Apple TV+’sTed Lasso” has won a Peabody in the 81st year of the awards, which honor “stories that matter.”
About the Peabody Awards
Here’s how the Peabody Awards are described: For over 80 years, we have championed the creativity and achievements of storytellers across television, streaming, radio, and digital media. Each year, 30 Peabody Awards are given for entertainment, documentary, news, podcast and radio, children’s/youth, and public service programming. Special awards are also given to individuals for career achievement and institutions for their long-standing body of work.
There are no set criteria for judging the winners. Peabody Awards recognize stories that illuminate social issues with depth and complexity as much as stories that entertain and inspire through their art or voice. We honor stories that matter.
Here’s what the Peabody Awards organizers said about “Ted Lasso” in a statement: The premise of this wildly popular show from Apple TV+ has all the markings of a formulaic cornball dud. A seemingly homespun and loquacious American football coach from Kansas is hired to run a London “football” team—soccer, of course, a sport about which he knows nothing. The new owner (the wonderful Hannah Waddingham) intends to drive the team into the ground as revenge against her adulterous ex-husband who lost his ownership in the divorce. What this presumably Ugly American, fish-out-of-water tale offers instead is a charming dose of radical optimism, with an equally endearing Jason Sudeikis as Ted Lasso. It turns out that more than simply a sports coach, Ted is remarkably good at honest communication with others, affecting change by being a deeply good human being, one with his own quiet anxieties and pain. Indeed, much of the personal transformations in the characters and their extended relationships occurs through the ripple effect of Ted’s radiant optimism and intensely sincere, if folksy, good will. Those who typically would be treated as minor or marginalized characters such as Keely, the soccer star’s model girlfriend, and Nate the Great, the diminutive South Asian locker room assistant, become significant change agents of Ted’s philosophy—the Lasso Way—that when we “BELIEVE,” all manner of positive things will happen. For offering the perfect counter to the enduring prevalence of toxic masculinity, both on-screen and off, in a moment when the nation truly needs inspiring models of kindness, Ted Lasso wins a Peabody.
About ‘Ted Lasso’
Since its debut in August 2020, “Ted Lasso” has been honored with global recognitions including a recently announced Peabody Award, Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series, and a Golden Globe Award in the Best Comedy Actor category. The series also triumphed at the 2021 Critics Choice Awards, sweeping every category for which it was nominated and securing wins for Best Comedy Series, Best Actor for Jason Sudeikis, and Best Supporting Actress for Hannah Waddingham.
In addition, the series has picked up two Writers Guild Awards for Best New Series and Best Comedy Series, nominations from the Producers Guild of America for Comedy Series, as well as honors from many other guild and critics groups. “Ted Lasso” was also the only comedy series honored as an AFI Program of the Year and has regularly appeared on television critics’ “Best of 2020” lists.
Sudeikis is Ted Lasso, an American football coach hired to manage a British soccer team – despite having no experience. But what he lacks in knowledge, he makes up for with optimism, underdog determination … and biscuits. The widely acclaimed series also stars Hannah Waddingham, Brendan Hunt, Jeremy Swift, Juno Temple, Brett Goldstein, Phil Dunster and Nick Mohammed. Sarah Niles joins the cast this season as Sharon, a sports psychologist who has been brought in to work with AFC Richmond.
In addition to starring, Sudeikis serves as executive producer, alongside Bill Lawrence via his Doozer Productions, in association with Warner Bros. and Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group. Doozer’s Jeff Ingold also serves as an executive producer with Liza Katzer as co-executive producer. The series was developed by Sudeikis, Lawrence, Brendan Hunt and Joe Kelly, and is based on the pre-existing format and characters from NBC Sports.
The complete first season of “Ted Lasso ” is available on Apple TV+ on the Apple TV app.
By the way, “Ted Lasso” is now officially selling merchandise related to the show, including mugs, t-shirts, jerseys, and more.
About Apple TV+
Apple TV+ is available on the Apple TV app in over 100 countries and regions, on over 1 billion screens, including iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Mac, popular smart TVs from Samsung, LG, Sony, VIZIO, TCL and others, Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices, Chromecast with Google TV, PlayStation and Xbox gaming consoles, and at tv.apple.com, for $4.99 per month with a seven-day free trial. For a limited time, customers who purchase a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Mac or iPod touch can enjoy one year of Apple TV+ for free. This special offer is good for three months after the first activation of the eligible device.
