Confirmed: ‘Ted Lasso’ was this year’s ‘Schitt’s Creek’

Heading into Sunday night’s Emmys, all of the experts were predicting that shows about joy would come out on top. That was definitely true in the case of Ted Lasso, the Jason Sudeikis-led comedy that won over viewers’ hearts in its first season for… well, sparking joy.

In fact, if you break it down, Ted Lasso is pretty much the 2021 version of Schitt’s Creek.

[video_embed id='2285057']Ted Lasso wins big at 2021 Emmys [/video_embed]

On the surface, the comedies don’t have that much in common, but they have brought comfort and joy during what has been a tumultuous time in our lives. After Sunday night, both shows have also each won big at the annual TV awards celebration, growing from a little show not many people knew about into a big freaking deal. Because that’s the power of awards. 

If you’ll recall, last year, Schitt’s Creek made history by sweeping all four of the major comedy acting categories, along with writing, directing and Best Show. This year, Ted Lasso got its own flowers by winning Best Comedy, Best Actor (Jason Sudeikis), Best Supporting Actor (Brett Goldstein) and Best Supporting Actress (Hannah Waddingham).

No one from the series submitted under the Best Actress banner, but if they had, they probably would have won that too, given how the voting went down.

What’s even more impressive is that in both the supporting actor/actress categories, the cast went up against each other, something that can backfire as voters split their ballots, opening it up for another nominee to slip through. Not on Sunday night. Hannah Waddingham beat out several of the ladies of Saturday Night Live and fellow Hannah, Hannah Einbinder (Hacks). But she also won over her co-star, Juno Temple.

“There’s no Rebecca without Keeley,” Waddingham said in her acceptance speech, shouting out her IRL friend and both of their beloved characters. “And if you ever leave my life, I’m going to stalk you.”

Meanwhile, as for supporting actors in comedy this year? Well, it might as well have been the Ted Lasso category since Goldstein—who stars in the role of fan favourite player Roy Kent—beat out co-stars Brendan Hunt, Nick Mohammed and Jeremy Swift. 

If you haven’t yet caught up on the sheer joy that is Ted Lasso, it’s not that you’ve been living under a rock. The series is available on AppleTV+ and it kind of took everyone by surprise when it debuted (like the true underdog that it is). It also features a cast that, until recently, wasn’t that well known in North America. 

The show was created by Sudeikis and Bill Lawrence (of Scrubs and Cougar Town fame), and it follows a football coach named Ted Lasso who is hired by a British soccer team to come in and save them from their losing ways. Only the team’s owner, Rebecca, has other plans: she’s hired Ted to tank the team in order to get back at her ex-husband (played by Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Anthony Head).

Before long, Ted and his Positive Polly ways (not to mention his delicious biscuits) win over everyone: Rebecca, the cranky media, and the team itself. It’s one part lesson in the power of positivity, one part about the ability to persevere and pivot, and one part about laughing at yourself when all else fails.

Oh, and it also features one of the coolest female duos on TV, if you didn’t already pick up on that.

Those vibes are the same ones we got from watching Schitt’s Creek during the earlier days of the pandemic. Speaking of our fab four, they also made an appearance on Sunday night when they walked out on stage with linked arms to present some awards. It was like the Emmys appearance we all deserved, considering their trophies were handed out virtually last year.

In case we needed a reminder of how great this cast was together, Dan Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Annie Murphy and Eugene Levy did a blank teleprompter schtick that was so good, people actually believed that it was broken. Until Eugene “revealed” he had a bit of a diva moment with the writing room, and everyone realized it was all a big, hilarious bit.

Look, if that doesn’t prove we all deserve a Schitt’s Creek movie we don’t know what does. But until then we still have three more second-season episodes of Ted Lasso to look forward to, as well as an already ordered, 12-episode, third season to “believe” in.

That’s all good news as far as we’re concerned, because who couldn’t use even more joy in their lives in 2021? In the words of Ted himself, we feel like we fell out of the lucky tree and hit every branch on the way down, but ended up in a pool of cash and Sour Patch Kids.

[video_embed id='2270085']Jason Sudeikis Emmy acceptance clip [/video_embed]