Better Off Ted Premiere
(Wednesday, Mar. 18, 2009)
We're better off ... laughing. And it does seem like it's been forever and 10 pilots since we've done so, huh? Enter a little satire-absurdity courtesy of ABC, starring Jay Harrington and Portia de Rossi (8:30 PM ET/PT). Harrington is Ted, a higher-up office gent with a slicked-back mane and a Don Draper drawl (wouldn't mind listening to his voiceover all day), who leads a research and development department within a morally questionable corporation by the catchy name of Veridian Dynamics. The boss of that? De Rossi, of course, who returns to the icy disposition of her old Ally McBeal days — smileless, a tight chignon best reflecting a full-face Botox job gone superficial-mad, a bitchy name like Veronica, plus a cocked eyebrow aplenty (God, we love her!). Veronica delivers the task ("Ted, we want to cryogenically freeze an employee for a year"), Ted replies ("Right on it, V! But still working on making pumpkins as deadly as possible" — or something like that). What The Office lacks in quick-witted delivery and WTFs, Better Off Ted has held a meeting about it and likely conquered it by lunch time — morally conscious or not. But, hey, that's a corporation for ya. Wonder what the bonus sitch is like ...
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