You are now entering Ad Space, a realm of commercials, brought before us so we might examine how they work, and discuss why we both love and hate them so. So it is written …

So that Ted Lasso show is pretty popular, huh?

(Or at least I think it is. It’s gotten really hard to tell about that sort of thing in the streaming age.)

But did you know, the character of Ted Lasso didn’t originate on the eponymous sitcom, but rather in a series of commercials for NBC Sports? It’s true! NBC chose to promote their coverage of England’s Premier League football (a.k.a. soccer) with the story of an American football (a.k.a. real football) coach who got a job coaching an English football (a.k.a. not football) team … and found the learning curve was a bit more than they expected.

Though you may find this Ted Lasso a bit different from the one you know. For a character who became famous for radical positivity and friendliness, the Ted Lasso here is a textbook Ugly American and a textbook Aggressive Football Coach. We’re talking berating players, refusing to learn anything about Britain or soccer, or encouraging viewers to … well, not attack referees who make bad calls . Just provide the ref’s home address to all the angry fans out there, and let nature take its course.

See for yourself:

It’s little surprise that, while TV Series Ted Lasso has been going strong for four seasons, Advertisement Ted Lasso lasted approximately six and a half hours in the Premier League.

I haven’t watched much of Ted Lasso, but I’d like to imagine, at some point, they get onboard the multiverse trend* and have TV Ted and Ad Ted cross paths.

*(Is the multiverse still trending, or have we moved onto something new for audiences to be collectively sick of?)