Streaming on: Netflix
Episodes: 26
Remember a few posts ago when I discussed the animated sitcom Dilbert? What if I told you that there was a workplace comedy that's essentially a live-action Dilbert?
Better off Ted is set in the evil corporation, Veridian Dynamics. This is a company that isn't agaisnt:
A) Cryogenically freezing employees
B) Building killer robots and pandas "in case of peaceful, government overthrow"
C) Manipulating global elections in it favor
D) Boasting in their commercials that it (Veridian) is so powerful that there are only "three governments left in the world" that can take down Veridian
E) Ordering male employees to receive vasectomies
You get the idea.
The show focuses on Ted Crisp, the head of research and development department. Ted serves as our narrator, often breaking the fourth wall and speaking directly to the camera to address us the viewers.
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| image via: abc.com |
As a single father, Ted struggles balancing working for such a shady organization while still being a moral role model for his daughter.
Another important character is Ted's superior, Veronica Palmer, played by Arrested Development's Portia de Rossi. Veronica is an ambitious, competitive woman (Veronica secretly feeds her sister while she's asleep in order to remain the "thinner sibling.")
Other characters include Phil and Lem, laboratory scientists who are essentially nerdy versions of The Simpson's Lenny and Carl, and Linda, who works in the experiment department. She and ted share a mutual attraction but don't act out on it due to Ted not wanting a second "office affair."
Thanks to its surreal, satirical setting and it's quirky cast of characters, Better off Ted is easily one of the most original comedies in the last decade.
Despite a ton of critical acclaim though, the show never broke out as a hit and was later cancelled. Thankfully it now has a second life on Netflix.
Also, each episode features an mock ad for Veridian Dynamics that spotlight their latest breakthrough, or works as a piece of propaganda for the company. Check this one below:
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