Ted Lasso Countdown

I have renewed our Apple TV subscription.

In the spirit of watching sports-related content (World Cup, Ted Lasso) I watched The Dink — a story centered on pickleball and the number one movie on Apple TV.

I’ve written about pickleball in the past — my racquetball buddy Steve and I played tennis and then pickleball during the pandemic era. I don’t enjoy tennis. Pickleball? Well, it was better than tennis for me. Playing singles was fun and pretty good exercise. Pickleball doubles though? Harder to keep score than to play, and not a lot of exercise or fun for me. But I’m still playing racquetball so maybe when I get older ?

The Dink? The movie? (FYI: A dink is pickleball shot where you hit the ball just hard enough to get it over the net.) Well, it’s sorta like pickleball itself. I heard an interview on NPR. I like Mary Steenburgen as an actor and I really wanted to like the movie.

The script grapples with some interesting ideas related to ageing and relationships between oldsters and young’uns. And there’s a father-son thing going on, too. Unfortunately, it all landed with a thud for me. Even the pickleball competition felt lame. The Dink will pass the time while you check scores or doom scroll and that’s about it.

Meanwhile, we are watching — semi-binging — Ted Lasso seasons 1-3. this is the fourth or fifth (at least) viewing of these shows for me. I’m still finding little bits here and there that I never noticed before. And since I already know where the show is going, little breadcrumbs and hints and premonitions reveal themselves more clearly and that part of it is fun, too.

Dang, it’s good.

The new season starts next Wednesday — August 5.

Here’s a good story about what’s coming from TV Insider. Brendan Hunt, the actor who plays Coach Beard, talks about the coming season.

The shows will “drop” weekly after August 5 — ten episodes, so it will run until the first week in October.

Here what to do:

1. Plan ahead — a time and place — every episode is an excuse for a watch party.

2. Subscribe to Apple TV in advance. Test your connection. (Ignore the promo ads for The Dink.)

3. No extra screens. Stash your devices. Treat this great creative work with respect.

4. Watch the preceding episode right before you watch each week’s new episode. (So, on Aug. 5, we’ll watch the last episode of season 3. then watch the premier for season 4.)

5. NO spoilers!

6. Repeat weekly for ten weeks. You will be glad you did.

It’s gonna be great!

Anon.

R