Ted Lasso's Iconic Characters Ranked: Who's the Best?

When Apple TV first announced Ted Lasso, it seemed destined to fail. The character of Ted Lasso, a bumbling American football coach hopelessly trying to coach an English football team, was initially created as a marketing mascot. Jason Sudeikis originally played Ted in a series of promos for NBC Sports’ coverage of Premier League matches. He’s an advertising tool, so putting him at the center of his own half-hour series seemed like a fool’s errand. But Sudeikis and co-creator Bill Lawrence cleverly used that fish-out-of-water comic premise as a springboard to explore bad dads, ugly divorces, mental health in sports, and the power of an optimistic outlook.