Season Wrap Up: Better Off Ted

Usually when I have high expectations nothing can ever meet them. Yet somehow, Better off Ted never disappoints me, and it certainly didn't with tonight's season 1 finale.

The world of Veridian Dynamics is a ridiculous fun-house mirror reflection of our own ridiculous world. From kooky scientist Phil and his deadpan counterpoint Lem to the adorable and well-intentioned rebel Linda (played by Andrea Anders, an old TV favourite of mine), the cast of characters is consistently funny and engaging.

As charismatic and competitive leading man Ted, Jay Harrington does a complete 180 from his horrible role as Dr. Lockhart on Private Practice. In the hands of lesser writers, Harrington seemed weasel-y, pompous and unengaging. So imagine my surprise when he turns out to be none of those things when given material like that coming from creator Victor Fresco and his team (which includes writers of such underrated gems as Aliens in America, Samantha Who, Less than Perfect and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia). As the fourth wall-breaking anchor of the show, Ted is the perfect mix of sanity and quirk.

Predictably, however, the highlight of the show is stern and ironic boss Veronica (played to perfection by the incomparable Portia de Rossi). In interviews, the down-to-earth Aussie seems shy, sweet and private. But given an extreme character (like Veronica or her unforgettable role as Lindsay in Arrested Development) de Rossi shines. I'm sorry Tina Fey, but I think you may have some competition for "funniest woman on TV".

Other highlights include Ted's hilariously mature daughter Rose (I know that doesn't sound very funny, but trust me, it is, in the finale she's grounded from the internet for having bought a boat online), the absurd dialogue ("another time, another place, two other people: it could have been magniflorious") and the strange, delightful and ironically socially relevant stunts "the company" pulls: like freezing Phil, developing pumpkin weapons, growing meat and decorating the cubicles of the office "drones" in one of four designated themes (cats, space, the green bay packers and cars). The latter causes absurd office cliques while the new security system they install causes problems when it doesn't acknowledge black people. The Veridian Dynamics ads near the top of each episode are always hilarious and wrap up the satirical themes of every episode in a neat little package that eerily resembles most actual TV ads.

If you didn't watch this show, I suggest you make that right before their unexpected second season begins, because with TV this smart it's always just a matter of time before it gets taken away from us.

FINALE GRADE: A
SEASON GRADE: A+

Kelly's Week in TV

The Bachelorette finale and "After the Final Rose" special: The finale goes exactly as planned as Jillian chooses an ecstatic Ed and stomps on the hearts of Kiptyn and Reid (who returned to propose and finally declare his love). The "After the Final Rose" special, however, contained one of the more awkward segments I've ever seen. When Reid returned to face Jillian again, the reunion was filled with unasked awkward questions, unbearable silences and a creepily enthusiastic young woman who came to the mic to ask Reid if he would go out with her. As for the Jillian/Ed interview, they seem pretty happy and may eventually turn out to be one of the few couples who actually make it after the show. The highlight of the night came with host Chris Harrison's line "as a talented country singer [infamous bachelor/slimeball Wes] once said, 'you know love, it don't come easy'."

Dirty Sexy Money: I love this show and I'm so glad to have it back (however briefly). Saturday's episode was the first offering of this final batch (that started last week) that reminded me how great this show really could be.

Psych: I have no idea where the episodes that show up weekly on my PVR are from in the chronology of the series but I really love this show. Dule Hill is a god.

More to Love premiere: In theory, I like this show. I like the idea of a show in The Bachelor format that doesn't over-emphasize the need for a perfect bikini body. That said, for a show like this to work, it needs to not dwell on what it is that makes it different. After the first episode, all I took away from More to Love is that all these women, who swear they're looking for someone who can see beyond their exteriors, are inextricably caught up with their own weight; it's all they talked about. Sure the guy's kinda cute but he carried with him a bit of a douchy vibe and I can pretty much guarantee that the couple that comes out of this show at the end is not going to last. In fact, my guess is that some skinny girl watches the show and introduces herself to Luke when all is said and done and he leaves his chosen "big girl" for the prettier one. More to Love just seems like one of those shows that has the exact opposite effect than what it is striving for. I think the only thing the audience will take away from it is that girls who are overweight can be just as vapid and self-involved as the itty bitty ones on The Bachelor.

Better Off Ted: Veridian Dynamics goes green (without their knowledge); Ted invents a fake project called Jabberwocky; Portia De Rossi takes back the lead she lost after last week's SYTYCD in the epic battle of 'who's funnier: Portia or Ellen'; and corporate ignorance, the trend of flashy business presentations, employee fraud and the green obsession all get delightfully satirized.

