Apple Greenlights Comedy ‘Ted Lasso’

Apple has announced a series order for “Ted Lasso,” a new comedy series from star, executive producer and writer Jason Sudeikis (“Saturday Night Live,” We’re the Millers”), based on pre-existing format/characters from NBC.  Sudeikis plays Ted Lasso, an idealistic all-American football coach hired to manage an English football club — despite having no soccer coaching experience at all. This marks the first TV series Sudeikis has signed on to star in as a series regular since “Saturday Night Live.”

The character of Ted Lasso was created for NBC promotional videos back in 2013 and showcased Jason Sudeikis, then famous for “Saturday Night Live,” as an American football coach who heads across the pond to coach a very different kind of football: soccer!

Sudeikis and Bill Lawrence (“Whiskey Cavalier,” “Scrubs,” “Cougar Town,” “Spin City”) co-wrote the pilot and will executive produce the series. Lawrence’s Doozer Productions will produce “Ted Lasso” in association with Warner Bros. Television. Doozer’s Jeff Ingold is an executive producer, and Doozer’s Liza Katzer is a co-executive producer.

The number of episodes ordered for “Ted Lasso” has not been confirmed.