Were Emmy voters influenced by the Ted Lasso backlash?

Indiewire

Voting for the Primetime Emmys closed on Monday as Ted Lasso was receiving a string of headlines over the backlash to Season 2. As Libby Hill points out, Apple TV+ appeared to time Season 2 with the Emmy voting. "With Emmy voting closed, it feels safe to speculate about how such a power play might play out, how it might have played out for Ted Lasso specifically, and what we can glean from the past about the benefit of crafty TV scheduling when it comes to the Emmys," says Hill. "First, Ted Lasso. Despite becoming a pandemic favorite with its first season, and its second season garnering even better reviews, the series had a bit of a bumpy ride in recent weeks over in the discourse wading pool. Right around the time of the show’s extremely over-the-top Christmas episode — which dropped just a week before voting resumed — something of a backlash erupted around the series. Despite 'Carol of the Bells' being foregrounded in the idea that Ted is extremely depressed about being alone for Christmas and well along the path of drinking himself sick while watching It’s A Wonderful Life — perhaps the best example of a dark piece of culture mislabeled as saccharine — some viewers felt that it was a bridge too far and the show had veered into fully cloying. At this point, an avalanche followed, as Ted Lasso naysayers came off their couches with full-throated complaints that some seem to have been nursing for some time. Cue backlash, backlash to the backlash, and so on and so forth. While much of this fervor was contained largely on social media and in new media Slack channels, there’s still a question of whether or not the pushback registered with Emmy voters whatsoever. This is, of course, one of the risks of airing new material when your old material is in the process of being judged. If you’re Apple TV+, you want Emmy voters to watch new episodes of Ted Lasso and be reminded of how much they love it. That’s the best case scenario. But if, heaven forbid, the second season of the series had been lackluster, would that take some of the shine off the first season?"

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• What the f*ck is going on with Nick Mohammed's Nate on Ted Lasso this season?: "Did our favorite underdog just break bad?" says Meghan O'Keefe. "Well, perhaps we have to step back and look at the themes Ted Lasso is playing with this season. From the Season 2 premiere, we’ve understood that Ted’s main struggle this season wasn’t going to be fighting for Rebecca and Richmond’s respect. He’s already earned that. No, Ted needs to fight the unprocessed pain and trauma within. Grinning and bearing it might be a way to make it through the day, but even Ted Lasso’s optimistic philosophy can only stretch so far. In burying his pain and sorrow, Ted has created a tense chamber of pressure inside of him that threatens to blow in the form of ill-timed panic attacks. (And as someone who also gets panic attacks, I can relate.)"
• Just because Ted Lasso is a positive show doesn't mean its characters can't be d*cks
• Nick Mohammed explains what's going on with Nate: "It’s absolutely a different journey from the one he was on in season one," he tells Vulture. "I think it’s challenging for the viewers, because this is not the Nate we grew to love. He’s making quite a few bad decisions. He’s growing an ego. The thing with Nate is that he is the same guy as season one. He’s just been given this little bit of responsibility and power, having someone beneath him doing the job he used to do. He doesn’t really know what to do with it. He sort of feels lost. I think before, Nate had a leader in Ted, this catalyst for good. But now he feels this sense of abandonment. He’s still got his own ideas, but he’s not really getting the support or the recognition from the coaches — at least, not in the way he feels he deserves. I’m not condoning his actions or behavior, but he’s deeply, deeply frustrated, and he’s taking it out on the people that he feels he can."
• Mohammed knew about Nate's turn for the worst since Season 1: "I’ve known that this was kind of going to happen," he tells Vanity Fair. "I remember Jason Sudeikis sitting me down when we were filming an episode in season one, and saying, 'If we do get another season, here’s where I’d like Nate to go, and here are the reasons why.'"