DEBORAH CROMBIE: I know that not all of you were TED LASSO fans, but for those of us who chanted "football is life," the end of season 3 and the series finale brought on what I can only describe as a state of mourning. We were so invested in these characters, their stories, and the sense of community the show created that the end of it all felt like losing dear friends. It seems to me that there should be a special name to describe that little grief at the end of a very good book or a much-loved book or TV series.
(For Ted Lasso fans, you can at least make a pilgrimage to Richmond, which I am hoping to do myself this week! This restaurant in Notting Hill stood in for A Taste of Athens--which was supposedly in Tooting--in TED LASSO!)
This started me thinking about television series over the years that have left a little hole in my heart when they finished. A few off the top of my head: ER, the X-Files, Morse… And I have a confession about that last one–I could never bring myself to watch the very last episode, because I couldn't bear to see Morse die. My husband is always saying, "It's just stories." Well, yes. But stories to me are never JUST anything. They have power, they connect us and enrich us and make life better in so many ways. So here's raising a glass to TED LASSO and all the funny, kind, creative, and talented people who brought it to us.
Dear REDS, are there shows you've grieved for when they ended?
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I wish I could watch The Wire again for the first time. And Breaking Bad. And Better Call Saul. And The Good Wife, when it first started. And oh, I agree, Debs, I could not in a million years watch the last Morse.
What else have I loved and thought about and miss? I still think about Line of Duty–but that's coming back, isn’t it? And I thought the last episode of Succession was terrific. It’s great–and rare–when the endings work.
And yes, they are stories. And that’s why they are powerful.
I’m sure Julia will come up with a name for that feeling, right? Maybe it’s just: Audio Lang Syne.
JENN McKINLAY: Ted Lasso, for sure. I even have a T-shirt for the Richmond Greyhounds. I’ve never bought a shirt for a TV show in my life. I’m sooooo going to miss it.
Other shows I’ve mourned are The Sopranos, ER, Cheers, Fraser, and Friends. When they’re long running series, it’s like having your favorite neighbor move away. The ‘hood just won’t be the same. *Sob*
LUCY BURDETTE: I will have to give Ted Lasso another try. I truly mourned the end of FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS. We adored those characters, and watched all the seasons over again during the pandemic. And we bought a Tim Riggins t-shirt for my sister, who loved that character as much as we did. Since Connie Britton played the coach’s wife so well, we moved on to NASHVILLE, which I also loved. Until they killed off someone unforgivable. That was it for me. A few others: LAST TANGO IN HALIFAX, MARE OF EASTOWN, BORGEN. I did also watch and love ER, the Sopranos and Friends! Oh one more, and that is SHETLAND, though I definitely preferred the actual books by Ann Cleeves to the TV series.
HALLIE EPHRON: Confession: I’ve never watched Better Call Saul or Ted Lasso. Something that I clearly need to do. Or Friday Night Lights, and I do trust Lucy’s taste.
What I miss? The good seasons of The Marvelous Mrs. Mazel. The latest one was (for me) a bust. Lotta schtick and not enough substance. Though the actors are great. And I miss the earlier seasons of The Great British Baking Show. The new hosts? Feh. I didn’t realize how much that mattered.
Thank goodness there’s still Antiques Roadshow.
My to-do list includes canceling Amazon and Netflix and adding HBO Max and one something-else. British? Hulu? Not sure what. And I just watched the first episode of Ridley on public TV. Good enough to have me looking up when the next episode airs.
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I love Ted Lasso and I think the ending was the perfect send off. I will SO miss seeing Hannah Waddingham, who is both an amazing actress and a terrific visual role model - can anyone say #armgoals? I’m racking my brains to come up with other popular series I actually watched to the very end, though. It seems as if they’re either getting chopped off by Netflix after two seasons to save money, or they go on and on and ON until I get bored.
I’ve been following works by Korean playwright Kim Eun-hee, whose show Kingdom (medieval zombies and court power struggles) I adored. The second was Jirisan, a contemporary set at Korea’s largest national park. Both of them were around 16 episodes and I would have loved to see so much more. Y’all, you need to start watching Korean TV!
DEBS: Aw, Jenn, I want a Richmond Greyhounds t-shirt, too!
READERS, how about you? What TV friends have you hated to lose?
