Better Off Ted (2009–2010) User Reviews

Best Lampoon of Wall Street Induced Corporate Greed Ever

[AudioFileZ · 9/10 · 25 April 2020]

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.

A gem that deserves to be seen.

[ksdilauri · 9/10 · 20 March 2019]

As most of the other reviews bring out, this series was a victim of the network's itchy hatchet fingers. A lot of us didn't become aware of it until well after its cancellation-and it was like discovering hidden treasure. The first season is especially good-it has the quick wit and irreverence of "Arrested Development" in the guise of a standard workplace comedy. The writing in the second season shows signs of getting lazy by adding too many sex jokes in unnecessary places, but the gifted cast makes up for it-often taking the otherwise-clever dialogue and situations through the 4th wall very naturally. It's not easy to pull off this kind of comedy, but it's so seamless that it becomes perfectly normal in Veridian Dynamics' button-down business world. A perfect cast, in a comedy that should have run longer. It deserves a place of honor in TV history.

Great new show that deserves a chance

[Octochicken · 10/10 · 24 April 2009]

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...

Absolute Genius

[bogsplatt · 10/10 · 29 April 2009]

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.

Best Show Since 'Arrested Development'

[cary713 · 10/10 · 18 June 2009]

Portia de Rossi is even better in this show, and I was surprised to find none of the same writer/directors from A.D. listed in the credits. The Veridian Dinamics 'commercials' are fantastic. Throughout the show I had to try not to laugh too loud, so as not to distract my co-workers.;) Funniest show I've seen in a long time. I have to agree with one of the other posts that the comedy is targeted and intelligent, which is hard to find these days. I am continually disappointed in most comedy shows, but every once in a while a gem like this comes along.

PLEASE don't cancel this, ABC! Long live the Octochicken...

Better Off Ted has promise

[scarletminded · 10/10 · 19 March 2009]

I just saw the pilot for this show and want to write about how I liked it. Mainly because I feel shows aren't given time to find an audience and maybe me voicing my like of the show will give it a chance.

The show reminded me a bit of the movie Brazil, except a sit com. The music, the setting -- especially the part about making chairs uncomfortable with workers in order to increase productivity --, a few of the characters, though I doubt this show would even touch the dark comedy of Brazil. What I am saying is that it has that sort of bleaker comedy spirit.

It's smart too. Jokes are pretty rapid fire and I think it will do good playing after Scrubs because I feel Scrubs fans would stick around to watch this. Originally I thought maybe this was a spin off from Scrubs with the character Ted...no really I did. Andrea Anders was in the short lived spin off from Friends, Joey, so maybe I have that on the brain.

I was hooked from the whole, "can you make a mouse that can stand 195 degree temps?" to the pumpkin weapons, so I hope this show is given a chance to get an audience. I'll watch it whenever it's on. It's got a lot more going for it than your typical sit coms.

The best comedy that people aren't watching

[Animus · 9/10 · 18 January 2010]

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.

One of the funniest shows to ever be cancelled

[jimjoe12543 · 10/10 · 1 April 2018]

I do not know what happened with ABC between 2004 and 2016, but they underfunded, misrepresented, lacked promotion, and otherwise failed every worthwhile TV show they produced. Better Off Ted is the poster-child of this complete corporate incompetence.

What should have been a 6-9 season show was reduced to a measly TWO seasons. The show had some of the best on-screen chemistry between characters -- Phil and Lem, Linda and Ted, Veronica and Veronica. Very rarely do TV shows cause me to laugh out loud, and even rarer than that do they make it happen every episode, often a few times.

Yes, the show is corny. Yes, it is light-hearted. Yes, it actually has a lot of humanity and critique of the industrial military and corporate culture of America while making you think it's corny and light-hearted. Yes, it even handles issues of gender and race in a respectful, yet still corny and light-hearted way. Does anyone at ABC understand how difficult that is to do? What a shame.

I've always thought there would be a few shows I would like to revive once I hit the lottery (I've got a system, it's a sure thing!). Better Off Ted is in the Top 5.

Too smart a show for its own good

[a-mad-smith · 11 March 2014]

Better Off Ted delivers a stylish and fiery satire of the modern corporate capitalism. Intelligent script requires the viewer to pay close attention to catch all quips and wisecracks. Veridian dynamics advertisement clips are a strike of genius and deserve a separate mentioning.

It is very regrettable that the show followed the path of many excellent projects that did not pander to the mainstream majority and was quickly canceled. I believe the combination of the unfavorable time slot and requiring the viewer to think doomed the show from the beginning.

Fortunately, it ran for two seasons, it is a lot of fun to watch - especially if you ever worked for a large company - and all characters are truly lovable, even the ones that are supposed to be villains. Jay Harrington and Portia de Rossi did a great job portraying their characters. Some people will see parallels to U.S. version of the Office.

