- Starring
- Seth MacFarlane, Max Burkholder, Giorgia Whigham
- Creator
- Seth MacFarlane
- Rating
- TV-MA
- Genre
- Comedy
- Where to watch
- Peacock
Overall Score
Rating Overview
Rating Summary
Seth MacFarlane, born on October 26, 1973, in Kent, Connecticut, is a multifaceted American animator, writer, producer, actor, and singer. Widely recognized as the creator of the animated television series “Family Guy” since its premiere in 1999, MacFarlane’s distinctive humor, marked by satire and pop culture references, has significantly impacted the entertainment landscape. Beyond animation, he ventured into live-action projects, notably directing and voicing the titular character in the successful film “Ted” (2012), showcasing his ability to cross genres and mediums with comedic flair.
Ted (series)
If you ever wondered what the early life of John Bennett and his stuffed sidekick, Ted, was like, and you adore pop references that only Gen-Xers will understand, then Ted is the series for you.
Ted is precisely what you expect. It’s ridiculous, crass, vulgar, and filled with random and inappropriate humor. However, most importantly, it’s funny, maybe not wet yourself funny, but fans will certainly chuckle throughout.
That’s more or less the series’ milieu. It’s not quite hysterical, and it’s not quite heartwarming, and it’s not quite much of anything. Instead, it’s pretty standard sitcom fare but with dirty words.
The performances are all fine, with room to grow. John, played by Max Burkholder, and Ted exhibit the same easy chemistry as Mark Wahlberg and MacFarlane in the films. However, Alannah Ubach, who plays John’s mother Susan, is outstanding. Her brilliant portrayal of an unassuming and oblivious housewife who wants peace in her home and a little attention from her husband is refreshingly original, wonderfully, and subtly zany. She is the actual star of the program, and we predict that the future episodes that highlight her will be the most memorable ones.
Another bright spot is the technical achievement of making Ted (the bear) never feel like a special effect. The live cast’s eyelines are always perfect, and the show masterfully achieves the illusion that the bear is actually there and interacting in the world.
Arguably, the weakest link is the live-in cousin Blaire, played by Giorgia Whigham. Written to be a grounded foil and the voice of reason in an otherwise over-the-top household, Whigham’s performance isn’t the problem so much as the character is unlikable and unnecessary. The audience already knows that the household is peopled with ridiculous characters and doesn’t require someone to point it out.
At around the fifth episode, the showrunners briefly seemed like they began to understand that her character was best portrayed as an annoyance told to shut up, but quickly gave that up and decided to double down on using her to shove Leftist ideology down the audience’s throat.
Ultimately, Ted is funny and worthy of being used for background noise, but otherwise, season one never transcends to anything special.
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James Carrick
James Carrick is a passionate film enthusiast with a degree in theater and philosophy. James approaches dramatic criticism from a philosophic foundation grounded in aesthetics and ethics, offering insight and analysis that reveals layers of cinematic narrative with a touch of irreverence and a dash of snark.
Hey could you review Argylle? I was interested in it, and I wanted to know if it was worth it.
Hope to see it tonight
Too many shows out there are only funny to those who smoke pot. The thing is, those who smoke pot will laugh at pretty much anything and don’t need poorly-made comedy to keep themselves entertained. It’s like selling broken squirt guns at a pool with the hopes that people won’t notice the guns are broken because the people anre all wet anyway.
I don’t smoke pot and found the show chuckle-worthy…most of the time.
That’s fair. Guess I misread.
Still have no interest in watching if it’s full of woke garbage, but then, I appreciate knowing that it is.
The line “All Republicans care about is winning the argument. You don’t care about actual change. It’s all about feeling fake smart for like two seconds” is said in such a way to be understood that the showrunners believe it and believe that you should as well.
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I get that this is obviously woke projection, but I do find it amusing that they lack even the base understanding that conservatives usually believe a lot of the demanded change of the other side to be inherently bad ideas, and that it’s better NOT to make these changes rather than gliding on down the slippery slope as we keep doing.
You’re a Based Bunny With a Keyboard.
Been reading a bunch of your reviews today. Such brilliant writing filled with so much beta cuck energy bruh. You’re the same as the woke people you bitch and moan about. Yikes dude. Grow up. You sound like a child bickering
That’s a lot of words to say you’re one of these wokeys. No wonder you’re triggered
The woke are well known for speaking a lot but not saying anything of value. You can watch a speech Kamala Harris gives; try to find anything whatsoever that resembles a coherent thought.
Yeah yeah keep wanking each other and maybe kiss in between too since yall seem to be making love over here.
I’m a wokey because I called this great intellectual movie reviewer a little bitch? who literally created the most cringe rating system and whines about it just like the people he so opposes? Triggered is the strong word my friend all I am is just disappointed that a dumb site like this exists but I guess it makes “movie lovers” of this ilk happy to vent their frustrations about dumb shit like DEI or whatever
He’s saving people time. I think that’s noble.
I grew up in the 90’s. That was not what the 90’s was like. This show is Gay, 90’s gay. Being gay wasn’t celebrated not was it punished, nobody cared. You just lived your life in privacy. Nobody cared about being politically correct. We made fun of each other’s differences but also loved each other’s differences. All this wokeness does is cause division.
Was loving it until the Christmas episode. Talk about cram the woke in all at once.
You’re not wrong.
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