Plur1bus (season 1 on Apple+)

I think I read somewhere that this was last year’s best new series… it’s so long ago I don’t remember exactly how that superlative read. When I added it to my queue, I think the trailer said it was about one person trying to, quote “save the world from happiness” and she happens to be the most miserable person in the world.
I swear with some of these series, I add them to my “to watch” list and completely forget what they’re about by the time I get around to actually watch them.

I started watching this series a month ago. I was in a very strange headspace at the time- it’d been a rough winter with one significant snowstorm and power outage (two different events) so I was paranoid about something else going wrong.
Luckily we had the Winter Olympics to help take my mind off things. I also had this series. While I didn’t binge it all in that first weekend, it gave me enough to think about to take me out of that vicious cycle. And if this series is good for one thing, it’s making you think.

There’ll most likely be tons of spoilers so be mindful of that going forward..,

The series begins in a laboratory, which receives a message from outer space they determine to be some sort of biological sequence. Then after lots of testing and experimenting, they spread it outside the lab to all of humanity.
The end result- humanity adopts a hive mind mentality and becomes a collective. Everyone suddenly has the same degree of knowledge of all things and share in each other’s experiences in real time. They also are peaceful and nonjudgmental and happy. Individuality has all but been extinguished but they don’t necessarily see that as a bad thing.

Then we have our heroine, Carol Struka. She’s a best selling author who’s become somewhat jaded about her success but continues to show up for her fans- including the Barnes and Noble signing where we first meet her and her agent/friend/wife Helen.
Yeah, sometimes I’m still so slow. I figured out soon enough that Carol is a lesbian but I didn’t pick up that Helen was her wife until the behind-the-scenes stuff I watched afterwards.

So this new virus spreads via chemtrails and infects everyone… except Carol and, she later finds out, a dozen or so people who are somehow immune and maintain their individuality.
The first episode has so much chaos and leaves you on the edge of your seat. But I spent a lot of time with one question I was dying to have answered and it was never made clear. Helen inexplicably dies at the same time the process is infecting everyone. I kept waiting for some sort of explanation, like her body rejected the change or something. While some fan theories haven’t ruled that out for future seasons, the most accepted theory was she fell backwards and cracked her head open. It just really bugged me a cause of death wasn’t flat out explained.

So Carol gets home and “The Others” reach out to explain things. They want to look after her and while reassuring her that her life is her own, they still want to fix things so she’ll join them.
In the midst of her grieving and burying Helen in her yard, The Others send a representative to check in on her. Zosia is a dead ringer for Carol’s character as she was originally conceived before she changed her pirate character to a man. Carol spends a lot of time early on refusing help and wanting to maintain her independence. Nothing exemplifies this more than her wanting to have the normal experience of shopping at Sprouts, her favorite grocery store. The shelves are completely barren because they no longer want to waste resources, but just for her, they completely restock the shelves in perfect unison. It’s super impressive but a little eerie.

Episode 2, she meets the English speaking people who’re immune to the change like her. Of course, she wants to rally them to fix things and they’re less than arguable. This is made worse when everyone learns that when Carol lashes out at The Others, they freeze and break into seizures. All 7 or so billion of them at the same time. The first time she does this, it kills millions of people.
Throughout the series, she butts heads with Lakshmi, whose son- probably 8 years old- had changed with everyone else so it puts his life at risk. Thanks to the hive mind, she’s always a phone call away from tearing her a new one. One of the other immune folks is kinda fascinating. He’s living the high life, hanging out in Vegas and mingling with all the women. When he and the immune folks meet Carol, they all hang out on Air Force One (which is brilliantly recreated by the set designers). But he’s very easygoing and makes some compelling points for why this is a good thing. Why he doesn’t jump at the chance to join them, I’m not sure. It never comes up but maybe he just enjoys maintaining his individuality. He cites how there’s no crime and more importantly, no prejudice. I don’t remember where he’s from originally, some African country. But that’s a very good point.

The series does hit a major speed bump though and things actually screech to a halt. It lasted a little too long for my liking.
Basically Carol oversteps in her search for answers. She figures out that they know how to reverse this whole thing but they refuse to give her answers. So much so it almost kills Zosia.
As a result, The Others evacuate New Mexico and Carol gets a voicemail whenever she tries to reach out of them. We hear it so many times that it’s just exhausting to hear the whole message repeated. They send her the items she requests via drone. She figures out during this time with more investigating that their diet is a Soylent Green situation except the people being consumed died of natural causes. The Others don’t kill or harm anything… even vegetation. So basically they are on track to die of starvation in a decade or so.
Carol finds some interesting ways to entertain herself in her isolation. While it’s on par with the comedic edge this series has, there’s just way too much screen time with zero dialogue.

The one thing that helps make it more digestible, if a little, is the series shifted to another of the immune individuals. One that Carol curses out from Air Force One and lives down in Paraguay. When the series still had dialogue, Carol made videos of her findings and sent them to the other immune people. He also gets one and is inspired to make a long perilous journey to meet her. Made more perilous by his absolute refusal to accept help from any of them.
It’s hard not to give the guy props. He’s very determined and self sufficient. Plus, each time he takes anything, he insists on paying for it, including his bills when his journey lands him in the hospital.

