‘Bless up for the Ted Heads!’: Emmy nominee Alex Szabo celebrates ‘Ted Lasso’ fans at Emmy FYC event
There was nothing but love for “Ted Lasso” during the joint Apple TV+/Gold Derby FYC event held August 16 at the American Society of Cinematographers Clubhouse in Hollywood. In celebration of the comedy’s 21 Emmy nominations, top artisans from the program joined TV academy voters for a festive night with dinner, drinks and trivia. Editor Alex Szabo, who is nominated with A.J. Catoline for his work on the episode “Mom City,” sat down with Gold Derby associate editor Latasha Ford to spread that love back to fans. Watch the video interview above.
“Bless up for the Ted Heads!” he exclaims at the top of the interview. “Without them we wouldn’t be here. I remember season one, I was like, ‘I just hope people watch it.’ And here we are a few years later and everyone’s like, ‘We need more! We need more!’ I appreciate it. I don’t take it for granted.” Prior to the nominations announcement, Szabo made a deal with his dog. “I was like, ‘Buffy, if we get some recognition, A.J. and I and Melissa [McCoy] and Francesca [Castro],’ which was unheard of for me, ‘… if we all get up there, I’m going to get you a big treat. I owe you a treat.’ I haven’t been true to my word yet, so I’ve got to go to a pet store and get a big old bone.”
SEE ‘Ted Lasso’ Emmy interviews: Watch our 10 in-depth chats with Phil Dunster, Juno Temple …
“It’s unlike anything I’ve seen,” he says of the two-time Best Comedy Series winner. “I have experience with a lot of comedy. I got brought into this, and reading the script, I wasn’t quite sure what this would become. I was like, ‘Oh, some of this is sort of heavy,’ but I think they’ve made it their own thing. I mean, we’ve seen dramedy before, but this is a special kind of comedy drama.”
Szabo credits his colleagues for their collaboration on set and allowing everyone to be “a true artist.” He explains, “Whether it’s me and A.J., whether it’s a director, whether it’s Jason [Sudeikis], I think everyone shares that ability to be like, ‘Okay, I respectfully want to see what your opinion is.’ A lot of times it doesn’t happen, but we’re going to at least respect each other’s approach. A lot of things happened in previous projects where it was completely stonewalled and you have to sit with that and hope that next time they’ll want to play ball.”
SEE Hannah Waddingham (‘Ted Lasso’): Emmys 2023 episode submission revealed
The third season of “Ted Lasso” bested its first two with 21 Emmy nominations, up one from past years. A Best Comedy Series win would make it the seventh in Emmy history to prevail for its first three seasons. The others were “Modern Family” (first five seasons in 2010-14), “30 Rock” (first three seasons in 2007-09), “Frasier” (first five seasons in 1994-98), “Taxi” (first three seasons in 1979-81), “All in the Family” (first three seasons in 1971-73, plus a fourth in ’78) and “The Phil Silvers Show” (first three seasons in 1956-58).
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