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 Better Off Ted

(March 31st, 2009. - Editor)               Jay Harrington, Portia de Rossi, Andrea Anders, Jonathan Slavin, Malcolm Barrett and Isabella Acres star in the half hour situation comedy Better Off Ted, airing Wednesdays on ABC.

No achievement is too far-fetched and no invention too unorthodox for Veridian. Need cow-less meat grown in a test tube? Done. Need pumpkins that also double as weapons of mass destruction? No problem. Ted (Harrington) is a single dad to a seven-year-old girl (Acres), and he loves his job, but he's starting to take a closer look at the company's extremely dubious practices. He's also fighting an attraction to co-worker Linda (Anders), who enjoys small acts of rebellion against Veridian (she's secretly stealing and hoarding all the company's creamer packets). But he holds back about his true feelings. He's already had his self imposed "one office affair" with his boss, Veronica (de Rossi). Incredibly beautiful (if seemingly devoid of conscience and emotion-free), Veronica lets nothing get in her way to serve Veridian's needs. As Ted struggles to find meaning in his corporate existence, the rest of his co-workers seem happy to collect their paychecks and turn the other way when the company commits its latest affront on humanity.

The platform created by this comedy could have been a great jumping on point to bring some real social and environmental issues to the attention of the public, and force some of the people who create these problems to view themselves as we see them. Instead, this comedy is starting out to be a light-weight that looks more like another re-branding of "The Office" than anything edgy or ground-breaking.

Casting is another flawed area. While Jay Harrington and Isabella Acres are written and played like they are normal people, every other supporting character is the personification of one of the jokes in the pilot episode. That may be funny while the series is fresh, but if these actors are expected to play these characters in the weeks, months and years to come, they must be three-dimensional characters, not just a couple of jokes and a name. The audience will soon tire of watching these people if they are not able to grow and change over the course of the series. With this kind of start, I don't see how that is possible.

I will be shocked to see this comedy make it past season one. But because of the soft offerings on all of the channels this season, it has a chance of making it to 6 episodes. After that, it will only survive if the writing gets a lot better. And Fast.

 

Editor

 

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