Jonathan Slavin

TV Review: ‘Better Off Ted’ Deserves to Develop an Audience

BrianTT — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 12:38:13 -0500

CHICAGO – With their renewal of “Better Off Ted” and “Scrubs,” it’s clear that ABC is unwilling to throw in the towel and give up on a comedy that’s not finding its audience. Before the wonderful arrival of “Modern Family,” easily one of the best shows on TV, ABC was not recently known as the place for laughs and there has clearly been a conscious effort to change that including giving the relatively audience deficient “Better Off Ted” another shot at finding a following (as well as scheduling an entire night of new comedy to start the season on Wednesdays).

Television Rating: 4.0/5.0

With a second-season premiere tonight and the recent arrival of the first season on DVD, if “Better Off Ted” has a shot at even cult status, it better happen soon. The ratings near the end of last season were abysmal and I’ll admit that I had written off the show, somewhat surprised to see that it was returning (partnered again with “Scrubs” on Tuesday nights). With crisp writing and a stellar ensemble that improves episode by episode over the course of the first season and a strong season-two premiere, “Better Off Ted” deserves the second chance ABC has given it. “Castle” struggled in season one but has developed a following after being given a second chance. You never know what could happen to “Ted”.

Andrea Anders, Jay Harrington, Portia De Rossi, Malcolm Barrett, Isabella Acres, Jonathan Slavin
Photo credit: Bob D’Amico/ABC

Created by Victor Fresco (who also made the underrated, great, and similarly quirky “Andy Richter Controls the Universe”), “Better Off Ted” is a sometimes brilliant dissection of modern science and the workplace. Ted Crisp (Jay Harrington) is the head of research and development at Veridian Dynamics, a group of the world’s smartest scientists trying to make the next amazing product like cowless meat.

Better Off Ted: The Complete First Season was released on DVD on December 1st, 2009.
Photo credit: Fox Home Video

Most episodes of “Better Off Ted” incorporate an office plotline and a romantic one between Ted and co-worker Linda (Andrea Anders). The chemistry of the flirtation between Ted and Linda significantly improves over the course of the first season and the quirky office politics of the new millennium has always been a strong element of the program. Let’s just say that Veridian displays some morally questionable behavior, often led by the borderline sociopathic Veronica (Portia de Rossi). Most of their breakthrough scientific developments are tested on their own employees.

Take for example the excellent second season premiere airing tonight, “Love Blurts”. Veridian has determined that they can save money on health care by hooking up the most genetically compatible employees at the company. Genetic compatability leads to stronger offspring. Of course, our romantic leads aren’t deemed a good match and are forced to go on dates with other employees (including a guest spot by Taye Diggs) with hilarious and unpredictable results. Meanwhile, Phil is instructed that it would be best if he gets a vasectomy and Veronica demands Lem’s sperm after discovering that he’s a good match for her.

Like the best of “Ted,” the humor in the season premiere comes completely out of left field. “Better Off Ted” may not be on your comic wavelength but it is incredibly original with an eccentric sense of humor unlike anything else on TV. For its originality alone, it deserves a look.

In a plot description, any given episode of “Better Off Ted” may sound absolutely ridiculous, but it’s the execution of the show that makes it click. The writing has gotten smarter and more confident every week as has the chemistry between the important pairs (Ted & Linda, scientists Phil & Lem, Ted & Veronica). In particular, Anders and Harrington have made a marked improvement from season one to two. It’s not as if they were bad in the first season, but they seem more comfortable in the shoes of these characters at the start of season two.

“Better Off Ted” opened well in March of 2009 with a 3.6 rating and 5.64 million viewers. By the time the 13th episode aired in August (after a summer of oddly scheduled installments), less than half that many people were watching with a pathetic 1.7 rating and under 2.5 million viewers. Shows have been cancelled with four times that many weekly viewers (go ask a producer of “Without a Trace”). It’s heartwarming to think that executives at ABC are actually looking at the quality of a show like “Better Off Ted” before making scheduling decisions. This show is getting better every week. Now it’s your turn to catch up with it.

The season-two premiere of ‘Better Off Ted’ airs on ABC on Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 at 8:30pm CST. It stars Jay Harrington, Andrea Anders, Portia de Rossi, Jonathan Slavin, Malcolm Barrett, and Isabella Acres. It was created by Victor Fresco.

The first season of ‘Better Off Ted’ is released by Fox Home Video. It was released on DVD on December 1st, 2009. It is not rated. It runs 299 minutes and includes no special features.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

DVD Review: ‘Andy Richter Controls the Universe: The Complete Series’ Finally Available

BrianTT — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:21:58 -0400

DVD Rating: 5.0/5.0

CHICAGO – When I hear about shows that were “brilliant-but-canceled” one of the first series that comes to mind is the great “Andy Richter Controls the Universe”. Developing a cult following through cable repeats over the years, the complete series has been one of the most requested-but-unavailable titles since the show left the air over five years ago. Andy fans, your day has finally come. Rejoice.

“Andy Richter Controls the Universe” never had a chance. This quirky, clever workplace comedy with a great ensemble and some of the best half-hour TV writing of the ’00s might have worked on cable but just didn’t click with FOX audiences. Andy Richter has bad TV karma, moving on to two more failed sitcoms - “Quintuplets” and “Andy Barker, P.I.” - after this one before recently announcing that he was re-joining Conan O’Brien as the announcer for “The Tonight Show” when his old friend debuts there.

