Better Off Ted

I am a pop culture guy. There is nothing I love more than a quirky little film or TV show that needs my promotion to put it over the top. On the flip side the minute I am told that something is great and that I should start watching it and join online communities and tattoo the faces of the characters on my butt, then I develop an allergy to the program. So I am sorry 'Lost', 'True Blood', 'Mad Men' (Though I do approve of a highlight reel of all of Christina Hendrick's parts with the sound removed - we don't have to talk to communicate baby.)'Dexter' and 'Glen Beck', I may watch you in the future when you are done and I can see what all the fuss was from the beginning. I am sure I will enjoy you then just like I have come to love 'The Wire', 'Burn Notice' and the 'Sopranos'.

But I am here today to talk about a spunky little cheeky monkey of a program called 'Better Off Ted'. Fast and furious like 'Big Bang Theory' and 'Modern Family' that is made for all us nervous chipmunks with too much caffeine in their system and for whom the world moves WAY too slow already. Zoooomy Zoom I say. I want a minimum of 10 jokes per minute with an exponential increase in the 'ha ha' towards the end of the 21 minutes. Have your way with my funny bone and don't call the next morning.



The show takes place in what is possible the most evil and dysfunctional corporate office ever. The Veridian Corporation. Its leaders are secret suits that occupy a mysterious top floor. You don't want to go anywhere near the fourth floor (for your own safety) and if the world found out what this Corp. was doing to people and the world in the name of profits they would collect their torches and burn the whole thing down.

The humor comes from the characters of course. Which include a tighter than tight ass female exec, a sarcastic go getter, his female equivalent, various corporate cubicle monkeys and two social inept but comically evil genius scientist working in 'development'. This is actually the ONLY kind of office I could ever work in because the situations really stimulate the snarky humor and general lack of anything resembling real human feelings or emotions.

The great thing that except for Portia De Rossa (the bitch exec) I don't recognize anyone in the cast and that only makes their performances iconic. The two scientist guys are nearly 'Sheldon' in their quirkiness. So many quotable lines:

Ted - "We have a morale problem. Look we have this deadline coming up. If we want to make it we have to do something to keep these people motivated."

Portia - "Ted, if there is a morale problem the Company recommends you take the hardest working employee and fire them. That will scare the rest of the peasants back into the fields." (said with glee)

Ted - "What if, instead of scaring people, we single out the hardest working employee and reward them with something? Something fun."

Portia - "Fine, the workers pushed the button and lit up the light. They can have their monkey chow." (said with contempt)