'Ted Lasso's' new season: 3 takeaways

Apple TV's "Ted Lasso," the most important series of the streaming era (not named "Stranger Things"), returns Wednesday after a three-year break that was supposed to be permanent. For this fourth season, Ted (Jason Sudeikis) is back in London to coach the AFC Richmond second division women's team, Lady Greyhounds. Here are three takeaways, based on the first five episodes:

Who's missing/who's new?

Counting Ted, the Big Five are back — Greyhounds owner Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham); her BFF Keeley, PR exec (Juno Temple), new AFC Richmond men's team manager Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein) and Ted's loyal friend, Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt). But "who's missing" gives this fourth season a hint of phantom limb syndrome. No Nate Shelley (Nick Mohammed), who was Ted's friend, then rival or Rebecca's ex, Rupert Mannion (Anthony Head, who died in June at the age of 72) nor so much as a wisp of the beloved Greyhounds themselves, as if they almost don't even exist in this new branch of the Lassoverse.

Of the Lady Greyhounds, the best-known newcomers are Abbie Hern ("Gemma"), who starred in "Enola Holmes 2" and the 2024 Prime series, "My Lady Jane"; Faye Marsay ("Lizzie," the team's striker) is an established star ("Adolescence," "The White Queen," "Andor"). Tracey Ullman has joined as Zelda, a wild-haired, boozy confidant of Rebecca who looks like a character straight out of the "Tracey Ullman Show."

But the key newcomer is Tanya Reynolds ("Sex Education") who plays tightly wound assistant head coach Alice Chilton. A former player, she has anger issues and fraught romantic ones; how long before Ted softens those edges?

Maybe the biggest change is off-screen

Veteran producer Jack Burditt ("30 Rock," "Modern Family," "Frasier," "Last Man Standing") joined this season, to give "Ted" a real American TV high-gloss sheen: Short, punchy scenes with comic payoffs ... character beats that feel familiar, comfortable ... episodes that run at a more-or-less tight 44 minutes. The focus is back on Ted too, but on Happy Ted, not Sad Ted. In short, this "Ted" is cleaner, crisper, less cluttered and less indulgent. There are fewer established characters to service which means more focus on the remaining ones. The original spirit is still there while that messiness, clutter and self-indulgence of the third season has been cleared away. I suspect casual fans will be pleased but superfans endlessly annoyed (that's OK — "endlessly annoyed" is the default of superfans everywhere).

"Ted" is more Ted-centric

The magic of this show, or at least the resonance during COVID (when it first aired), was that distinctly outsized All-American optimism, its messages writ large, then underscored by one indelible character — that chipper, up-with-people, corny-as-Kansas Ned Flanders look-alike who never met a person he didn't like, or a challenge he couldn't overcome. Best of all, "Ted Lasso" didn't overstay its welcome. Ending at three — some fans would argue that the bloated third was dispensable — we're now at a fourth season that was never supposed to happen. What's best here is the pivot to a women's team, with a whole new set of challenges which are arguably larger or more intractable than those facing the men's squad (Sexism, fan indifference, empty stadiums, unequal pay, even injuries.) Nevertheless, we have seen this show before, and we have seen this Ted too. It's nice, and he's nice. But still ...

If you're looking for a grade, let's go with two and half stars.