Random Thoughts from a Restless Mind

1 Gulp. As in Big Gulp, the semi-famous brain freezing concoction sold at 7-Elevens nationwide. Did you know that they sold 153 million Big Gulps in 2023?

Not sure what to think about that, honestly.

2 Battitori. Name for the people in Italy who traipse through fields of Juniper beating the bushes with sticks to knock loose the berries used to flavor Gin.

Don’t know how you feel about this, but for Martini lovers world wide Battitori might as well be Italian for Hero.

3 Yiddish. Schlemiel: a klutz who trips and falls into a shrub, scaring a bird.

Schlimazel: the person the scared bird shits on.

Is there another language that does this, describes things like this in such a picture perfect way? Long live Yiddish.

4 Sequel. There is talk about a fourth season of Ted Lasso. Maybe even a movie. I’m more than a bit conflicted by this news. I openly admit that I thoroughly enjoyed Ted Lasso. All of it. In fact, I plan to make the Season 2 Christmas episode a part of my Holiday Season viewing rotation, tucked in there with Charlie Brown and Rudolph. Ted Lasso was a phenomenon. No one I’ve ever talked with was done with Ted when he left AFC Richmond to return to Kansas. Nick Mohammed, the actor who plays coach Nathan Shelley, is as pained as the rest of us: “I feel there are so many stories left to tell.”

Perhaps.

There were so many lovely moments over the 3 seasons of Ted Lasso. None was lovelier than the ending, though. After so very many beloved shows that ended with a fizzle, story lines dangling, adoring audiences left hanging as favorite characters were still adrift, the writers of Ted Lasso gifted us with closure. Almost across the board closure. And happiness, or at least happiness where happiness made sense. Where it belonged. Like the gift the show had been for all three seasons, all wrapped up and left for us with a bow.

Sequels and encores have historically been fraught. Some things are one-offs, especially when they are really, really good. For every Godfather 2 there’s been another lackluster Rocky 4 or Rocky 11. Spin-offs are problematic, too. I suppose Creed was a pretty good Rocky offspring as they go, but come on, does anyone think we needed more than one? Some shows simply shouldn’t be extended or have a reboot. Heck, some we all probably loved hung around a bit longer than they should have, no? I mean, can anybody say that Grey’s Anatomy has been as good since Meredith lost Christina to Sandra Oh’s ennui? Graceful exits (see what I did there?) and logical conclusions burnish not only the critical acclaim of these shows but also keep bright their shine in our memories. Could you ever imagine a new season, heck even a single episode of M*A*SH after watching Hawkeye fly over B.J. Honeycutt astride his motorcycle as he skidded around his farewell.

Admit it, even your memory of “Goodbye” from the air above the 4077th is blurred by the tears that streamed down your cheeks.

Ted Lasso was as nearly perfect as a TV show could have been. As much as I miss it, I’ll miss it so much more if extending its run dulls the glow we all felt, that we all see when we look back over those three precious seasons. When we can still see that handmade sign over the door. And that one, perfect, ending.

We, too, Believe.

Fare thee well, Ted.

I’ll see you in a few days on Thanksgiving…

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 24th, 2024 at 4:18 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.