Ted Lasso (Apple+): Coach Ted Lasso is an American football coach from Wichita, Kansas, who unexpectedly gets hired to coach a British football (American soccer) team despite having zero experience coaching the sport. Arriving in Richmond with his assistant coach, Coach Beard, it is apparent that the team’s owner Rebecca, who recently acquired the club after a bitter divorce, may have ulterior motives for hiring Ted. Knowing that the team has been struggling for wins, Ted uses his happy-go-lucky attitude to try to win them over. While the players initially resist him, they realize that Ted’s positivity is genuine and may be precisely what these players have been missing. Standout performances include Brett Goldstein as Roy Kent, the team’s captain with a rugged exterior but is also surprisingly sensitive and thoughtful, and Juno Temple as Keeley, a successful model and everyone’s favorite cheerleader. Heartwarming, hilarious, and occasionally gut-punching, “Ted Lasso” is a show about friendship and teamwork that manages to be infectiously wholesome without being corny. In both 2021 and 2022, “Ted Lasso” won the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for Jason Sudeikis, and Supporting Actor for Brett Goldstein.
Barry (HBO): Bill Hader co-created and stars in this black comedy about an ex-Marine and Afghanistan Veteran who works as a hitman. After following one of his hits to an acting class run by a notoriously difficult and excentric veteran actor Gene Cousineau (Henry Winkler), Barry finds himself drawn to the relationships he forms on stage. However, controlled by his long-term mentor and partner Monroe Fuches (Stephen Root), Barry finds that leaving his assassin days may be more difficult than he thought. While Bill Hader is stellar as the title character, the star of season three is Sarah Goldberg as Sally, a talented but struggling actress prone to sabotaging her career. She is also Barry’s love interest. Although Barry was nominated for multiple Emmys in the comedy category, the show dives into some dark territory, and the characters often lack redemption, which isn’t always a negative thing.
Yellowjackets (Hulu): When traveling from New Jersey to Seattle for a national tournament in the year 1996, a high school girl’s soccer team’s plane crashes in the wilderness, leaving the girls and their coach stranded for 19 months, which eventually leads the group to commit bloody acts in a desperate attempt to survive. “Yellowjackets” alternates between the events after the plane crash and present-day 2021, where stay-at-home mom Shauna (Melanie Lynskey), senate candidate Taissa (Tawny Cypress), struggling addict Natalie (Juliette Lewis), and erratic nurse Misty (a sensationally unhinged Christina Ricci) reconnecting, dealing with their past, and reliving what happened in the woods all those years ago. Compelling and well-acted, “Yellowjackets” starts a little slow as it unpacks the traumas and past of each character (this is genuinely a character-driven show), but the plot still leaves plenty to look forward to for the second season. Plus, I’ve been a massive fan of Lynsky since she starred alongside Kate Winslet in the 1994 movie “Heavenly Creatures,” but Lynskey never reached the same level of fame as her co-star, so it’s a delight to see her in a well-deserved lead role.
American Horror Stories (Hulu): A spin-off of the popular anthology series “American Horror Story” (AHS) where each season is its own miniseries, “American Horror Stories” features a different spooky tale in each 42 minutes episode. The show has run for two seasons, features some characters and casts from AHS, and some episodes are hit or miss. The first episode of the second season, titled “Dollhouse,” is a standout and features Denis O’ Hare as a lunatic dollmaker who kidnaps women for his own personal dollhouse. With a satisfying ending and set in the 1950s, “Dollhouse” embodies the campy, chilling, and creative aspects that can make “AHS” so good. When set in a modern setting, it often feels like the writing tries too hard to be trendy, which can sometimes work for the campy nature of the show, but other times make it feel forced.
