New book arrives as the perfect gift for Ted Lasso fans

1 week ago 5

The holiday shopping season has arrived, and with it a great gift has just released for the Ted Lasso fans in your life (self-gifting is okay too). From The New York Times’ TV critic comes a new book telling the full story of the biggest Apple TV+ hit.

Apple TV+ oral history for Ted Lasso now available

The new book, from Jeremy Egner of The Times, comes with a punchy title that kind of says it all: Believe: The Untold Story Behind Ted Lasso, the Show That Kicked Its Way into Our Hearts.

Here’s the publisher’s summary:

In Believe, entertainment journalist and Ted Lasso fan Jeremy Egner traces the show’s creation and legacy through the words of the people at its center. Drawing on dozens of interviews from key cast, creators, and more, Believe takes readers from the first, silly NBC Premier League commercial to the pitch to Apple executives, then into the show’s writers’ room, through the brilliant international casting, and on to the unforgettable set and locations of the show itself.

The book truly looks like an excellent inside look behind the scenes of a beloved Apple TV+ series. A few key quotes I’ve seen so far include:

Sudeikis reflects on how every character progressed throughout the series: “Everybody’s in better shape than when they started. Like a good Boy or Girl Scout at a campsite, we left it better than we found it.”
Apple was the only interested studio: “Sudeikis and Lawrence pitched the show around Hollywood and found little interest until they talked to program executives at Apple TV+, which hadn’t actually launched at the time.”
The creative team’s lack of hesitation going with an unproven entity in Apple TV+: “Whatever misgivings they had about the unproven platform was offset by its parent company’s global dominance and deep pockets. ‘Evidently they do more than just television,’ Sudeikis cracked.”

You can purchase the book here in hardcover or Kindle edition.

If you’re looking for any other gift ideas for the Ted Lasso fan in your life, Apple released the first three seasons in a Blu-Ray set earlier this year. A DVD version is also available.

Perhaps the biggest gift of all is that Ted Lasso season 4 kicks off production soon.