Apple TV+ comedy Ted Lasso scored a hat trick of awards at the 2021 Critics’ Choice Awards on Sunday, garnering prizes for Best Comedy Series, Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for Hannah Waddingham and Best Actor in a Comedy Series for Jason Sudeikis.
Considering that it’s an underdog tale about a fish-out-of-water football coach struggling to adapt to the world of soccer, the fact that Ted Lasso is proving to be Apple TV+’s MVP — winning against the likes of Netflix, Hulu and CBS — seems weirdly appropriate.
In his acceptance speech, star Sudeikis said, “I want to thank my kids, Otis and Daisy. I want to thank their mom Olivia, who had the initial idea to do this as a TV show, saying, ‘You and Brendan [Hunt] and Joe [Kelly] like doing that so much, you should do it as a movie or TV show.’ … She was right.”
This is the second (and third and fourth) big win for Ted Lasso as of late. A week ago, Ted Lasso earned Apple its first Golden Globes win, with Sudeikis winning for his lead role in the show.
Working out Apple TV+’s biggest hit is tricky since Apple has so far failed to reveal streaming or subscriber numbers. However, it seems fair to say that Ted Lasso is a hit for Apple. The show currently enjoys a Rotten Tomatoes audience score of 98% and critic score of 90%. Apple also renewed Ted Lasso for second and third seasons already, meaning it will remain on the Apple TV+ schedule through at least 2022.
Since Apple supposedly made winning awards a big part of its Apple TV+ strategy, the company is likely very happy with how Ted Lasso has done so far. This is the closest thing Apple TV+ has so far come to a breakout hit.
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