Ted Lasso: The Richmond Way Blu Ray Review (Warner Bros.)

Ted Lasso is a 2020 sports comedy television series written/produced/created by Bill Lawrence (Spin City, Scrubs, Clone High, Shrinking, Cougar Town, Ground Floor, and Rush Hour), Brendan Hunt (Comedy Central News), and Joe Kelly (Saturday Night Live, Detroiters, How I Met Your Mother, and The Winner). It was directed by Zach Braff (Garden State, Scrubs, A Good Person, Wish I Was Here, and Going In Style), Declan Lowney (Alan Partridge, Time Will Tell, Father Ted, and Happiness), MJ Delaney (Powder Room, Frank Of Ireland, and Renegade Nell), Matt Lipsey (Little Britain, Mr. Bigstuff, Psychoville, and Jekyll), and 6 others. It was an Apple TV exclusive and it lasted for 3 seasons. It won 13 Emmys and 2 Golden Globes during it’s run. Ted Lasso (played by: Jason Sudeikis from Horrible Bosses franchise, We’re the Millers, Saturday Night Live, and Hall Pass) is a college football coach that’s randomly recruited overseas to coach the Premier League soccer team. AFC Richmond is now owned by the vengeful Rebecca Welton (played by: Hannah Waddingham from The Fall Guy, Sex Education, Krypton, and Game of Thrones). She acquired ownership with from her divorce with the wealthy Rupert Mannion (played by: Anthony Head from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Repo!, Dominion, and Merlin). She only hired Lasso for revenge against him. She wants the inexperienced coach to embarrass and hurt Rupert who’s only true love is the AFC Richmond. The popular Keeley Jones (played by: Juno Temple from Black Mass, Killer Joe, Horns, Sin City: A Dame to Kill, Fargo, and The Dark Knight Rises) gets thrown in the mix with her relationship with the soccer squad. Lasso ends up surprising everyone when he catches on quicker than expected for the sport that he knows nothing about. His staff consists of Coach Beard (played by: Brendan Hunt from Key and Peele) and Nathan Shelley (played by: Nick Mohammed from The Martian, Intelligence, and Uncle). He has to deal with the egomaniac star Jamie Tartt (played by: Phil Dunster from Murder on the Orient Express, Judy, The Rise of the Krays, and The Fall of the Krays), the ambitious rookie Sam Obisanya (played by: Toheeb Jimoh from The French Dispatch, The Feed, and The Power), and angry veteran Roy Kent (played by: Brett Goldstein from Howl and Thor: Love and Thunder) as his team learns to work together!!!! Ted Lasso is one of the biggest surprises of all time when it comes to television. Personally, I think soccer is one of the worst sports ever and I could never get into it no matter what. I wasn’t expecting to like this show at all to be real but I gave it a fair shot. The truth is Ted Lasso is much more than something about soccer. It blew me away on how great it was. It has so much heart to it and it really pulls you in with all it’s fascinating characters. It’s well written when it comes to the development, each episode just gets better and better especially during the first two seasons here for this heartfelt comedy. You actually really care about these people and their wacky universe. This dramady delivers when it comes to hilarious moments and the human condition all at once. Season 1 includes “Pilot”, “Biscuits”, “Trent Crimm: The Independent”, “For the Children”, “Tan Lines”, “Two Aces”, “Make Rebecca Great Again”, “The Diamond Dogs”, “All Apologies”, and” The Hope That Kills You”. Season 2 includes “Goodbye Earl”, “Lavender”, “Do the Right-est Thing”, “Carol of the Bells”, “Rainbow”, “The Signal”, “Headspace”, “Man City”, “Beard After Hours”, “No Weddings and a Funeral”, “Midnight Train to Royston”, and “Inverting the Pyramid of Success”. Season 3 includes “Smells Like Mean Spirit”, “(I Don’t Want to Go to) Chelsea”, “4-5-1”, “Big Week”, “Signs”, “Sunflowers”, “The Strings That Bind Us”, “We’ll Never Have Paris”, “La Locker Room Aux Folles”, “International Break”, “Mom City”, and “So Long, Farewell”. Season 2 and 3 added more episodes plus they were longer than it’s original run. Jason Sudeikis is top notch as Ted Lasso. He gives one of the greatest coach portrayals in the history of both TV and cinema. Ted Lasso might be the nicest guy ever and he is always trying to help everyone. He puts others before himself and he honestly makes anyone around him better. Jason Sudeikis has amazing chemistry with the entire cast. Hannah Waddingham as Rebecca Welton kinda starts out as the villain. She only hired Ted to make her team a joke and she wanted her ex to suffer at any cost. As time goes on, she changes and she discovers that she actually cares about AFC Richmond. She has a great character arc for Ted Lasso and she learns the most from this entire situation. I love the relationship between Ted Lasso and Rebecca Welton here. You feel like it could go anyway with these two. Nick Mohammed as Nathan Shelley transforms into a different person during the 3 seasons. He is the new member of the coaching staff with all kinds of potential when Ted gives him a shot. When he has some success, he uses it to join rival Rupert Mannion’s new team to go against his former mentor. He lets fame and power go to his head. Nick Mohammed is very impressive as the coach that gets redemption for all his mistakes. Juno Temple as Keeley Jones is amazing in Ted Lasso. I can see why all these guys are fighting for her because she’s stunning in this. She was famous before she even gets involved with soccer but she gets in a highly entertaining love triangle with Jamie Tartt and Roy Kent. The rest of the supporting cast includes Anthony Head, Phil Dunster, Brett Goldstein, Toheeb Jimoh, Brendan Hunt, Jeremy Swift (Downton Abbey), Kola Bokinni (Hunter Killer), Billy Harris (The Outlaws), Stephen Manas (A Friendly Tale), Cristo Fernández (Transformers: Rise of the Beasts), Moe Jeudy-Lamour (I’ll take your Dead), Bronson Webb (RocknRolla), James Lance (Bronson), and Andrea Anders (Bookie). I really enjoyed no matter how bad it gets, Coach Lasso is always positive and he just wants others to be happy. There’s really no dull moments in this and the series has a nice smooth flow to it. The entire Ted Lasso show is so much fun and it’s always entertaining for it’s 3 seasons, it has excellent replay value to it. It’s my favorite thing that Apple TV has done so far. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation from Warner Bros Pictures! These 1080p (2.00:1) transfers on all 34 episodes look amazing. It streams in 4K on Apple TV so I’m a little shocked that it didn’t get a UHD home video release right away. I’m very thankful that Ted Lasso actually got a real physical media set since it’s such a popular streaming television show and that’s a rarity these days. This Apple TV series really shines on blu ray, it’s one of the better looking shows in recent years especially during the actual soccer games. It has English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks for each Ted Lasso episode. The audio is very impressive. The games and the crowd really pop here. All of the dialogue is crisp, the comedy is elevated, and the music has a killer boost to it. It has English SDH subtitles. Unfortunately, there’s no extras on this 7 disc set. It comes with a slipcover and a 18×12 poster. It’s available everywhere right now, CHECK IT OUT!!!!