The final episode- so much happens when these two characters finally meet. By this time, Zosia comes back and she and Carol have been doing a lot hanging out. Thanks to technology, they overcome their language barrier. But Carol decides she’d rather get the girl than save the world.
For a while, things are peaceful and happy and life is good.
Unfortunately because this is Carol and it’s almost like it’s in her DNA to refuse to just be happy, she finds a significant flaw in this new relationship. The narrative of “your life is your own” shifts to “we’re going to convince you to join us”.
She returns and joins forces with her new friend to save the world. But we’re left with one unsolved mystery- what’s in the massive box that gets dropped off with her arrival? Considering she was given a live grenade because she asked for one, it could be something else along those lines… or it could be something completely different. We’ll have to wait at least a year to find out.

Speed bumps aside and Carol sometimes being hard to digest early on- her default setting is unpleasant and cynical- this was an interesting series to watch because it makes you think and it leaves a lot open to interpretation. Plus the man behind it also did Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, so anyone who enjoyed those series will get into this. I saw neither and I liked it. It just might be a better realized version of The Host where earth is taken over by peaceful aliens but there’s a resistance force who lobbies against them. I didn’t enjoy that Stephenie Meyer book as much as Twilight and it reads slooow at times but the whole concept is fascinating. 

The idea of peaceful aliens taking over and possibly being the key to solving the flaws of humanity... it makes you think how great it would be. At the same time, it forces you to consider what things you're willing to sacrifice for it to happen. As of this point, no sacrifice seems to be worth any of it. 

Shrinking (2 seasons... so far... on Apple+)

 As of writing this post, I've officially ended my Apple+ subscription.
You know how subscriptions tend to reel you in and try different tricks to make it hard to quit... I decided to end my subscription because:

a) I've finished all the shows I wanted to see and I don't feel like waiting around for future seasons; and
b) the price per month is being raised from $9.99 to $12.99...

The screen immediately following me hitting "cancel subscription"- the whole vibe read "oh, please don't go, we'll give you 2 months at a reduced rate... and then we'll raise it up to $12.99"

When Ted Lasso and this show come back, I might reconsider it. But for now, I can confidently say I'm ready to move on and I'm happy with what I did with the time I had. 

***

Of the series I'd watched with my mom, this was her favorite. Months from now, she'll still be talking about how great it was. How fun the characters are and how great the banter is.
Ted Lasso is still my #1, but this will sit at a firm second place.

I was inspired to check this one out after the Emmy nominations came out and the trailer did a good job showing just how an interesting a series this could be. 
But I still wouldn't have expected to enjoy it THIS much. It had a good mixture of funny moments as well as heartwrenching and serious ones.

For starters, the main three characters, Jimmy, Paul and Gabby, are therapists who work at the same practice and are good friends outside of work as well. Also in their friend group are Jimmy's neighbors Liz and Derek and his BFF, Brian.
The series's main hook, which was played up really well in the trailer, was about Jimmy being a grieving widow who'd essentially sleepwalked through the past year of his life. He finally reaches a breaking point where he decides to give his clients unfiltered advice and becomes personally invested in their lives. And he slowly gets reacquainted with the people in his life. The most important of them being his daughter, Alice. 

It's an interesting concept. These three therapists are all good at what they do and their skillsets vary. They are also human and sometimes struggle to deal with their own problems. 

My mom is a huge Harrison Ford fan and both of us equally loved him as Paul. Being that residential voice of reason combined with his dry sense of humor makes it a role tailor-made for him. While he's really good at advising those around him, he's not perfect. Now that he's dealing with the early symptoms of Parkinson's, he's forced to be more open to receiving help and, more importantly, knowing when to ask for it instead of trying to get by on his own. 

Under that gruff exterior is a big heart and he shows this off in some nice unexpected ways through the series. The greatest of these moments is in the second season finale during Thanksgiving. Not going to spoil it, but have some tissues handy. 
I hadn't seen too many of his movies beyond his work as Han Solo and Indiana Jones, but I'd say if he does nothing else with the rest of his career, that scene will stand out as one of his greatest acting moments.
Wendie Malick also has a recurring role as his doctor-turned-girlfriend and the two of them are really great together. 

Then there's Gabby, who fills a variety of roles throughout the series, but the common denominator of them all: she's so quick to assume the role of caregiver and putting others' needs first that she doesn't always give herself permission to look out for her own interests. The end of season two shows her slowly moving in that direction and hopefully she's able to make more progress in the future. 

While Jimmy starts making some major headway with his patients while getting a little more involved in resolving their issues, he has one major relationship that needs to be remediated on the homefront. 
His daughter Alice isn't talking to him because he'd checked out while they were grieving her mom's death. They have several ups and downs throughout the series and things have a way of working themselves out.

Also, in the times he'd been checked out, others have stepped in to fill in the void left by Jimmy's absence.
The most notable being his neighbor and recent empty nester Liz. She can be kind of a bitch and over the top sometimes. But when it comes to the people she cares about, she'll fiercely defend them. Aside from being a bit of a busybody, she likes to polish rocks and she gives the special people in her life a rock when they've earned it. 
Her husband Derek is the polar opposite in a lot of ways. His actor played a similar role in Married with Children where he's the more laidback member of the married couple. If anything, he's good for a laugh but that's not all there is to his character.
And also, Paul has had regular sessions with Alice where she'll meet with him on a park bench and they talk about things. She often brings some sugary treat as payment and it's a fun running gag to see his reactions to them. 

