Ted Lasso is back for season 4 with a field full of fan service
So many of the television (and cinema) experiences we have are based off pre-existing IP. Either they’re spin-offs, reboots, remakes, or straight out sequels. Audiences are often pretty good at sniffing out the good ones from the lazy efforts. That isn’t to say that some lazy efforts don’t go on to reasonable success. But generally it holds that the lazy ones tend to fall by the wayside.
Which brings me to two very different experiences I have had watching television this week.
Ted Lasso returned this week for season four. After a divisive season three which effectively brought the series to a close, three years later it is back on Apple TV.
Critics have been, quite fairly I’d suggest, been fairly brutal with its return.
The problem with the return of Ted Lasso is that it did a thorough job in closing off the series by the end of season three. A lot of viewers weren’t into the third season and I’d attribute a lot of that to two key reasons:
The rhythms shifted considerably between seasons one and three, with episodes from the third season often nearly double the length of episodes in the first season. The extended runtime has the consequence of it no longer being a fun check-in with your football friends each week and is instead more of an intensive viewing experience.
For what it’s worth, I generally liked season three, but it is a very different viewing experience to the show that blew up as a hugely successful and beloved TV comedy.A lot of that third season had the titular Ted character dealing with his demons and being very mopey as a result. Again, it’s a departure from what people liked about the show in that first season.
The new fourth season is a lot more in line with that third season of the show with episodes veering towards an hour long rather than a tighter thirty minutes. But instead of the show growing and evolving as it had from seasons one to three, this new season just feels like more of the same. But, uh… lesser.
A fourth season wasn’t originally on the cards. There’s a reason the show explored Ted’s psyche and set him up for a desire to return home to the US so he could be there for his son on a full-time basis. That third season was supposed to give his character closure.
But it is back and instead of growth, it feels like the show took the lazy way out and gave a reset to the show we knew from season three. It’s just Ted back at Richmond FC, only this time instead of coaching a mens football team, it’s women.
Does the show have anything interesting to say about that difference? That’s not evident from the first three episodes that I have seen (the show is rolling out weekly, with episode one now streaming). Instead, the show feels a lot more regressive with constant discussion about there being no interest by Richmond football fans in the women’s league, players are seen letting their trivial interpersonal squabbles play out on the field, and the quality of the players is in question.
The show is leaning in to fan service too often with the show busy celebrating characters being reunited, that Roy Kent fella continues to be gruff, and players from the mens team being checked by name in the spirit of eliciting warm sentiment at their very mention.
Instead, the show should just be getting on with the business of exploring what is interesting about its new status quo. Except, it’s hardly new, is it?
Now, I mentioned having two very different experiences with shows. While Ted Lasso season 4 is a fizzer, animated superhero show My Adventures with Superman has been blowing my socks off (tights?).
I watched the first season of this show when it debuted back in 2023 and was impressed with it, but it was hardly a show worth dancing about in the streets. Rewatching that first season and going straight into seasons two and three this past week I feel very differently.
My Adventures with Superman sets the gold standard of what a superhero show or movie should be doing in the modern era.
After this many adaptations of Superman over the years, there’s not a lot of takes on the character that could feel fresh and innovative. But this cartoon show has done an incredible job of making Superman relevant for the current moment, with a heavy lean towards the tone and themes that drive a lot of popular anime, while incorporating the Superman mythos in a way that feels wholly unique to this television show. The magic trick this show is doing with every episode is finding new perspectives on some very worn characters and reinterpreting them in a way that strengthens the narrative and thematic interests of the series.
Lex Luthor in this isn’t just a businessman, he’s an Elon Musk-type of figure who weaponises a melding of science, capitalism, and public political sentiment together. It’s a contrast to the idealism and community minded spirit of the three junior news reporters leading the series (Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, and, of course, Clark Kent). Superboy isn’t Clark Kent from when he was a teenager – he’s the recent comic book addition Jon Kent, the son of Lois and Clark. The gimmick here is that he’s their son from the future who, in addition to needing to save the timeline, he’s a threat to Lois Lane’s sense of self and independence. Knowing she fathers a son with Superman means saying goodbye to her youth and carefree current lifestyle and embracing commitment and greater responsibility.
And then there’s a host of side characters including a queer French gorilla and a Supergirl who is busy weaponising dating apps to capture the heart of the boy of her dreams.
