Better Off Ted

Better Off Ted
Genre	Situation comedy, science fiction, satire
Created by	Victor Fresco
Starring	Jay Harrington Portia de Rossi Andrea Anders Jonathan Slavin Malcolm Barrett Isabella Acres
Country of origin	USA
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	24 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer	Victor Fresco
Camera setup	Single-camera setup
Running time	30 minutes (with commercials)
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	March 18, 2009 (2009-03-18) – present

Better Off Ted is an American single-camera situation comedy, which premiered March 18, 2009 on ABC. The show deals with the day-to-day absurdities at a heartless technology company, Veridian Dynamics. Victor Fresco is the creator and executive producer for the series. It is produced by 20th Century Fox Television. After a first season of 13 episodes, it was renewed for a second season of 13 episodes, which premiered on Tuesday, December 8, 2009, at 9:30PM Eastern/8:30PM Central, following Scrubs. In 2009, the series was nominated for the Ewwy Award for Best Comedy Series. Better Off Ted has aired 11 out of the 13 episodes produced for the second season.

Premise

Better Off Ted revolves around the concept that the characters work for a stereotypically evil company, a fact of which they are all aware. The company, Veridian Dynamics, experiments on its employees, twists the truth, and will stop at nothing to achieve its goals, as reflected in the company motto, "Money before People." It has been mentioned that Veridian has swayed presidential elections, created killer pandas and robots, and that there are only three governments left in the world which are more powerful than Veridian. The characters often try to manipulate the system in order to stop bad things from happening to them, but they are also susceptible to the potential rewards the company can offer despite the consequences of their actions, such as the company's attempt to hire Lem's mother, or the company's introduction of scented light bulbs with known flaws. Much of the comedy of the show comes from the characters' navigation of these morally ambiguous areas.

Jay Harrington, who plays Ted Crisp on the show, serves as both a main character and as an on-camera narrator. Throughout the show, he breaks the fourth wall and speaks directly to viewers, offering inside information and observations while the action continues around him. Another plot element involves the use of mock commercials for Veridian Dynamics, thematically related to individual episodes and placed at the end or beginning of actual commercial breaks.

Cast and characters

Main article: List of Better Off Ted characters

Jay Harrington as Theodore Margaret "Ted" Crisp: Ted is the titular character, and also the show's narrator. He is head of an R&D department at Veridian Dynamics, and is well respected and loved by most of the employees - and even members of the otherwise difficult upper management. He balances his desire to maintain his position at the company with his feeling that he must demonstrate a moral center to his daughter. He has had sexual relations with his immediate supervisor, although she remains emotionally distant. He also has interest in Linda, who was a new hire to Veridian Dynamics at the launch of the series.

Portia de Rossi as Veronica Palmer: Veronica is Ted's immediate supervisor at Veridian Dynamics. She maintains a fierce and unapproachable workplace demeanor, and many employees have a deep fear of her. She seems cold and calculating, but it is also clear that she has more than grudging respect for Ted, and often recognizes what moral action is necessary to maintain balance in the workplace.

Andrea Anders as Linda Katherine Zwordling: Linda is the head of testing in Ted's department. She finds herself very attracted to Ted, but maintains other relationships and reminds Ted repeatedly that he has rejected the idea of a workplace romance with her. She seems to be a bit of an outsider to the corporate culture. Often she is the character who demands that Ted consider the horrible ramifications of the company policies or activities. Her relationship with the scientists is strained by her rejection of the weird things they do in the name of science.

Jonathan Slavin as Dr. Philip "Phil" Myman: Phil is one of the laboratory scientists in Ted's department. He is usually working or hanging out with Lem, who works with him on almost every project. Early in the series he is convinced to volunteer to be frozen in cryogenic suspension by the company. This ends badly, and almost gets him fired. He generally does whatever he can to be accepted and avoid conflicts. He is married, and makes frequent references to his wife, who seems to hate him.

Malcolm Barrett as Dr. Lem Hewitt: Lem is one of the laboratory scientists in Ted's department. He is almost always working or hanging out with Phil, who works with him on almost every project. Lem is just as conflict averse as Phil, and seems just as willing to roll over and take whatever abuse the company has to offer. He grew up in the shadow of his mother (Khandi Alexander) a renowned scientist.

Isabella Acres as Rose Crisp: Rose is Ted's daughter. She attends the Veridian Dynamics daycare program when her nanny is not available, but prefers to stay at home. According to Ted, "her mom ran off to Africa to go save the world." She is often the voice of reason on the show. When Ted talks with her about work she points out the terrible choices the company makes, and often helps Ted focus on what needs to be done to sets things straight.

Episodes

Main article: List of Better Off Ted episodes

Season		Episodes	Originally aired	Season premiere	Season finale	DVD release date
	1	13	2009	March 18, 2009	August 11, 2009	December 1, 2009
	2	13	2009-10	December 8, 2009	TBA	TBA

U.S. television ratings

Season 1

Episode Number	Episode	Rating	18-49 Rating	Viewers (millions)
1	"Pilot"	3.6	2.2/6	5.64
2	"Heroes"	3.0	1.8/5	4.69
3	"Through Rose-colored HAZMAT Suits"	3.1	1.8/5	4.71
4	"Racial Sensitivity"	2.7	1.7/5	4.21
5	"Win Some, Dose Some"	2.9	1.9/6	4.72
6	"Goodbye, Mr. Chips"	2.7	1.7/5	4.20
7	"Get Happy"	2.1	1.2/3	3.22
8	"You Are the Boss of Me"	1.3	0.8/2	1.87
9	"Bioshuffle"	1.2	0.6/2	1.78
10	"Trust and Consequence"	1.7	1.0/3	2.57
11	"Father, Can You Hair Me?"	1.4	0.7/2	1.87
12	"Jabberwocky"	1.7	0.9/3	2.75
13	"Secrets and Lives"	1.7	0.9/3	2.42

Season 2

Episode Number	Episode	Rating	18-49 Rating	Viewers (millions)
1	"Love Blurts"	2.5	1.5/4	3.82
2	"The Lawyer, The Lemur and the Little Listener"	2.1	1.3/3	3.20
3	"Battle of the Bulbs"	1.9	1.0/3	2.88
4	"It's Nothing Business, It's Just Personal"	1.7	1.0/3	2.69
5	"The Great Repression"	3.4	1.7/5	5.62
6	"Beating a Dead Workforce"	1.9	1.3/3	2.99
7	"Change We Can't Believe In"	1.7	1.1/3	2.60
8	"The Impertence of Communicationizing"	1.4	0.8/2	2.23
9	"The Long and Winding High Road"	1.8	1.0/2	2.52
10	"Lust in Translation"	2.1	1.3/3	3.24
11	"Mess of a Salesman"		1.0/2	2.55

DVD release

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released the first season of Better Off Ted on Region 1 DVD on December 1, 2009.

DVD name	Episode count	Release date
The Complete First Season	13	December 1, 2009

External links

• Toda la información en la web de FOX España (en español).
• Official website
• Veridian Dynamics website
• Better Off Ted at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com show