Another character we're introduced to is Brian. Who doesn't just play the overenthusiastic gay friend, but he's also the type of lawyer you only see in TV and movies where they use their law degree in multiple facets of the legal profession. He's an estate lawyer but a few times, he acts as a defense attorney on Jimmy's benefit (or technically, his patient's behalf). I'm no expert but apparently this would not fly in real life. Just because you have a law degree in one particular thing, doesn't mean you can just use their legal expertise whenever it's conveneient.

His character has a few interesting plots points throughout the series. He gets married to his longtime boyfriend Charlie and they pursue adoption to start a family.
This particular storyline, I kinda took issue with... they went into the marriage with the understanding they weren't having a family even though Charlie wanted kids but Brian isn't interested. Yet the typical peer pressure thing happens and Brian is forced to change his mind. Media needs to stop doing this nonsense. This is a big decision both parts of the couple need to agree on before going to the altar. No takebacks.
Oh... and in the show, there's an outdoor dining establishment with cornhole and Brian started a movement where you yell "cornhole!" when you sink a beanbag in the hole. This comes back a few times through the series- always good for a smile.

As for Jimmy's patients, there's two notable ones because they get massive character arcs.

Grace is played by that one actress from the Hotels.com commercials and she's always over the top and quirky. In this role, she's a lot more understated. Which I personally prefer- both of those Hotels.com actors annoy me.
So Grace's whole character arc is about her emotionally abusive relationship with her husband. When Jimmy finally snaps out of his funk, he flat-out tells her to leave her husband because he's never going to treat her well. And for a while, he succeeds... 
The story has a good resolution in the end but, man, it had its frustrating moments. 

Then there's Sean, an army vet who'd recently ended his tour overseas and he's dealing with a lot of issues afterwards. Anger, PTSD, not knowing what to do without the routine that comes with the military life.
Jimmy goes above and beyond to help him get back on his feet when his folks kick him out of the house for getting into too many bar fights. Some of his advice is unconventional and not all of it works to his advantage. But eventually they do get things right and Sean's life is made better for it. And Jimmy's various connections are also impacted by having him in their lives as well. 

For me, probably the most unexpected turn with this series... Jimmy's wife/Alice's mom/Gabby's best friend Tia was tragically killed in a car accident.
We actually get to meet and spend time with the guy responsible for her death.
And it's none other than Roy Kent himself, Brett Goldstein, who was a writer on this show as well as Ted Lasso.

It's bizarre but also kinda funny how this dude kept showing up in the Apple content I was watching. I've had several actors I'd actively followed from one movie to another... and in some cases, actors I followed through various roles because of how they were connected with a certain actor. But that wasn't the case here, just a series of funny coincidences.

The only thing I purposely watched for Brett Goldstein on this streaming platform was the movie "All of You"... somehow, my Google page on my phone got the idea "oh, you liked Ted Lasso? Check out one of the actors from that show in this movie."
It wasn't the best movie in the world but I still enjoyed it. He was probably the best part of it honestly and I'm just saying that as someone who finds him likable as an actor.

So his character, Louis, in this series shows up a number of times in season 2. Alice gets several bits of advice for dealing with her grief throughout and one is writing a letter you don't intend to send but the act of writing it is therapeutic.
She tracks him down to where he works and finally gets some of her grievences off her chest about how his actions ruined her life. But we also learn he'd been struggling with what he'd done and hadn't quite made peace with it. 

One episode shows a bunch of flashbacks with the main characters but also what his life was like before the accident. He and his girlfriend had this really cute relationship, including their favorite pasttime of people watching at the train station. 
I think the last time I saw this was in Family Guy with Stewie and his girlfriend, Olivia, where they'd comment on people they see while in the park. But with Louis and his girlfriend, they make up lives and backgrounds for the people at the train station.
There's a huge question mark about what happened to his girlfriend after the accident. Was she also collateral damage? Did she leave him? The answer was somewhat anti-climatic but at least it was something I didn't expect. 
Alice and Brian both wind up spending time with Louis and getting to know him. This does not go over well when Jimmy finds out... this thread finds its own resolution later on and again, it's unexpected and that's what makes it good. 

So often, when someone drives drunk and someone else is killed as a result of their actions, it's easy to write them off as villains or jerks who had no sense of accountability. Just like the whole angle of therapists being as imperfect as their patients, the way the show spun this was really well done and kinda makes you think. 

With Jason Segel, who plays Jimmy. I'd only seen him in a couple of roles prior to this. The big one that comes to mind is Forgetting Sarah Marshall. That movie starts in a similar place as this series did... where his character is grieving someone that had been a huge part of his life and eventually finds his way out of that depression. 
But much of my memory of that movie was ruined by the full frontal nudity in the first several minutes of it... maybe I owe it to myself to try watching it again but maybe on cable where all the R-rated stuff is edited out... 

Speaking of the content, this series mostly had langauge under the content warning section. Occasionally violence and a little sexuality. Whatever sexuality it had, it was handled really well. And compared to The Morning Show, where there were endless tirades laden with F-bombs, the cursing was used very tastfully. I'm not so sure about Alice, who's only 17, using that language, especially towards her father. (I definitely wouldn't have gotten away with that if I was her age). But whenever any of the other cast members used the f-word, it was always to express frustration, not just tearing the other person a new one. 
Again, Harrison Ford showed why he was the best actor on this show because the way he used language, it not only felt organic, but it was as if he turned them into an art form. 

