First off, it’s a master class in effective leadership. Ted gets the best out of his people by helping them grow as individuals, rather than relentlessly measuring metrics.

The characters are rich and interesting, show prominent growth over the seasons, and a few character arcs are psychologically fascinating rides. They could have been written as professional paint dry watchers and it would still be a great show.

[–] anon6789@lemmy.world 4 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Couldn't agree more. It really focuses on positive ways of getting people to function as a group. The sports is largely just a backdrop, and it's all about character development, getting to know all the characters as individuals, and finding their strengths and weaknesses, and not trying to have others fix their flaws, but for them to overcome them themselves through better self-understanding.

I don't think there was a single character that I wasn't interested in by the time they were done. It felt like I was a part of the team. It's is very over the top positive, but it's more of a "I wish more people were like this" way than a patronizing thing it could have been if it was done more heavy handed.

[–] disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (1 children)

Exactly! We had very similar viewing experiences. Your second paragraph makes me want to watch it again now. Lol

[–] anon6789@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours ago

There were a numbers of characters that I felt from their introductions or betrayals that there would be no way I would ever like them, but they developed them all so well, and coming around to them and basically seeing in them what Ted did all along was so well done. Nothing felt forced, between the characters or by the show to the audience.

I just went back and watched some moments from the big arc in the last season. Nobody forced anyone to apologize or accept any apologies, but all the characters reached those point either on their own, or from a subtle and loving reminder of something personal from Ted. They just did such a great job highlighting the good in (almost) everyone.

Most of the drama in the series either arises through either people poorly communicating at first or from their own personal insecurities and not forced events solely to stir up a storyline. It feels very real, and it's things that can be realistically solved if people respect each other and show compassion. Ted himself does indeed have magical plot armor to let him say and do the tight things at the right times, but we can defiantly apply the lessons we learn from watching to our own lives and experience our own positivity.