Meet New York Times TV editor Jeremy Egner at your Flagship HPB on Saturday, Dec. 7 at 6 p.m. Joined in conversation with Matt Zoller Seitz, Editor at Large of RogerEbert.com, they’ll discuss Jeremy’s new book, Believe: The Untold Story Behind Ted Lasso, the Show That Kicked Its Way into Our Hearts. Copies of Believe will be available for purchase at the event.

About Believe: The Untold Story Behind Ted Lasso, the Show That Kicked Its Way into Our Hearts

The definitive book on the TV show Ted Lasso, written by New York Times journalist and editor Jeremy Egner, celebrating the show’s improbable rise and cultural impact while never losing sight of the heart, friendship, and passion that have made it an enduring favorite for the ages

When Ted Lasso first aired in 2020, nobody—including those who had worked on it—knew how a show inspired by an ad, centered around soccer, filled mostly with unknown actors, and led by a wondrously mustached “nice guy” would be received. Now, eleven Emmys and one Peabody Award later, it’s safe to say that the show’s status as a pop culture phenomenon is secure. And, for the first time, New York Times television editor Jeremy Egner explores the creation, production, and potent legacy of Ted Lasso.

Drawing on dozens of interviews from key cast, creators, and more, Believe takes readers from the very first, silly NBC Premier League commercial to the pitch to Apple executives, then into the show’s writer’s room, through the brilliant international casting, and on to the unforgettable set and locations of the show itself.

Egner approaches his reporting as a journalist and as a cultural critic, but also with an affection and admiration fans will appreciate, carefully and humorously telling Ted Lasso’s story of teamwork, of hidden talent, of a group of friends looking around at the world’s increasingly nasty discourse and deciding that maybe simple decency still had the power to bring us together—a story about what happens when you dare to believe.

About Jeremy Egner

Jeremy Egner is the television editor for The New York Times, overseeing coverage of the medium and the people who make it. He joined The New York Times in 2008.

About Matt Zoller Seitz

Matt Zoller Seitz is the Editor at Large of RogerEbert.com. He is also the TV critic for New York Magazine and Vulture.com, the author of numerous books on film and television, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism. Seitz’s writing on popular culture has appeared in The New York Times, Salon.com, The New Republic, The Star-Ledger, and Sight and Sound. Seitz is the founder and original editor of the influential film blog The House Next Door, now a part of Slant Magazine, and the co-founder and original editor of Press Play, an IndieWire blog of film and TV criticism and video essays. As a filmmaker, Seitz has written, narrated, edited or produced feature films and shorts, including his feature debut Home (2005), the dramatic short The Bed Thing (2009) and Steve Loff’s Desert Rain (2011), plus video essays about cinema history and style for The Museum of the Moving Image, Salon.com and Vulture, among other outlets.