So yeah, overall, this was a really good show. And I can say from experience that it's a good one to watch with family or anyone you consider as close as family. 
In fact, that's another reason why this show is so good. It's about a group of friends and their families and together, they're all as close as family. And if they're not at first, they become as close as family over time. 

The Studio (season one on Apple+)

Considering this show nominated for a ton of Emmy’s, I think it’s a safe bet it’s already renewed for more episodes.
And if Hollywood loves something more than giving each other trophies, it’s making fun of themselves.

The Studio is probably the most divisive Apple series I’d seen so far. Divisive meaning I don’t think I’ve went back and forth this much in deciding whether or not I actually enjoyed watching a series. That’s kinda wild, especially since each episode (except the pilot) is half an hour long and I could end one having a good time and the other being back to square one skepticism.
(Also- I should TM “square one skepticism”- that sounds as cool as “old school Hollywood buffet”… watch episode 9 for additional context)

Unlike previous series I’d watched, I didn’t go into it because of one specific actor. I figured it was a series about making movies and I took a stab.
I’m not even a Seth Rogen fan. He did have some good moments but he had just as much cringeworthy moments that I don’t think my status as a fan had changed.
Catherine O’Hara is an over-the-top movie producer, sometimes too much, but it’s one of those roles she pulls off well.
Among studio head Matt Remick (Seth Rogen)’s employees are Sal Saperstein (Ike Barinholtz in another role tailor-made for him), a marketing person played by Kathryn Hahn and Quinn, a plucky young producer eager to make her mark in the movies.
Also Bryan Cranston as Matt Remick’s eccentric boss, Griffin Mill.
Not to mention the dozen or so cameos of celebrities playing themselves.

Aside from Seth Rogen’s shenanigans (more on that later), the one other aspect I didn’t enjoy about this show is Kathryn Hahn’s character. I’m not super familiar with her career so I’m not sure if it’s just this role or she’s like this all the time. She was just WAY too much. Her dialogue is either shotgun fast that I just want her to stop talking or she speaks like she’s pandering. Either politically correct BS or she’s trying to be “down with the kids." She talks like someone who’s gen Z and in real life, she’s older than Seth Rogen (I recently learned he's just 4 years older than me!). It just didn’t make sense and it irritated me.

As for Seth Rogen as Matt Remick, he’s the main character so of course I want to see him succeed.
When he got promoted to studio head, he talked about wanting to make the kinds of movies he wants to make. Not going for easy cash grabs and box office totals, he wanted to make art that would also be financially successful. That much was clear in the pilot where Griffin Mill wants to make a Kool-Aid movie (riding on Barbie’s hot pink coattails) and Matt tried so hard to make an artsy Kool-Aid movie with Sorcerses directing— which was less about Kool-Aid and more about a cult that brought “drinking the Kool-Aid” into the public lexicon.

Other storylines revolve around other movies (thankfully Kool-Aid wasn’t the only movie they were making) and the ups and downs coming with production. Some of which ran into snags because he was interfering or overzealous with making suggestions. But others weren’t.

One nice thing about having these be half an hour per episode is how it condenses everything down to a single event or movie. How much of it is tongue-in-cheek and how much are things people in Hollywood actually have concerns about- I’ll always be slightly curious. In a few interviews, Robert Downey Jr would say how he’d approach making movies by picturing himself as an audience member. Bearing in mind what people expect to see and making certain moments more impactful when it counts. I’m sure there was more to it- it’s been a while- but it’d be nice to think other actors feel the same way. Some of them are just as frustrated by certain things that’ve grown unnecessarily prevalent in the industry as we are.

My two favorite episodes or at least the most memorable for the right reasons were about a One-Shot sequence and the other involving an infamous “motel sequence”.

One-shot is an instance in movies where long sequences are shoot in one continuous long take with no cuts. 1917 was almost entirely shot this way as was the Alejandro Inarritu Oscar winning "Birdman." This was something I’d already heard of before going in so I was already ahead of the game.
But all the ways Matt Remick interferes with this shoot because he doesn’t have the sense to know when to shut up… all I can say is stick around for the end. He got on my nerves, but it ended with such a huge laugh that the prior frustrations could easily be forgiven.

As for the motel sequence movie, it’s a Ron Howard film "Alphabet City" starring Anthony Mackie. Matt Remick and crew are watching the final cut in a theater. They’re loving and enjoying it… until it winds up with a ridiculously long runtime. The final half hour is this bizarre, over the top, self-serving scene where nothing happens. It’s Anthony Mackie with (presumably) his son and they just stand together in silence staring at the moon.
Kathryn Hahn is especially angry about the runtime because after discussing with her people, she learns that theaters will only be able to show it twice a day and it’ll be a financial disaster as a result. The one time in the entire series I agreed she had a point. 

Plus there’s been a lot of talk in recent years about movies being too damn long. I think someone published a stat prior to the 2025 Oscars that the average length of best picture nominees was long... looked it up, the average was 2hr29min.

Oppenheimer and Christopher Nolan movies have gotten this criticism for years but I think the Adrien Brody movie “the brutalist” ran over 3 and an half hours. (Looked it up, it's 215 minutes, which apparently includes a 15-minute intermission... WTF! and you thought his Oscar speech was long...)

The only problem left was who would be the one to tell Ron Howard… not only do we learn the motel sequence was a tribute to a cousin who’d died young but Matt is especially hesitant to be honest because he once gave Ron Howard painfully bad advice.
It all works out in the end but just the amount of craziness that culminates, it was a blast.

