Better Off Ted

I am a big fan of this show. It really compliments my Wednesday nights of Scrubs and South Park. I don't expect this show to do well or even stay on the air long, which is a bummer. The humor is dry, intelligent and very targeted to a specific audience. Lucky I think I am their target audience...

The show plays heavily off stereo-types. You have the uptight Female boss, the nerdy scientists, slightly crazy blond, and Ted. Ted is the man who has to sift though the insanity that is corporate America, aka Veridian Dynamics.

Give the show a chance, You might like it....

I don't usually do this kind of thing, but I'm tired of great shows getting canned before they get a chance to grow an audience. I have no idea how the ratings are for this show, but it's my favorite new show and might quickly become my new favorite show.

The casting for the show is superb, the acting top-notch, and the beat of the show is always quirky and funny. There are a lot of great ideas coming out of the writers. It is over the top in the best of ways but never loud or annoying. Best part: NO LAUGH TRACK!!! I can't say enough how tired I am of those.

If you like Scrubs you'll like this show. And for the record, I don't mind at all that the characters talk to the camera. It's not a mocumentary and I'm glad for that too - another idea that is going to get old very fast. I laugh constantly throughout each episode. Like I mentioned, the writing is very sharp and you have to pay close attention to see all the funny stuff that is going on at times.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a long and healthy life for Better Off Ted. Now back to the lab...

What a fantastic show. It is a hilarious satirical commentary on the offices of scientific research and technology companies. It is amazing how to close to reality some of their material cuts for those of us that work in R&D departments. It is also a very 'fun' show, the writers must really enjoy having a decent budget to make spoof advertising for their pretend corporation. Sometimes it is good to stand back from life and take stock of the really important things, and this satire certainly jabs away at the ludicrous of the modern office environment, where being creative requires a constant battle with the middle-management Ogres.

Much like the doomed and also extremely well done Sports Night, Better Off Ted is a hysterical comedy with a top notch cast. The interaction between Ted and his co-stars is fantastic, his nonchalance with Veronica over the fate of innocents, his empathy with Linda, his ability to get past the jargon of Phil and Lem, all classic. The story lines are funny, the fake commercials a riot and the "anti-dilbert" vibe is refreshing. While each character is indeed a caricature of a typical corporate employee, Better Off Ted makes those caricatures come to life in ways not often seen in prime time comedy. I hope this series get renewed for 10 years. I love Better off Ted.

This is now a decade old and nothing I can remember in that time came close except maybe The Office. Ahem...these two shows are both finding gold with satire over the white collar corporate mentality and the workplace that results from such.

Well corporate greed and hubris does create a fertile field to plow it seems as so much of the exaggerated comedy here springs from a solid kernel of truth whether it be in the ethos of the company or the psyche of the character. It might even be a bit on the creepy/scary side that to find these points to spring from it really doesn't take much intelligence or imagination.

The bottom line is this show absolutely has a wickedly sharp take on lampooning the foibles of the corporate empty vessel and the workplace that springs forth. It has both characters you love to hate and characters you love simply because you connect with their take on all of the soulless greed. Some things really glue it together such as the device of Ted narrating the story and the use of no inane laugh tracks using instead sharp scene editing with a spritely brass anchored background soundtrack. This brilliant comedy and because it pokes an eye at some of the real things surrounding work life it truly can connect with viewers like me. I think this show is a great mirror of corporate insensitivity, ambition, and greed.