Ted Lasso – an Apple TV comedy-drama about an American football coach hired to lead a struggling Premier League team – has returned for a fourth season, this time with a women’s team at the heart of both the comedy and the drama.
I can’t wait. As a researcher of children’s literature – including comics, graphic novels, fantasy and science fiction – it’s hardly unusual for me to take TV seriously. But few shows have gripped me quite like Ted Lasso.
A few years ago, curious to see what the fuss was about, I watched the show. Then I went back and watched it again. Then a third time. Before long, my family began to wonder why I was behaving this obsessively. After some reflection, the answer suddenly hit me.
At heart, Ted Lasso is about a man from a broken family who leaves everything he knows for an adopted home (England) that is alien and hostile. We soon discover that his left-field appointment is part of a plan to sabotage his club – Richmond FC – while the media, and the team’s long-suffering fanbase, are almost relishing his imminent failure.
Of course, that doesn’t happen. Ted not only transforms the club but inspires those around him to embrace his philosophy of kindness, love, encouragement and positivity.
What had gripped me, I realized, is that this is also the plot of orphan girl novels – which happen to be one of my great loves and, more to the point, main research interests.
Orphan girl novels
These novels are a staple of North American children’s literature, which flourished from the mid-19th century. Classic examples include Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter (1913) and L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables (1908).
They follow a familiar pattern: an orphaned girl arrives in a new home that is reluctant to accept her, and she ultimately transforms those around her for the better. Replace “orphaned girl” with “middle-aged…