Season One is pure genius!

[Pourko · 7/10 · 14 July 2012]

Season One of "Better Off Ted" is the funniest show ever! Witty, original, NO stupid laugh tracks, pure genius! (10/10) Then...

Season two sucks monkey balls. They probably hired a bunch of new writers who started pulling stuff out of their you-know-whats. The show became boring, and at times annoying. (2/10) I can't believe how something so good could be ruined so bad. No wonder it got canceled.

Becfause of shows like this, I really wish that IMDb had separate voting for separate seasons. Casting a single vote for these two seasons doesn't make any sense to me.

Now... the next annoyance... IMDb wants ten lines... So I have to keep writing... "Your review does not contain enough lines. The minimum length for reviews is 10 lines of text."

So there!

Funny, smart & original commentary on corporate America

[shevia · 10/10 · 21 July 2009]

Veridian Dynamics is a large corporation that invents, tests and markets everything from deadly pumpkins to beef that tastes like despair. Ted works there as a manager. He's a good and sane man in a heartless--and often insane--corporate environment. The comedy in this series comes from seeing just how insane work at Veridian can be and the hoops Ted jumps through to keep the insanity in check.

Each episode begins with a commercial for Veridian Dynamics, parodies of commercials put out by real world corporations. These commercials are so biting--and funny--one wonders who would dare advertise on a show like this. Portia De Rodsi steals the show as Ted's boss, Veronica, who embodies all that is beautiful, perfect, devious and heartless at Veridian. Veronica is the kind of woman who likes having Ted's young daughter around, because her presence makes it easier for Veronica to fire people.

The show never lets you get too comfortable, and that's a good thing. It is brilliant, hysterically funny and original, so much so that it's a wonder it hasn't been taken off the air . . . yet. Catch it while you can.

The more I watched, the less I enjoyed

[outlandishflamingo · 4/10 · 8 August 2012]

This show started off pretty interesting, but that only lasted until I caught on to the humour. It seems that 90% of the jokes in this show are about sex and, while they can be funny once in a while, they get old fast. You'd think the writers could come up with some more original material for what they had to work with. They had so many things to joke about. The show is about a company that makes weird fictional products but, despite all the potential, the writers seemed to be fixed on just joking about sex. Besides the comedy, there wasn't much to take away from this show. Unlike many other comedies, Better Off Ted didn't provide any interesting story arcs or any reason for me to care about the characters. There was little to no character development in the whole 2 seasons that it lasted and I felt no emotional attachment to any aspect of the show. Because it's a comedy, none of that would really matter if the jokes were great but they were just okay.

Wrongly so unnoticed - almost iconic in the representation of the modern corporate world

[patrickfilbeck · 10/10 · 12 November 2021]

Better off Ted is a festival of humor, a great, funny allegory of capitalist business and research, and staged in a way that is (almost) unique on television. An underrated secret tip for anyone who dares to look beyond the warmed-up edge of the established sitcoms and embark on a fun adventure that manages to make you think through laughing. Only 30 rock can be compared to the manner of this series.

Different kind of humor

[diesel333333 · 9/10 · 23 April 2009]

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....

Why did they cancel?

[marcus-chugh · 10/10 · 28 December 2018]

Probably the worst network decision of all time to cancel this smart, witty, fast, well acted life changing show.

Quick, witty and oddly hilarious!

[CitizenShane · 9/10 · 16 September 2009]

Saw the first episode last night 'On Demand' on Australian pay TV. I often sit back and watch the 'On Demand' stuff because I want see what I like and what I don't, and more often than not I see what I don't.

'Better Off Ted' was there. Never heard anything about it before. I put it on and was immediately swept away by the quick dialogue and the narration (I guess it's narration) to camera from my new best friend Ted. He works for a research and development company, beneath Veronica played by Portia De Rossi. The dialogue between these two is hysterical! This show reminds me of Arrested Development. Maybe it's the Portia De Rossi thing, maybe it's the dialogue. Either way, I'm already loving it, and I will be spreading the word of 'Better Off Ted'.

Fun wacky workplace sitcom

[SnoopyStyle · 8/10 · 20 August 2013]

Ted Crisp (Jay Harrington) is middle management trying to rise thru the ranks of Veridian Dynamics while raising his daughter Rose. Veronica Palmer (Portia de Rossi) is his immediate boss. Linda Zwordling (Andrea Anders) is a sweet cubicle worker. Phil Myman (Jonathan Slavin) and Lem Hewitt (Malcolm Barrett) are lab techs doing crazy stuff.

