Ted Lasso: The Richmond Way - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Ted Lasso: The Richmond Way



Movie:
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Movie
I have kind of felt like an outsider the last several years as everyone on social media raved about Ted Lasso when it first came out. Back in 2020 everything and anything that could be put on a streaming platform was being transitioned over due to Covid 19 lock downs, and I was kind of “streamed out” if you know what I mean. Most of the stuff that was a streaming exclusive was generally pretty “meh” (Paramount Plus put out a lot of mid range stuff due to the theatrical lockdown) and I didn’t feel like paying extra money for Apple TV being that I was already paying for Hulu, Disney+, Amazon Prime, Paramount Plus, AND Netflix and I was feeling a bit tapped out. That being said, the organic enthusiasm kept me intrigued, up until last year when the series ended. But being that I wasn’t really into the Apple TV infrastructure,

I’m actually genuinely surprised by this. Back last year when I reviewed the Blu-ray for Ted Lasso, I honestly thought a 4K UHD set was out of the question. It was one of Apple TV’s only physical media releases, and Warner is pretty good about making their 4K UHD sets day and date with the Blu-ray sets. So if one isn’t released with the Blu-ray, then it’s not that common to have one come later. Well, a year and a half later and Warner HAS decided to go and give the set an upgrade to 2160p, but it is one of their MOD releases as a result.

Ted Lasso is the brain child of Jason Sudeikis, who planned and co-created the show after basing it off of a sketch comedy character from years ago. Starring and produced by Jason, the series is a cheeky little fish out of water tale where a British soccer club (apologies, Futbol) decides that they’re going to hire a United States college football coach to come and lead them. In walks one Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis), a bubbly and overly exuberant chatty Kathy of a coach who is thrust straight into the lion’s den of culture shock. Born and raised in the midwest, Ted and his assistant coach Beard (Brendan Hunt) are kind of oddities to the Brits. He’s overly talkative, overly optimistic, and worst of all, has NO IDEA how Futbol is played. But hey, he’s got enthusiasm. Only thing is, Ted is set up to fail from the beginning, as team owner Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham) hasn’t hired Ted to succeed, but in fact the opposite. She has just split from her conniving ex husband Rupert (Anthony Head, most notable for being Giles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and is on a mission to have Ted come in and tank the team, so that she can stick it Rupert one last time (being that the Richmond team is the one thing he truly loves)

The show lasted a grand total of 3 seasons, and is separated into what I would consider three separate quality chunks. The first being the initial 10 episode 30 minute season, and what I would like to call “perfection incarnate”. I know I’m going out on a limb here, but Ted Lasso: Season 1 is the very definition of a perfect season. It starts out well, with a great sense of comedy, but infuses it with personal tales of growth from not only Ted and Rebecca, but also the team’s Captain Roy (Brett Goldstein), hotheaded star Jamie Tartt (Phil Dunster), and Jamie’s sassy tabloid girlfriend Keeley (Juno Temple). I can’t really convey on paper just how good it is, but season 1 earns my official seal of approval as 5/5 rated.

Season 2 runs hot and heavy on the 1st season’s heels, putting out a strong season that continues on with the evolution of the show. Roy has retired from Futbol, Keeley has left Jamie in the dust, and Ted has formed a strong friendship with prickly team owner Rebecca. However, this season takes a darker tone, cutting out some of the comedy for introspective looks at death, divorce, personal trauma that has been bottled up for years, and even the expansion of the team’s roster. However, this season is not AS good as the previous perfection that came before it. I can’t really place WHY it isn’t, but I can see some of the signs. The scope of the show seems to be tightened up, with less ensemble casting on screen, with the episodes generally focusing on 2-3 main characters instead of everyone at once. A lot of the other Futbol players take a back seat to Jamie, Roy and Nigerian player Sam (Toheeb Jimoh). Also, I noticed that a few of the episodes seemed a bit unfocused and out of place, specifically the 9th episode of the season that focused on the crazy adventure of Coach Beard. On the plus side, Rebecca and Ted’s inner demons are explored much more intimately, and you come out of the season appreciating their nuances a bit more. If I had to give a star rating, season 2 would be a 4/5 (it starts out a 4.5/5, but around the 8th episode of the 12 episode season it starts to falter and fumble a bit).

