Underdog Shows to Root For

An American football coach takes over an English soccer club with little reason to trust him. Ted Lasso makes the work of building belief in a team as satisfying as anything that happens on the pitch.

Coach Taylor’s teams have to fight for more than a place on the scoreboard. The later East Dillon seasons, in particular, turn an underfunded program’s uphill climb into an absorbing story about who gets a chance.

A struggling actress joins a makeshift women’s wrestling show and discovers that reinvention takes more than a costume. GLOW makes its unlikely performers’ fight for a little respect funny, bruising, and easy to invest in.

John Nolan starts over as the LAPD’s oldest rookie, surrounded by people who think he has missed his moment. Nathan Fillion gives the second-chance premise enough humor and determination to make proving them wrong the draw.

Lucas Scott steps off a neighborhood court and into a school basketball team ruled by his privileged half-brother. His battle to belong gives the early seasons an underdog pulse beneath all the romantic melodrama.