Triple Sensation finale: Kaitlyn finally impresses, Hailey steps it up, Leah's acting chops (rightfully) snag her the win despite some rough notes in her song and my week brightens when I find that 2nd place finisher and My TV favourite Liam Tobin is sitting behind me during last night's production of BARE at Hart House Theatre. (Here it's worth noting how much I enjoy the fact that an old friend of mine made the top 12 in season 1- super proud to have once shared the stage with him).

Merlin: I'm about 3 episodes in. I'm still making up my mind but I think I like it so far.

Big Brother: Jessie further pisses me off by making exactly the right moves for his position in the game, further harming the side of the house that I was rooting for, perpetuating the Athlete rule and keeping the game's most annoying players around (aka Ronnie and Lydia). He may be driving me crazy but I may have no choice but to become a Jessie fan. Quite frankly, he's the best player in the house right now (though he does have a giant target on his back for when one of the few weak people who can and would put him up gets HOH) and that bizarre love triangle is the most entertaining thing going on this summer guilty pleasure.

The West Wing: I'm re-watching. Season 2 really is perfection.

Dawson's Creek: I'm re-watching. Season 2 is nowhere near perfection. Pacey, on the other hand, comes pretty close to perfection in his best season of the series (remembered fondly by me as 'the Andy season').

The Guild: On the grand scale of Joss Whedon's friendship circle, Felicia Day has never been a favourite of mine. But yesterday I caved after hearing her talk about her web series The Guild for the millionth time in an interview with Michael Ausiello at Comic Con. The sweet little webseries that she created, writes and stars in is a shoestring budget story about a group of gamers. Understated, amusing, boasting a colourful supporting cast and running only about 5 minutes per episode, The Guild is actually a nice way to spend your time. It's available (yes, even in Canada) at www.watchtheguild.com.

Jeopardy: Last week saw the reign of the most engaging champion in a very long time: a young video game tester/camp counsellor with long blond locks and a goofy grin. Against all expectations, Stefan won game after game with some seriously impressive skill. Not only is he surprisingly brilliant, but this nonchalant dude is always cracking jokes (adorably bad ones), never takes the game too seriously, often comes from behind to win big and has proven himself to be a big better on Daily Doubles and Final Jeopardy questions (which always keeps the game interesting). Multiple times he bet between 4 to 6 thousand dollars on a single Daily Double question in the first round; and during one game he bet more than $20,000 on a Final Jeopardy question about food (which he then got wrong but had a score high enough to still win the game). He'll be back soon to kick off the show's 26th season as reigning champ, keeping things interesting. In the meantime, the Teen Tournament has been very boring.

Quality TV in the Summer?

This Saturday marks the return of NBC's ambitious passion project Kings. Predictably, the epic drama failed to produce the sort of ratings that the last place network needed so it was cancelled after airing only a few episodes this winter. Now the series will have a chance to burn off their remaining episodes and wrap up the stories in a satisfying way over 7 weeks, starting this Saturday (the 13th) at 8pm on NBC.

Also on Saturdays are the final episodes of Pushing Daisies on ABC. Be sure to tune in to see the ending of the happiest show on TV.

And with the final season 1 episodes of the new (and renewed) gem Better Off Ted scheduled to start airing June 23 on ABC, it seems as though summer may not be such a TV wasteland after all.

For my review of Kings' early episodes click here

More Happy PickUp News

I haven't been this proud of the networks in a really long time.

Not only does the notorious FOX seem determined to undercut its reputation as the least supportive network for intelligent programming (see their miraculous second season pickup for Dollhouse and the intense promotional power they're putting behind Glee), but the alphabet network (ABC) has granted clemency to some ratings-challenged gems that seemed to be on death row. My favourite pickup so far? The delightfully clever comedy Better Off Ted! Also picked up for another season are Nathan Fillion procedural Castle and the sweet surviving sitcom Scrubs. Scrubs is set to return for a 9th season with Zach Braff and Sarah Chalke appearing for 6 episode arcs to pass the story on to the young up-and-coming interns (I'm particularly fond of both the sunny and the cynical one) while Dr. Turk, Dr. Cox and the Janitor should stick around full time for all the fun of the old days.

It's a good time for TV; I may even begin to recover from the holes the cancellations of Dirty Sexy Money, Pushing Daisies and Eli Stone left in my heart.

Why Better Off Ted is my new Favourite Show

- The characters grow beef in a lab in order to make up for a failed "extra fun mac and cheese" that causes blindness. But the beef tastes like despair. 

- The pathetically rebellious creamer stealer, thwarted in her creamer stealing plan, resorts to wasting paper towels. 