Some low points… I’d said how Matt Remick can’t shut up when it’s in his best interest to do so… he's smart on occasion but his ego is so fragile, you'd have to barely breathe on it and it would shatter instantly.
The most memorable is being a plus one at a doctors' charity event and going on a rant about how his job is just as important as doctors saving cancer patients.
Sure, all hospital rooms have a TV and people need entertainment to lighten the mood when they’re already not feeling well. But his blatant disregard for the medical profession, thinking working in movies is even on the same level, if not better… if anyone got through this episode without screaming at him or wanting to strangle him, I’d give them a dollar all while questioning their judgment.

Then we have an entire episode essentially dedicated to Hollywood’s obsession with diversity and political correctness.
Casting the Kool-Aid movie and wondering if it’d be racist to cast Ice Cube as the lead. Then it accelerates until they're left wondering whether it's possible to go too far when you make the entire cast black?
Personally, I’m a little curious if people in Hollywood are actually having these kinds of conversations. Seems like no matter what they do, some group (marginalized or not) will take issue with it.
This all culminates in a massive convention announcement and now the burning question is whether AI is going to put all the writers out of work. All important conversations to have, but omg, what a mess.
Also- since when has Kool-Aid been a product affiliated with the black community? I’ve literally never heard this. I'm white and grew up drinking Kool-Aid in the 90's so I thought at most it was a middle class thing.

Another sort of low point for Seth Rogen— obsessing over whether Zoe Kravitz is going to thank him in her acceptance speech. He just takes this whole thing way too far and I wouldn't have been surprised if all that effort was wasted.
Probably the best part was someone else getting thanked and name dropped over a couple speeches. I’m sure this piggybacked off Oscar winners in recent years thanking their publicists and all the winners afterwards doing the same.

A lot of the guest star actors playing themselves were great sports at poking fun of themselves. Although regarding the episode revolving around a missing reel of Olivia Wilde’s movie, I wonder how much was true to her as a person or they deliberately made her out to be a perfectionist. And not just a perfectionist but David Fincher “doing 50 takes of someone opening a door” crazy perfectionist. (Him and Stanely Kubrick apparently pull this stunt in all their movies).
Olivia had also gotten some heat recently on the set of “Don’t Worry, Darling." (Looked it up... these rumors apparently were unfounded so I guess the "Missing Reel" episode was making light of those rumors)

The final episodes were a two parter where all the actors spent half of it tripping on shrooms (Zoe Kravitz was a riot in this storyline!) and the other half trying to get everything together and tracking down a wayward Griffin Mill so Continental Studios can pull off a killer presentation at CinemaCon.
It ends on an odd note but man, the journey leading up to it, you just have to see for yourself. It’s insane.

One final highlight actually didn’t involve Matt Remick much at all. Rather, it was a tit for tat rivalry between Sal Saperstein and Quinn. Each of them has a horror movie they want to get made and they’re willing to pull out all the stops to make that happen. Again, it’s crazy over-the-top ridiculous so you’re better off just enjoying the ride cuz, oh boy, it’s a doozy.

I just really appreciated the issue this was addressing. I don’t like watching horror movies in general but I’m especially not a fan of the same concepts getting used to death and dragged out over a dozen sequels. Plus, “Smile” is a recent success story that has since spawned exactly one sequel and the fact Sal is backing a film called “Wink” that rips off that concept and has the same person directing it… I’m definitely on Team Quinn for this one.
I get that Hollywood is a business and businesses revolve around making money but c‘mon!! To rephrase a quote from Herman Melville, I’d rather them fail at something original than to continue succeeding with the same old stuff they’ve done a billion times over.

Whether you enjoy series about making movies, gratuitous cameos from actors playing themselves, or making fun of the whole institution, I’m sure this series has something for everyone to enjoy. Some points do require a little more patience than others and I’d highly recommend sticking it out to the end before you form an opinion on "The Studio" as a whole.

Stick (Apple+ series, one season... so far)

As of posting this, Season two has been confirmed...

Promotion and Writing


This series was promoted as the next “Ted Lasso”… but with golf.
While this was a good way to promote it, it was also to its detriment. I’d only just experienced that series for the first time this year and it was VERY fresh in my memory.
They have two things in common- the main character is a middle aged white dude, played by a well known actor, and it revolves around some sport.

For me, Ted Lasso was a very “cozy” series. Meaning it was a lighthearted mix of drama, humor and pop culture references… but mostly because I almost never had to worry about the show hitting that “point of no return”- where some irreconcilable drama happens that derails the entire plot and it's a slow painful slog until it gets fixed... assuming it gets fixed at all.

Stick, unfortunately, had a few of those extra dramatic moments. One of these moments spanned an entire episode and it took the entire half hour runtime for a last minute epiphany to magically solve the problem.

Granted, I’m thankful it didn't last past an episode… but it also felt so rushed that I complained the writing wasn’t very good.


Watching this as a golf fan

I hadn’t read many reviews just to keep my perspective pure but I did read one with a notable criticism— it’s a show about golf, but the golfing terminology left something to be desired. This one reviewer complained that this one tournament or going pro was referred to as “the dance”- when that term does not exist in the golf world.
But hey- I’d been watching golf for years. So for me, it was accurate enough and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It also taught me something I spent the last 30 years knowing nothing about. Namely why we have the different numbered clubs, woods vs irons and so on. The number determines the amount of curvature in the club face, which is why some are built better for longer distances.