This show is hilarious. It's a lot of irreverent fun. There are good relationships with lovable characters. There is good workplace craziness. I love Phil and Lem. The little girl also has some fun. The show only lasted two seasons. It was a little too uneven and too wacky to maintain a big audience but it was fun while it lasted.

This show is fantastic!

[Tactrix · 10/10 · 23 March 2010]

Yes it's review time again and no octochicken or itchy chair shall stand in our way!

Let me start by saying there has never been a show quite like this, humor is one thing but this is corporate humor on a whole new scale. No one has ever exploited soulless companies quite like this. Ted (the main character) is the head of research and development at Veridan Dynamics, the entire show revolves around him and his group of cohorts who are running or working for the company. Now the thing you must understand about this company is it seems to be a invention company that puts simple everyday items to military applications, so the comedic side is really never-ending and more over the ideas are just off the charts hilarious.

Bottom line this show is one of the best I've seen in a good decade DO NOT CANCEL IT!

10/10 with a bullet!

Should Have Never Been Canceled!

[Meesh85 · 10/10 · 13 May 2022]

Such a smart and hilarious show with a cast that had great chemistry. I can't believe this show was canceled after only 2 seasons. One of my all time favorites. The creator also created Santa Clarita Diet which featured several Better Off Ted cast members and another show ended too soon!

Not very funny for me

[UETF-agent · 4/10 · 30 June 2012]

I found this show a bit weird to watch and the humour was not my cup of tea. I am a big amateur of funny TV shows and I actively look for new ones to watch because everyday life is sad enough. I know there are many sensibilities and different people laugh with different types of humour (I'm not a fan of 2 1/2 men for example, but I can understand that some people watch it).

But with B-O-T the humour felt a bit forced and most of the characters don't have enough charisma or personality to carry the show. Portia de Rossi has a funny look but that's all, she looks like a robot but she also plays like one unfortunately. The main character dude is a suit, with nice hair, that's all I remember about him. The show format is a bit strange too, the episodes seem either too short or too long, the real problem being that the situations are not interesting enough or developed enough.

The whole thing felt a bit like reading a newspaper comic strip, it made me occasionally chuckle but it was forced.

Better off ted >>>>>>> The Office

[nithish642k · 10/10 · 10 January 2021]

This show is a hidden gem. It's way better than the popular Office tv show. I wish there were more seasons.

Why!!! Did this get cancelled

[peterspence1980 · 8/10 · 4 March 2020]

Brilliant, funny, witty, original just wish it kept on going

Very funny and uncomfortable!

[Amazadh · 9/10 · 12 August 2010]

I don't know if it's being a Brit, but few American 'comedy' shows make me laugh; I find the canned laughter particularly irritating. So, it is a refreshing change to find a show that doesn't try to make me laugh when it is not actually being very funny.

The point is, this show IS funny! Very funny, and to me at least, slightly scary and uncomfortable, but that might be that I am an ex-hippie, and the whole corporate 'profit above all else' is sometimes too horrible to laugh at. To be completely oblivious to the total lack of morality in their behaviour - the spoof adverts being created are a real hoot!

Excellent characters; the research geeks are outstanding, and Linda is great. Portia De Rossi is seriously chilling as Veronica, I find myself frequently thinking, "s***, I've met someone almost like that..." ...!!

It's on the 'record series' list of my PVR, just in case I have to miss one.

So far excellent

[Cell_Life · 10/10 · 23 June 2009]

Has a lot of great quirky characters, geeky premises, and absurdist plots. As some have said, there are elements of The Office and Scrubs, but with a lot more whimsy (at least for now); comparisons to Arrested Development seem apt.

I think there are quite a few ways to expand and push the edges of the basic premise for a good healthy run of shows. Unfortunately its geeky element may not be enough to sustain a core audience in a prime time spot on a major network. It has that feel of being perhaps a little too kooky for the main stream, but I hope not. I'd love to see where the show goes as it develops.

Too smart and funny for network TV

[purrlgurrl · 9/10 · 16 December 2013]

Which is why it ran only two seasons and became increasingly difficult to find as it was shuttled through days and time slots.

A well-written satire of life in a major corporation, it most likely flew miles over the heads of free network (ABC, CBS, NBC) viewers, who prefer the likes of The Bachelor or Batchelorette, The View, Dancing with the Stars, and a host of other TV for Dummies shows.

Too bad this wasn't on HBO, Showtime, or even Netflix, the logical home for TV of this caliber. It might have gotten a couple more seasons by finding a more welcoming audience there.

Portia de Rossi's best work is in this series - better than in Arrested Development. In fact, the entire cast clearly knows that the scripts are solid gold and delivers performances up to that gold standard.

Catch it while it's streaming on Netflix. It's laugh-out-loud comedy for a sophisticated audience.