There was a thread about the first episode of Better Off Ted, and it got mixed reviews. I watched the second episode when it came out and was ho-hum about it. Just finally caught up on the 3rd and 4th episodes.
I think it’s getting better. I like the Linda character (woman in the office Ted is in love with). She’s pretty snarky. Of course, Phil and Lem (the scientists) are hilarious. A nice little comic duo. Portia de Rossi is growing on me too.
This latest episode’s plot was really funny. The company installed all sorts of automation in the building (automatic lights, doors, drinking fountains) which was motion-detected. But the automation worked off the brightness of the person’s skin. So whenever all the white people left the room all the lights would go off (no bright skin to detect), the water fountains wouldn’t work for black employees, doors wouldn’t open for black employees, etc. Sounds like a scary premise but they actually made it funny.
Funniest bit was the company’s first solution to the problem…
Adding “blacks only” water fountains and doors. :eek:
The second solution was to hire white people to follow around the black people so they could have a “white shadow” that allowed for the automation to work. That premise got a few good jokes in.
Anyway, I think I’ll stick with this show. It’s pretty cute, and only a half hour so so far it’s not too much to mess up each week.
I thought that episode was great. It tackled racism in a new and spectacularly vicious way without making the black characters sanctimonious heroes. The characters are all flawed without being actively unlikeable. And it’s been very funny with some great satire for anyone familiar with corporate life.
Yet the ratings have been really low, so unless we can get word of mouth out the show doesn’t have much of a future. Enjoy it now.
I adore this show. I have no expectations that it will survive, but I’m enjoying it while it lasts. It’d be great if it received any advertising at all…
I wasn’t exactly interested in the show to begin with, but I kept the TV on after Scrubs and watched the premiere when it aired and now I’m more interested in this than Scrubs. While I don’t think it has that much of a future, I’m also looking at According to Jim’s track record on ABC. I love all the characters on the show, although I cringe a little bit at the continued drama between the lead and the romantic interest.
I’ve never been a fan of Portia de Rossi up until this point, but the episode where she was with the daughter sold me on her. Hilarious.
I think this is a great series. My favorite new show of the year, by far.
It has a somewhat similar flavor to “Andy Richter Controls the Universe”, and a lot of the same people are involved. If you haven’t seen that show, please go rent the DVD set which just came out. It’s brilliant.
I hope Better Off Ted survives, but it’s not looking good. I do have faith that it will build an audience over time, just like “Big Bang Theory” did. It’s got a Dilbertian viewpoint that should really appeal to the internet crowd and generate some buzz. The question is whether or not the quality stays high and whether the network will have the patience to let it find an audience.
I love the subtle emphasis on the spoken line. Where the imaginary writer probably intended to mean that diversity is a good ting that benefits the company, the speaker of the line managed to convey a self-satisfied pat-on-our-own-back reading. Brilliant.
I really enjoy the show, and am glad that, despite the office environment, they don’t feel compelled to deal with an enormous cast–it’s lean, trim, and quite funny. The white shadow eps and the one with Rose learning how to fire people were both first rate. Probably not long for this earth (it can barely hold Scrubs numbers), but I’ll enjoy it while it lasts.
I am loving this show. The lab guys are my favorite characters, the Veridian commercials are a hoot, and Portia is fantastic. I hope Ted finds his audience before the network gets cold feet.
