“Ted Lasso” is a match made in globalizer heaven. It took a U.S. media/tech platform to make an iconic show about English football, and it took English football to make Apple TV+ a legitimate global media player.
The acclaimed Apple TV+ comedy, which just won seven Emmys, is many things to many people — a call for optimism and kindness in an age of negativity and anger; a leadership masterclass; a Christian allegory; a primer on mental health; a case study in cross-cultural learning and personal growth; a repudiation of tea-drinking. But for globalization’s story, “Ted Lasso” is here to mind the gap (to borrow the type of everyday Britishism that so tickles the former Wichita State coach now managing AFC Richmond) between America’s dominance over most forms of global pop culture (think film, music, TV, social media) and its historical isolationism when it comes to sport.