Ted Lasso Season 4, starring Jason Sudeikis, Hannah Waddingham, Juno Temple and Brett Goldstein, is back with record-breaking viewership with Episode 1.

Ted Lasso, of course, is Apple TV’s breakout hit about Sudeikis’ title character, a fish-out-of-water American football coach who skips across the pond to become the head coach of the British soccer team AFC Richmond. After two seasons and two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series in 2021 and 2022, Ted Lasso’s fortunes began to dwindle in what was supposed to be the final season for the series in 2023.

Season 4 of Ted Lasso is set three years after the Season 3 finale, when Ted leaves AFC Richmond and returns home to Kansas City. In Episode 1 of Season 4, Ted makes the fateful decision to return to England, this time to coach the Richmond’s Women’s Football Club.

Now, just over a week after Ted Lasso Season 4, it appears that the series’ winning combination is back, too, with record-setting viewership. According to new data from Nielsen (via Variety), Episode 1 compiled 296.6 million viewing minutes on Aug. 4 and 5, making it the most-viewed season premiere of a series in Apple TV history. While the official release date of the series was Aug. 5, the Aug. 4 data is included because the first episode was released early that day, at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.

Using a viewership metric utilized by Netflix that takes into account how long any given program runs, Variety estimated that the 42-minute premiere episode of Ted Lasso Season 4 had 7.1 million viewers.

The numbers are sure to be embraced by Apple TV following the reception of Ted Lasso Season 4 by Rotten Tomatoes critics, which currently sits at 90% “fresh” based on 91 reviews. Taking all four seasons into account, RT critics’ score is a huge improvement over Season 3, which had an RT critics’ score of 81%, but is behind Season 1 (92%) and Season 2 (98%).

Meanwhile, RT’s audience score for Ted Lasso Season 4 — which began last week at 89% “fresh” on the site’s Popcornmeter based on 50-plus verified user ratings — has since dropped to 79% “fresh” based on 250-plus ratings. Season 1 still has the best audience score on RT (95% “fresh”), followed by Seasons 2, 4 and 3, with 87%, 79% and 77%, respectively.

‘Ted Lasso’ Season 4 Episodes Premiere On Wednesdays

While Ted Lasso Season 4 premiere scored big, it will be interesting to see how the viewing numbers play out for the rest of this season’s episodes. Including Episodes 1 and 2, here is the complete release schedule for Ted Lasso Season 4.

New episodes premiere on Wednesdays at 3 a.m. ET/12 p.m. PT on Apple TV.

Episode 1: Home — Aug. 5

Episode 2: Curiouser and Curiouser! — Aug. 12

Episode 3: Richmond’s Got Talent — Aug. 19

Episode 4: Title To Be Announced — Aug. 26

Episode 5: Title TBA — Sept. 2

Episode 6: Title TBA — Sept. 9

Episode 7: Title TBA — Sept. 16

Episode 8: Title TBA — Sept. 23

Episode 9: Title TBA — Sept. 30

Episode 10: Title TBA — Oct. 7

Created by Jason Sudeikis, Brendan Hunt and Joe Kelly, Ted Lasso Season 4 also stars Hunt, Jeremy Swift, Tanya Reynolds, Jude Mack, Aisling Sharkey and Abbie Hern. The first two episodes of Ted Lasso Season 4 are streaming on Apple TV, as well as all episodes in Seasons 1-3.