And while this show didn’t have a lot of the heavy hitters like Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy making cameos, they did have Keegan Bradley and Collin Morikawa among others.
If Ted Lasso had any cameos, I didn’t know who they were. But I’m also not a soccer fan and I still don't get why the clock counts upward and how/why time gets added after the initial 90 minutes.


The characters


When we first meet Pryce “Stick” Cahill, he’s working at a pro shop and sells a customer on some heavy duty (not to mention expensive) hardware.
But beyond that, to paraphrase Taylor Swift, he’d been “sleeping… in a 20 year dark night.” He’s on the cusp of a divorce, his house is a mess and he’s still grieving a very traumatic loss.

He comes across Santiago “Santi” Wheeler, a 17 year old prodigy who can drive over 300 yards when he sneaks into the local driving range between shifts at his after school job. So Pryce gets the idea to be his coach and get him into the tour. Of course he has a lot of convincing to do- both with Santi and his mom, Elena, and his friend/caddie Mitts. Mostly making sure he’s in this for the right reasons. That Santi, the kid not the golfer, comes first.
Along the way, they also meet Zero, who later joins the group as Santi’s caddie and later love interest.

At one point or another, all of the characters did get on my nerves over something. They also got on each other’s nerves, whether it’s Mitts thinking Pryce’s idea is crazy or Elena being frustrated with Mitts when he tried to talk her out of investing all of her windfall (courtesy of Pryce to get her onboard) in one thing… you have a lot of strong personalities in close proximity for an extended amount of time, it’s bound to happen. Plus they come to consider each other family and families argue.

I’m not sure if I’m alone in this but I could understand if people found Zero a polarizing character. Especially if those that aren't gen Z.
I’m a year away from 40 and I never felt closer to that age than I did watching this show and feeling out of the loop.
Whether it’s the ever growing “correct pronouns” conversation (which to me is ridiculous when Zero also said “she/her” was acceptable…) or the flagrant disregard for adults and authority figures Zero and the other gen Z characters seem to have… a lot of the conversations involving the younger characters grated on my nerves. So yeah, I've officially become one of those people who gripes about the younger generations.

One plus about the writing, uneven as it can be sometimes, is how it explains and navigates a lot of these disagreements.
Zero worked as a server/bartender at a country club and got harassed by the patrons… so I can understand developing a thick skin and not trusting adults.
Same with Elena in that conversation with Mitts. I understood where he was coming from by encouraging her to diversify her investments. But because she had to fight for her livelihood as a single parent and a woman, it’s important to her personally that she stands up for herself. And she’s done her research so she’s aware of the risks but still willing to take the chance.

And to be honest, Santi got on my nerves sometimes too. Yeah, he’s gifted but when he didn’t listen to Pryce’s advice and things went sideways, he didn’t handle things well.

We also have Mitts the curmudgeon but over time we learn more about him and he grows on you.


The Show

Now we’re getting into some spoiler territory…


For the actual show itself, yeah, it had its ups and downs. It wasn’t perfect but it ultimately came through in the times where it really mattered.
There’s a lot of heart and the characters go through a lot together. And while it had a good finale, there’s room for more story.

The first few episodes are the introductory period, getting to know the characters and their relationships and personalities.
In addition to being his former caddie, Mitts has a history of helping Pryce with various hustles. Usually involving alcohol and heated arguments at bars and Pryce showing the other person up in the end.
The series starts with a hustle and we get at least one more later on.

After this group of misfits come together, Santi has to qualify for the amateur championship. Pryce instructs him as his caddie which clubs to use in different situations. As a prodigy, Santi has great instincts but he’s still young enough where that isn’t sustainable in the long run.
They eventually butt heads and it becomes a slippery slope. We hear about his dad a few times, how he’d coached him and his coaching style put him off playing for a few years and his dad took off.

Zero comes in around this time and the two of them hit it off quickly. So Pryce gets the bright idea to have Zero caddie and he’ll signal from the sidelines which clubs to use. Plus, with the two of them being around the same age, it might be a better arrangement.
My one little nitpick- and this is another generational grip. Some of Zero’s comments, saying to Santi something like “as long as you feel safe” before leaving when Pryce wants to have a few words one on one, and later about “holding space” or “having space” in a conversation with Mitts and he rolls his eyes at the terminology… yeah I can’t help but agree. Gen Z is weird about stuff like this coupled with this whole “distrust of authority” thing.

But as friends and later a couple, Santi and Zero are great together. It’s nice having a friend your own age on the road but also for someone like Zero who’s a self proclaimed nomad, it’s nice having someone you feel comfortable around enough to be yourself.
But like all sorts of background arrangements in media, the truth comes out and things blow up between everyone. Obviously things would work themselves out but it’s hard to trust sometimes. I definitely didn’t want this to be a 3+ episode arc.

The later episodes revolve around the last chance for Santi to qualify for the pro circuit and it involves getting an exemption from an old rival of Pryce’s.
He reminded me a little of the bad guy from Happy Gilmore although not nearly as antagonistic or stuck on himself… although he spend a lot of his time in retirement riding on the coattails of a handful of victories. Including insurance advertisements, a golfing academy and a fancy steakhouse.
While we don’t get to see Pryce’s infamous career ending meltdown, we get a decent picture of what it was like because this was the guy he ultimately lost to… and I think Pryce beat him up afterwards. It all circles back to the loss Pryce is still grieving… now we sort of know why he blew up like he did. And can you honestly blame him?

