Photo courtesy of Apple TV+

Apple TV+’s hit comedy series Ted Lasso follows an American football coach (Jason Sudeikis) who is hired to manage a British soccer team, making up for what he lacks in experience with optimism, folksy charm, and biscuits. While on location in London, co-executive producer and writer Jane Becker shared her thoughts on the cultural impact the Emmy-winning “warm-core” show has had on our hearts.

“I was super shocked,” says Becker. “I had never worked on a show that my friends, nieces, and my parents had known about. That felt different. And it felt bigger in that way.”

She gently pushes back on the timing of its release during COVID as part of the reason for its unanimously positive reception, pointing out that “we were already sick of seeing bad news.”

Easy on the conflict

The show has been critically acclaimed for avoiding conflict. Becker mentions a pivotal moment in the series when Rebecca confesses to Ted her original intent with the team to illustrate how there were “lots of arguments in the room for conflict, but Jason would always ask us ‘Why?’”

“A lot of shows–and I’m not trying to rag–would have had Ted storm out. What came after was more interesting. Instead, he says, ‘Okay,’ and he forgives her.”

Becker goes on, “Having a character with no conflict is a hard character to write. It made [the writers’ room] get out of what we knew.”

In spite of the popularity of the show, Becker reveals that she doesn’t “like to read articles for or against the show.”

“That’s self-protection. It would hurt my heart, and I’m protective of it.”

Becker shares, “My counselor calls me a feel-more.” She pauses for a moment, reflecting. “The line that drew me to the show in the original pilot was, ‘If we see each other in our dreams, let’s goof around and pretend we don’t know each other.’”

She laughs, “That was the weirdest, stupidest thing, but I thought, ‘You got me. These people fucking get it.’”

The bittersweet goodbye

And now, with the highly anticipated, potentially final season right around the corner, she admits, ”The first emotion that comes over me weirdly is sadness.”

“If it’s the end, it’s going to be sad to stop writing for these people. I know they’re not real, but as you go through your life, you stop and say, ‘That would be funny for Rebecca to do.’”

“The second emotion I feel is definitely denial (from the stages of grief). I wouldn’t have come to London if this wasn’t my favorite group to be with. And I got to see a different side of myself while working on this show.”

Becker's takeaways

Becker admits that while she started the series “not knowing anything about soccer,” she’s since discovered that she’s learned a lot about it over the years.

In addition to learning about the sport, the show has taught her a different way to approach writing. 

“I definitely went into this as a jokes-per-page kind of writer,” she says. “But I learned to lean into the ‘real of this.’”

“Don’t let the convention of TV writing stop you from being sincere from this moment. Because it’ll hit you like a two-by-two across the face. You’re expecting a dumb joke, and it leans into the sincerity,” she says. “You feel something different.” 

“There’s different ways to do one thing. And it was cool to see another way. It’s opened a door that I didn’t know existed. I’ll definitely carry this in my arsenal of writing.” 

And what would she say if she could go back in time and high-five herself? “Like terminator style, I appear, and I see me, and I’m like, ‘Let’s high five?’” she wonders. She pauses, thinking.

“This is so sincere and cringe, but I’d say, ‘You’re brave.’ Because bravery isn’t being not scared to do things. Bravery is being scared and doing them anyways. And I fucking did that.”

Season 1 and 2 of Ted Lasso are available now on Apple TV+.