Andy Richter Controls the Universe was released on DVD on March 24th, 2009.
Photo credit: Paramount

Richter shines as a bored writer of instruction manuals with a vivid imagination. He spends his work hours daydreaming about alternate possibilities to the boring world around him, which includes his best buddy Keith (James Patrick Stuart), boss Jessica (Paget Brewster), gawky co-worker Byron (Jonathan Slavin, now on “Better Off Ted” from the same creator, Victor Fresco), and his secret crush, receptionist Wendy (Irene Malloy).

“Andy Richter Controls the Universe” is so consistently creative that I don’t think FOX or audiences knew how to treat the show. How do you advertise an episode where the gang thinks their obnoxious boss (a great turn by Jon Cryer just before he came back with “Two and a Half Men”) might be faking his cancer to get sympathy? How do you put together a quick spot for the episode where Andy struggles with whether or not he wants to dump his gorgeous new girlfriend who happens to be a raging anti-Semite?

“Andy Richter Controls the Universe” was one of the best sitcoms of the ’00s. It’s a shame we only got 19 episodes but it’s better than nothing and you’ll find more comedy and quality writing in these seven hours of television than you will in most complete series sets for shows that were on for years. If you own “Arrested Development,” “Freaks and Geeks,” and some of the other now-beloved but initially ratings-challenged comedies of the last ten years, there’s a new set to add to your collection.

The complete series set of “Andy Richter Controls the Universe” includes all nineteen episodes (including five that never aired in the show’s initial run) on three discs in 16x9 widescreen with a standard stereo track.

Special features include a commentary by Richter and Fresco on the pilot and “Little Andy in Charge” and two featurettes - “How Andy Richter Controls the Universe” and “What If Andy Richter Controlled the Universe?” It’s not an overwhelming collection of special features but the episodes themselves are special enough that you just won’t care.

‘Andy Richter Controls the Universe’ is released by Paramount Home Video and stars Andy Richter, Paget Brewster, James Patrick Stuart, Jonathan Slavin, and Irene Malloy. It was created by Victor Fresco. It was released on March 24th, 2009. It is not rated.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

TV Review: ‘Better Off Ted’ Could Be Worse But Far From Best

BrianTT — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 14:57:11 -0400

Television Rating: 2.5/5.0

CHICAGO – In a landscape of increasingly lower ratings for quirky TV comedy (talk to the producers of “Scrubs” if you don’t believe me), I’m kind of amazed that “Better Off Ted” made it to the air. If “Arrested Development” and everything Andy Richter has ever tried couldn’t find an audience, who thought people would be attracted to this left-of-center workplace sitcom? And the fact that it doesn’t live up to the potential of its concept means the show’s thin chance of survival just disappeared.

Jay Harrington plays the “title character” of one of the most poorly-named shows in the history of television, Ted, a worker in research and development at a massive conglomerate named Veridian. Ted works with the vicious Veronica (Portia de Rossi ), sweet love interest Linda (Andrea Anders), and scientist scene-stealers Phil (Jonathan Slavin) and Lem (Malcolm Barrett). Like Jason Bateman on “AD,” Harrington’s Ted is the straight man of “Better Off Ted,” the nice guy surrounded by general chaos, quick editing, and tons of narration.

The cast of Better Off Ted.
Photo credit: ABC

What does the company that Ted works for do? Everything. In the first episode, after trying to find a heat-resistant mouse (tune in to see if it’s “computer” or “live”), the team moves to trying to freeze a human being. Poor Phil draws the short straw, suffers some odd side effects, and faces termination.

In the second-and-superior episode, a series of false alarms have forced the company to consider terminating the procedure of putting on hazmat suits every time because of the working hours lost. Of course, they’re not real concerned about workers not having suits on if the false alarm rings true. Ted also brings his precocious daughter to work and she bonds with Linda.

“Better Off Ted” has a decent concept - sort of a “Dilbert” for a new age or an “Office” with a twist - but the execution ranges from so-so to bad. There’s far too much narration by Harrington (the first seven minutes of the first episode are nearly nothing but) and too many of the jokes hit the floor. It doesn’t help that Harrington and Anders have yet to develop the chemistry to give the workplace romance heat (although Ted does have an easy-going repartee with his daughter, who plays a bigger role in the vastly superior second episode next week), leaving the show without anyone to care about. In “AD” terms, there’s no George Michael.

Better Off Ted.
Photo credit: ABC

Barrett and Slavin are fun, Anders is beautiful and charming (she’s been wasted in bad comedy before on “Joey” and “The Class”) and there are a few clever quips, but “Better Off Ted” suffers from a common problem in satirical comedy - too much winking at the audience. “Ted” thinks its smart, clever, and brilliant and it may be at times, but it’s just not consistently funny and too often telegraphs how highly it thinks of itself. De Rossi’s heartless gig is already tired after two episodes, the office romance feels inevitable, and the promising concept hasn’t been well-executed.

The creator of “Better Off Ted” also made the similar-but-superior “Andy Richter Controls the Universe,” which is finally coming out on DVD next week, but that show had critical raves and couldn’t find an audience. It’s hard to believe that this inferior version with the low-rated lead-in of the plummeting “Scrubs” will be around long enough for audiences to find it. “Better Off Ted” needed a bit more research and development of its own.

‘Better Off Ted,’ which airs on ABC, debuts on March 18th, 2009 at 7:30PM CST. It stars Jay Harrington, Portia de Rossi, Andrea Anders, Jonathan Slavin, and Malcolm Barrett. It was created by Victor Fresco.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com