The final hurdle takes place over the season finale. When Santi is riding the high of finally taking the lead and going viral on TikTok, his dad comes back into the picture… and it goes about as well as you’d expect.
His dad had a mercurial coaching style where he’d be his best friend when he’s doing well but become hypercritical and dismissive when he was not.
Elena talked about it a few times and here we finally see it and it’s ugly. When you’re having a rough time, the last thing you need is for someone to talk down to you and grumble about you needing to “play better” without any constructive advice on how to achieve that.
Had this not gone sideways, he probably would’ve taken credit for his success even though he didn’t show up until the final day of the tournament. The worst part is him assuming no responsibility for any of the bad turns even when it was his advice that got him there in the first place.
The only thing I wish we had was just someone laying a massive tirade on him or at least Elena slapping him. Either way, people like him we sadly just accept will never change.
Unlike Tin Cup (heavy sarcasm implied), at least we get a decent redemption arc to close it all out. And there’s definitely plenty of room left for subsequent seasons.

As a final note, the Simon and Garfunkel song “Cecilia” makes a number of appearances throughout the series. Pryce said how it was a song he’d recall to ground himself in his uncertain moments and how it guarantees a smile.
Let’s just say good luck getting it out of your head after finishing the final episode…
I can count the number of S&G songs I know on one hand and this became another to add. And yes, I still have it going through my head and that was a couple days ago, lol

Ted Lasso (3 seasons on Apple+)

I'd been the type of person who absolutely refused to buy into the idea of streaming TV shows. Particularly on anything that would require paying a monthly subscription.
This is something I have absolutely zero regrets.

HOWEVER...

I finally joined the rest of my family and got my own iPad for Christmas. With it came three FREE months of Apple+.
So I figured... eh, why not? I'll see what all this is about and I had three shows in mind that I wanted to see.

Ted Lasso was the first one I choose and as of writing this post, the only one I continued binging after Season One. More on that later...

I knew nothing about this show going in except that Jason Sudeikis played the title character, he was coaching a soccer team and that it was a comedy.

It didn't take long for me to not only get into this show, but to immediately rate it as one of my favorite series ever. This is not an exaggeration... it had its ups and downs throughout the three seasons (as of this post) of its lifespan, but it had one thing going for that few other series have.
Most of the show was light-hearted and fun, full of memorable characters that'll be staying with me for a long time. And while it wasn't 100% drama-free zone, it handled those bumps in the road without throwing the train completely off the tracks. Between that and all the pop culture references, it was almost like it was tailor-made for me.

Going forward, there will be some spoilers... 
I'm mostly writing this post for myself so I have a record of why this show meant so much to me in 2025. 
Also- if anyone is thinking of getting an Apple+ subscription or happens to be in the middle of a free trial period, I'd ABSOLUTELY recommend checking this show out. 

And in case you're wondering, you do not have to be a soccer fan or even a sports fan to enjoy this show. I still don't know anything about that sport, haha.
With the exception of the World Cup a few years ago when Argentina (led by Lionel Messi) won in overtime, three seasons of this show is the most soccer I'd watched in my entire life.

***.

Ted Lasso is a college football coach from Kansas who is recruited to coach a soccer club in England by its female owner, Rebecca Welton. 
AFC Richmond isn't the strongest team in the league, but has a few star players. Notably young upstart Jamie Tartt and seasoned veteran Roy Kent.
But here's the catch: Rebecca recruited Ted for one specific purpose-- to sabotage any chance it has at success. 

...like many other people seeing this the first time, I reached the inevitable conclusion that this is essentially Major League, but instead of baseball, it's about soccer. Then more information comes out and we discover there's more going on behind the scenes. 

Rebecca's ex-husband, Rupert, had been the club's previous owner and ruining it would be the perfect revenge against him. Once she reveals this to Ted, they have a good conversation and they become allies- to make this team the best team in the league and a much better team than it had been under his leadership. 

Even before that, Ted's easygoing Midwestern attitude was winning over the hearts of everyone around him. He'd start each morning making "biscuits for the boss," which she accepted begrudgingly but secretly had Director of Operations Higgins doing recon to find out where he bought them because they were that good. 

Another skeptic he slowly won over- Trent Crimm from The Independent. Someone who you think is just another skeptic journalist but Ted wins him over and we get to see more of him as the series goes on.

For a while, it seemed like his only ally was Nate Shelley- the kit (equipment) guy who was full of ideas for how the team could improve and Ted was the first person to take him seriously. Nate's trajectory through the series... if you told me when I started this series the twists and turns that were in store for him, I'd say you were crazy. No matter what went on with him, part of you couldn't help but root for him.

Nearly every character was likable and even the ones that weren't, they often had a redemption arc or a certain stand-out moment in the series that won you over. The only exceptions were probably Rupert and the billionaire from Ghana that butted heads with a bunch of the main characters in season three. The closest things show had that could be considered villains... and karma came for them 

Roy Kent had a lot of growth through the series (as well as career changes), but the award for Most Improved definitely goes to Jamie Tartt.
He was notable for being the most prolific player on the team.... mostly because he never let anyone else score the goals. Super arrogant and unpleasant to be around. Then the contract that lent him to Richmond expires and he goes back to his original team, Man City. Then he ditches that team to do reality TV and had to work to regain his former team's respect when he came back to play for them. He's still not my favorite character, but he'd redeemed himself plenty in my eyes in season three. 