- There are the sort of apocalyptic big cooperation R&D inventions that you know are in the works somewhere and scare you to death but on TV you can laugh at. 

- The legal department has a fun fictionalized spin on reality.

- There's a distinctly Arrested Development-like narration. 

- There's the unfailingly fabulous Arrested Development alumnus Portia de Rossi.

- The kid daughter is smarter and more insightful than all the successful and genius adults. 

- Lem and Phil. Everything about Lem and Phil. 

What's New?

With premiere time part 2 of the year getting under way, it's about time that we here at My TV let you in on what we're watching.

*shows with an asterisk are Kelly's most anticipated/favourites

What We're Watching (or at least taking for a test drive)

* United States of Tara (Showtime, Sun 10:00)

Created by Steven Spielberg, writen by Diablo Cody, starring Toni Collette, John Corbett and Rosemary DeWitt- perfect. 

*Dollhouse (FOX, Fri 9:00)

Joss Whedon is a genius. 

Better off Ted (ABC, Wed 8:30)

We love Portia, Andrea Anders is pretty funny and it looks like a lot of fun. 

Castle (ABC, Mon 10:00)

NATHAN FILLION!!! that is all. 

*Cupid (ABC, premieres March 31, Tues 10:00)

We need a replacement for our dearly departed Valentine, and Bobby Cannavale is always charming. Oh, and this version doesn't have Jeremy Piven- always a plus. 

Harper's Island (CBS, premieres April 9, Thurs 10:00)

Out of sheer love for Chris Gorham this long shot will get at least a one week trial from My TV. 

*Kings (NBC, Sun 8:00)

It looks damn cool and there's a need for dramas that aren't sci-fi or procedural. 

In The Motherhood (ABC, premieres March 26, Thurs 8:00)

It was a web hit. Hopefully it won't be too stupid. The comedy pedigree in the cast deserves our respect though. 

Parks and Recreation (NBC, premieres April 9, Thurs 8:30)

We'll follow Amy Poehler anywhere, though this doesn't promise to be a favourite. 

*Party Down (Starz, premieres Tomorrow, Fri 10:30)

Rob Thomas writes good stuff! Also: Ken Marino, Ryan Hansen, Jane Lynch and Lizzy Caplan. Plus amazing guest stars like Kristen Bell, Jason Dohring and Rob Corddry.

Southland (NBC, premieres April 9, Thurs 10:00)

Ryan Atwood (Ben McKenzie) is back on TV! How could we not watch that? Also: former West Wing showrunner John Wells is at the helm. 

The Unusuals (ABC, premieres April 8, Wed 10:10)

Amber Tamblyn + Adam Goldberg make up for our left over Michael hatred that prevents us from ever really embracing Harold Perrineau. 

Pilot Watch: Better Off Ted

I don't have a Whedon-based crush to blame for my checking out ABC's premier of Better Off Ted, but I do have a creator who also worked for Andy Richter Controls the Universe (one of the all-time great, one-season, fun-as-hell sitcoms cancelled by FOX) and a pretty damn charming preview. The show is about Ted, who works at the comically vague Veridian Company (which makes things that make our lives better, like airplanes, engines, and power, and all sorts of things, but not cows). It stars Jay Harrington (Ted) and Portia de Rossi (as Ted's boss, Veronica) and has the kind of comically off tone that made Andy Richter and Arrested Development all sorts of awesome, including fourth-wall breaking camera talking and absurdist statements like "we want to weaponize a pumpkin". The pilot episode is pretty zingy, following the attempts by Veridian to cryogenically freeze geeky, disposable, non-Black employee, Phil. Thanks to a mover answering his call rather than concentrating on the task at hand, Phil thaws out. He's fine, except that he occasionally screams and freaks people out, so now the company wants to fire him. Which as Ted's borderline-cute/annoying daughter points out, is just plain wrong.

The series-long storylines seem to be the convoluted/dysfunctional relationship between Ted and Veronica (Portia de Rossi in a truly fantasticly absurd turn), who one day decides that her and Ted should sleep together, then rolls over, checks her watch, and heads out. The other non-daughter woman in Ted's life is Linda, the oppressed, creamer-stealing product reviewer who easily tosses off lines like "I also scratched the words place scrotum here on the lunch room table. But then it just became the thing to do." She's a good match for Ted, and their chemistry/awkwardness works very well in the context of this odd, witty satire.

The show works damn well, as a goofy offspring to all the shows mentioned but adding it's own, unique spin on the whole thing, but it's also one of those shows that has "misunderstood and soon to be cancelled" written all over it. Here's hoping I'm wrong about that part.