Now we’re on to the infamous 3rd season. I had heard every sort of extreme on social media about the final arc, and how polarizing it was, so I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. That being said, I don’t think it was the train wreck that critics reported it to be, but it was in NO WAY as good as even the second season. The character arcs are shrunk even more, putting only a couple of the cast members in front of the camera at time, and the character development just sort of flip flopped all over the place. Sudeikis had announced from the start that he had a 3 season arc in mind for the show, and with that in mind the length of the episodes jumped dramatically from the 30-38 minute runtime of the previous two seasons. Many episodes jump up to 45 minutes, and the final two episodes clicking in at 70 minutes (ish) each. But even then, it almost feels like the season needed a few more episodes to really finish of Ted’s arc, and I blame that solely on some of the padded filler episodes that were in the season. It’s not great, but it’s not horrible either. But I will fully admit that it does what most shows fail to do, and that is tell a complete story that finishes what the series started without forcing it into more and more seasons where the writers write themselves into a corner, and the resulting ending doesn’t feel like it was meant for the same show (How I met Your Mother *cough *cough). With this in mind, I’ll give the 3rd season a 3/5 rating.




Rating:

Not Rated by the MPAA




Video:

One thing that always miffed me about last year’s release of Ted Lasso was the fact that we never got a 4K UHD to go along with the Blu-ray. The show was shown on Apple TV in 4K with Dolby Vision, so getting a trimmed down 1080p ONLY variant was sort of a turn off. Luckily Warner Brothers has released this through their MOD line for 4K and remedied that situation. Looking at both sets side by side I’m really impressed with the upgrade. It’s not going to be night and day, but the 4K UHD set is distinctly cleaner, with much better colors and less artifacting. The show isn’t super flashy or explosive, but the outside day shits are incredible in 2160p. The fine details are a moderate upgrade, but the colors and the application of Dolby Vision really make the image. Red dresses and blue outfits really pop with clarity and richness, and the bright green grass of the soccer field (sorry, Football) literally dazzle with their brightness and saturation levels. Interior shots are clean and clear, with no signs of black crush or any abnormalities. I did notice a bit of softness in the interior shots of the pub (such as where Ted and Rupert have their dart competition), but that was soft in the Blu-ray as well so I’m chalking it up to how the scenes were shot. All in all, this is a very pleasant upgrade over the Blu-ray.







Audio:

From all appearances this 4K set sports the same audio as the Blu-ray, so my thoughts will remain the same across both reviews. The show sports a singular 5.1 DTS-HD MA track for the entirety of all 3 seasons (sadly no extra language tracks for our foreign friends), and just like you would expect from the description, this is a very forward heavy show for the most part. There’s some minor “on the field” action that sort of puffs up the mix a bit with the crowd screaming, or the announcers yelling in our ears, but otherwise the soundstage is mostly relegated to front heavy dialog driven portions and some minor ambient surround usage. Bass is solid and impressive when needed (such as when Beard is raving in the club with Jane in the infamous S2 Ep9 entry) but overall this is a just a simple, well balanced, dramatic track that tends to keep things basic.




Extras:

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Final Score: ​

Ted Lasso is quality entertainment. The 3rd season definitely suffers, but the show’s first and 2nd year more than makes up for the dip in quality for the final entry into the series. Everyone is obviously giving it their all and you actually build a rapport with the characters. Juno Temple is above and beyond one of my favorite characters as Keeley, but Jason, Hannah, Brett and Toheeb are so incredible that I can’t pick a favorite character. Warner’s 4K set is fantastic, with a good spread of the series across 7 discs, but sadly it is a BIT barebones for the price. Like the Blu-ray release, it's extra free, but spread over 8 4K UHD discs instead of 7 like on the Blu-ray (more room to shine). Packaging wise I actually like this set BETTER than the Blu-ray as well. THe blu-ray came with one large 7 disc case, this is separated into 2 and 3 disc Viva Elite cases per season, so it's more flexible. All in all, this is a great show and the upgrade to 4K UHD is a nice improvement if you haven't picked up the show already. I was surprised they still labeled it "The Richmond Way" instead of "Seasons 1-3" as a 4th season is in pre-production as we speak (something I didn't see coming), but I'm all for more Ted Lasso. Highly recommended.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Jason Sudeikis, Hannah Waddingham, Juno Temple, Jeremy Swift, Brett Goldstein
Created by: Brendan Hunt, Joe Kelly, Bill Lawrence
Aspect Ratio: 2.00:1 HEVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH
Studio: Warner Brothers
Rated: Not Rated
Runtime: 1453 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: December 2nd, 2025

Recommendation: Highly Recommended