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Better Off Ted: Difference between revisions

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Better Off Ted (view source)

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There is a definite attraction between Linda and Ted, which is hampered by his "one office affair" rule (his quota having been filled with Veronica), her returning boyfriend, and his fear of the effect his dating will have on his young daughter, Rose (Isabella Acres). Ted uses Rose as a moral compass when he must decide how immoral the mandates he receives from Veridian are (as the series progresses Veronica and Linda also bond). Actually developing the cutting edge inventions is the crack scientific team of Phil and Lem (Jonathan Slavin and Malcolm Barrett), two hilariously left-brain geniuses rarely seen without each other who provide some of the best comedy in the series.
 
Better Off Ted is a 30 minute [[Work Com]] with a twist (besides the insane and hilarious inventions that are produced by Veridian Dynamics); Ted often uses the camera as a confessional, breaking the fourth wall and offering commentary on the strange events constantly unfolding around him. Unlike in [[The Office]], Ted is the only one who speaks to the camera and does it while going about his business (as opposed to The Office which takes the form of a documentary). Most (but not all) episodes also feature a faux commercial from Veridian Dynamics reflecting the theme of the episode. For example: "Man and Machines. Best Friends Forever ([[Crush! Kill! Destroy!|We Hope]])."
 
In May of 2010, ABC announced it was pulling the plug on the show. The final two episodes produced for ABC were never broadcast by the network, receiving their broadcast premiere months later in Australia.
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* [[Gratuitous German]]: Subverted, kind of. The Germans appearing in one episode might not be real Germans but they do a pretty good job at faking it. As does Phil.
** This doesn't apply to the episode's female guest star, Stefanie von Pfetten who, though Canadian born, is in real life the daughter of a German baron, so her German impersonation is a cut above most.
* [[Green -Eyed Epiphany]]: Subverted in "Racial Sensitivity". Linda gets Ted to play racquetball with her new boyfriend Don in the hopes that he'll have a terrible time because he's not over her. This backfires when Ted and Don have a great time and become friends. After {{spoiler|Veronica explains this to him}}, Ted pretends to hate Don to make Linda feel better.
* [[Henpecked Husband]]: Although his wife never appears in the series, Phil seems almost completely whipped by his worse half, who is so completely indifferent to him that she encourages him to cryogenically freeze himself.
{{quote| '''Lem:''' "Sometimes, I don't know how you put up with that woman."<br />
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** The last two episodes ultimately aired in Australia and the UK.
** In the US, the Resolution ended up as a digital download, although there wasn't that much resolution (besides {{spoiler|Ted and Linda kissing}} and {{spoiler|Veronica admitting that her friendship with Ted is valuable}}).
* [[Rick RollRickroll]]: The elevator music in 2x06, "Beating a Dead Workforce", is a cover of this sung by Veronica. Ted even dances to it later in the episode. Lampshaded by the fact Veronica "boop-de-boops" most of the lyrics because she doesn't actually know the words beyond the chorus (which is all most people hear when they're rickrolled).
* [[Salt and Pepper]]: Phil and Lem, lampshaded in "Goodbye, Mr. Chips." When outlining who should be where in the plan with various household objects, Ted gets nervous when Phil and Lem ask which one of them is the salt and which one the pepper. Lem then proceed to sidestep the obvious racial implications by declaring that he must be pepper because "[he's] spicy." Phil decides that he's "salty, like a sea captain," and they move on from there.
* [[The Schlub Pub Seduction Deduction]] : Veronica flirts with Phil in "Get Happpy" to get him to sign a waiver promising not to sue the company.
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* [[Sex Dressed]]
* [[Sex Equals Love]]: Averted as Ted and Veronica, who have slept together, have a seemingly less confusing relationship than Ted and Linda, who didn't even kiss {{spoiler|until the second-to-last episode of the series}}. This is lampshaded in "Racial Sensitivity". Ted and Veronica, in fact, are depicted as growing closer as friends as the series progresses.
* [[Shout -Out]]: "Where's the [[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined (TV)|frakking]] aspirin?"
** In "The Great Repression" episode a [[Doctor Who (TV)|Dalek]] is shown in the background of a robot storage area.
*** Ted refers to the sexual harassment group as a [[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen|"league of extraordinarily perverted gentlemen"]] in this episode as well.
** In "Beating a Dead Workforce", Veronica is able to convince everyone at eulogy to get back to work with a long speech that ends with "Now let's go upstairs and get back to work, [[Three Hundred|for tonight, we dine in Hell!]]"
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