Roy Kent will probably go down as one of the most iconic characters this show is remembered for. He'd been in the league a long time and clearly dealing with the struggles that come with being an aging athlete. So his soccer career ends after seasons one. After that, he moves from being a talking head on a SportsCenter type show to a solid member of the coaching team at AFC Richmond along with Ted and Coach Beard (Ted's close friend who came along with him when he was recruited).
He's got a foul mouth and is rough around the edges, but he shows throughout the series he is a softie underneath. Especially when it comes to his niece, Phoebe, who he occasionally babysits. One of his finer uncle moments was in a Christmas episode. One of Phoebe's classmates says her breath stinks... and he bets her that he can find a dentist to address her halitosis within 10 doors. And he succeeds. 
In practice, he's very hardcore- one highlight was an ill-advised teamwork experiment where he had players paired up and tied to each other by their... let's just say a part of the male anatomy. It goes about as well as you'd expect. Meanwhile, he is laughing this really distinct laugh on the sidelines... thinking about that now still has me in stitches but yeah, do not try this at home.

Keeley does a lot of advertising and PR work for the team and later gets her own PR firm. Her friendship with Rebecca is a great example of female friendship. Despite the age gap, they're almost as close as sisters. Recently, Barbie dolls were made of the two of them to pay homage to that. 

Sam Obisanya gets more of a chance to shine after Jamie leaves the team and he winds up getting a lot of the bigger storylines in the series. His family is from Nigeria so that factors in a number of times. Keeley sets him up with a sponser but after hearing about their role impacting the land back home, he stages a boycott and everyone falls in line to support him. He also sets up a restaurant to bring the cuisine of his country to England and it has a lot of success. It's also the victim of vandalism after he has a Twitter spat with a politican who blocks his countrymen from seeking asylum in England.
His storylines are among the heavier on the series, but I liked how they were handled. 

Dani Rosas... three words- "Football is Life!"
It's funny... among the many references now I understand thanks to watching this show, I don't think anything can top the moment I put two and two together with this particular State Farm ad. As in "omg, I know that guy, he's from that show"
He was introduced later in season one and became a regular very quickly. He has a very happy-go-lucky attitude and super fun to be around.

I'd be remiss if I didn't devote a paragraph to the series's namesake.
I don't think I've seen a role yet where Jason Sudeikis didn't played a likeable character. But man... Ted Lasso is a role he played to perfection. Such a likeable sweet guy. Plus he had tons of good pop culture references and jokes to go along with them. The writing that went into his lines is the kind of stuff I really love... and there was only maybe one or two references where I honestly didn't know what he was talking about. 
But as the series progresses, we see there's more beneath the surface. How he struggled with the loss of his father at a young age. His continuing difficulties of working across the pond from his son, whom he misses terribly. Struggling with his divorce and his wife potentially finding love elsewhere... 

Sports psychatrist, Dr. Sharon Fieldstone, was introduced in season 2. Despite his usual optimistic attitude, Ted was a huge skeptic of her methods... in retrospective, I can understand why. Somewhere along the line, they not only become friends, but she helps him out a couple of jams... when panic attacks start happening.

Another interesting moment was Season 3 when Richmond managed to recruit sports legend Zava to join their team. I don't know much about soccer, but I know the tendancy for certain players to be divas. Faking injuries and so on. So I thought he was going to be another Reynaldo type character... once again, I was wrong and he became a great asset to the team. Until they started not doing so well...
I didn't do the math on this, but I'm sure if you sorted out Richmond's record throughout the series, they probably lose slightly more games than they won. They aren't completely helpless but definitely prone to long losing streaks. 

Another episode highlight that comes to mind is Amsterdam... where the whole Richmond staff go to get away for a little while.
Roy has been helping with Jamie special training and this continues while they're on vacation. Then the shoe goes on the other foot when Jamie teaches Roy how to ride a bike so they can take them to find a windmill.
The rest of the team, meanwhile, spend most of the night in the hotel lobby trying to figure out how to best spend their time... I can't remember if they ever decided on anything, haha. 
Rebecca has a chance encounter with a guy who owns a homeboat. They get along well but part ways with neither learning the other's name.
Ted has an interesting time at the Netherlands' interpretation of an Americana restaurant... something about a hot sauce induced epiphany where he finds the key to ending the team's latest losing streak.

***

I'm sure there's plenty of other highlights that'd come to mind but this is a pretty good cross-section. I'm going to miss this show... chances are by the time I finally discontinue my membership, season 4 will drop. Right now, they just say it'll be coming late 2025 or early 2026.

So far, this is one of three series I'd checked out on Apple+

"Lessons in Chemistry" only had the one season, but I would've done more if more existed... although it did take a while before it got good.
Then "The Morning Show"- I knew nothing about it other than the two main cast members. There'll be a post on that in the distant future, but I got the end of season one and decided in that moment that I'd had enough. The season finale was what I'd consider an ideal ending and I had no desire to continue forward to see how that gets ruined. Not to mention the subject matter... I hadn't experienced it personally but through one of its characters, it felt real enough.

I figured after one season, I'd check these other series out, just in case I get too comfortable with Ted Lasso and everything else will pale in comparison.
Spoiler alert-- it didn't matter what order I watched any of these, Ted Lasso would still be my favorite.