It’s a weird assortment of ideas from across almost a century worth of Superman comics, TV shows, and movies all smashed together for a show that feels true to itself and has something it wants to say about understanding oneself and being accepted within communities.
But what you won’t find in this show is lazy writing and shameless fan service. That’s for the UK football show for grown-ups.
News Desk
Casting & greenlights
Martin spinoff The Varnell Hill Show will premiere globally on Paramount+ on 1 September, launching with two episodes of its eight-episode first season. Read: The Hollywood Reporter
Taron Egerton, Jamie Chung, Benjamin Norris, Dylan Arnold, Jessy Hodges and Milan Carter have joined the second season of HBO Max comedy I Love LA. Read: Deadline
Richard Madden will star in Trauma, a hostage thriller co-commissioned by Paramount+ and Prime Video, playing a medic turned ER doctor who fights through a London hospital after terrorists take the Prime Minister hostage during surgery. Read: C21Media
Cherry Jones, Corey Stoll, Rob Delaney and Abbey Lee have joined Netflix’s The Secret of Secrets, alongside previously cast Morgan Spector and Rebecca Hall in the Dan Brown adaptation. Read: thefutoncritic
HBO and the BBC will co-produce 1536, a six-episode drama from Ava Pickett following three working-class women in a Tudor-era Essex village in the fallout of Anne Boleyn’s execution. Read: The Hollywood Reporter
Eh renewal
Peacock has renewed The Five Star Weekend for a second season, after the drama ranked among the top five most-watched streaming original series in its first two weeks. Read: thefutoncritic
Important and serious documentaries
HBO Max has ordered the first-ever authorised Gilmore Girls documentary, featuring new interviews with Amy Sherman-Palladino, Daniel Palladino and Lauren Graham. Read: thefutoncritic
Mouse business
Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro confirmed the company is exploring free, ad-supported FAST channels, with CFO Hugh Johnston saying content spending is on track to hit roughly $24 billion this year. Read: Deadline
Disney plans to add more live sports to Disney+ this fall, including additional college football simulcasts, as it looks to deepen ties between ESPN, Disney+ and Hulu. Read: The Hollywood Reporter
Disney has sold out its Super Bowl LXI ad inventory and closed its 2026-27 upfront, with total ad volume commitments up by double digits on last year. Read: Deadline
Wired and wires
Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox console is expected to offer native backward compatibility with Xbox 360, Xbox One and Xbox Series titles. Read: Radio Times
Charlie Sheen is launching a podcast, Mostly Sheenius, produced by Red Seat Ventures, promising candid conversations with major names across entertainment, sports and pop culture. Read: The Hollywood Reporter
Perez Hilton has been hospitalised after livestreaming footage of himself self-harming on TikTok on Tuesday night, with Miami-Dade sheriff’s deputies responding to his home and his family confirming he is now receiving medical care. Read: The Guardian
An aside
Look, after records of unfunny were broken with Super Troopers 2, I’m pretty reluctant to spend any money to see Super Troopers 3 in the cinema (I’ll admit to having a very soft spot for the first one though…. meow…). But I have to question sending Frank Scheck at THR in to review the movie.
I mean, consider this admission in the middle of his review panning the film:
What business does anyone have reviewing a juvenile comedy when they don’t have a simple understanding of the fundamentals?
Trailer Park
The X-Files: I Want to Believe – Vrach Frankenshteyn debuts on Hulu August 14.
When a group of women are mysteriously abducted, it becomes a case right out of The X-Files™️. Years after walking away from the FBI, Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dr Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) are pulled back from the shadows when a federal agent vanishes without a trace.
“In a case you’d never see on TV, their only lead is a disgraced, defrocked priest claiming to have horrific psychic visions of the crime. Forced to confront the ghosts of their past, the partners must navigate a chilling winter landscape and an even darker human monstrosity.
The truth of these crimes is out there somewhere… and it will take Mulder and Scully to find it. The X-Files: I Want to Believe - Vrach Frankenshteyn reimagines creator and director Chris Carter’s original vision in this all-new director’s cut.
Tyler Perry’s Back in Black returns for season 3 on Netflix August 27.
Love is Blind UK is back for season 3 on Netflix August 19.
That’s the newsletter for the today.
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