quarters? This actor does not exist. The creators of “Ted Lasso”, in cahoots with Tim Cook himself, deceived us all and in reality, it was all the work of the great post-production team that managed to make millions of viewers believe that it was a real actor playing the character. by Roy Kent. We caught them!
Honestly, I hope that after the previous paragraph you moved on to this one and thus avoid getting upset and believing a lie. There’s no truth to it, although with technological advances, who knows… A thread on Reddit sparked the theory that there was no one behind the character and that they were all special effects. In fact, a huge debate has opened on social networks and forums filled with “evidence that proves it”.
Most of these tests were based on Brett Goldstein’s interpretation, which does exist and which depicts Roy Kent as a terribly cold character in his feelings and gestures. Typical square personality who is often called “acting like a robot”, but that doesn’t mean she is one. In fact, over the last few seasons we have discovered the softer side of Kent.
And if there were still any doubts, let’s say that the actor has participated in more than 20 productions between cinema and television. Of course, in none of them did he succeed as successfully as in “Ted Lasso”.
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