There’s lots #TedLasso does well - positivity, empathy, confronting masculinity, wit - but the thing that’s stayed with me is the balance of *change* and *stasis*.

Things it has to keep doing to stay funny vs things it has to keep progressing to stay dramatically interesting.

Infamously, sitcoms want characters to stay the same so the show’s tensions and comic engines can remain.

Del must always see himself making it big beyond his ability, Michael Scott’s self-interest and need for an audience must override his common sense and professionalism...

Now, #TedLasso has those core comedic engines - Nathan’s discomfort in himself, Rebecca’s sternness, Jamie’s ego - but...Ted’s going to fix all these. We can see it happening. He’s making everyone better.

How can the show last this way?

Well look: Ted’s merry outlook is going to persist. And be endlessly challenged.

That one fixed point is going to keep working for so long as the world keeps making hard times and arseholes.

Nathan’s growing confidence won’t stop him being Nathan. You can give him strength, but he’ll never be ‘fixed’. There are lot of facets to confidence, you don’t just “get it”.

Rebecca’s growing, but she’ll always face challenges in her role, with her core nature and her history.

Really this is about how sitcoms don’t really reject change. Indeed, most grow naturally.

Characters want to grow. Writers often try to prevent that.

Rodney gains depth even as he loses his greater anxiety. Dwight’s capacity for kindness increases, but he retains his values.

What Ted Lasso seems to do is allow for that stasis/growth combo to be built in from day one. To make that part of its DNA, so change doesn’t feel wrong when it begins.

In this it shares the ethos of its leading man utterly.

Rebecca in change won’t get less interesting if and when the truth comes out. (I’m only on ep 7!) Indeed, a Rebecca who wants to Be More Ted has every bit of much comic potential.

Higgins around a new Rebecca? Also interesting!

And sure, you can cycle new players in and out of the show to keep it fresh. But it shouldn’t need as high a high burn rate as this amount of more film/drama-like growth might suggest.

#TedLasso has found a perfect space for itself. A show that shares the lead’s outlook, and so makes us feel like part of the team.

What might have been a stock fish out of water story with limited layers has instead put its layered approach front and centre.

Indeed, there’s a trade-off here, where it’s sometimes not as funny as you know it could be, because it’s holding to the truth of the characters and its core values. Easy laughs are avoided, wit and whimsy often prioritised over a huge gag.

But the pay off is that both big laughs *and* big emotions land all the harder.

I’ve been bigging up Conra Kai for managing to be a parody while also being sincere - a hard thing to pull off.

#TedLasso is sincere while also being a high concept sitcom. Which is similarly tough.

Anyway, by the time you get to the karaoke night you’ll be in bits.

End of thread.