After a ringing endorsement from one of the country’s preeminent television critics, praise from one of my daily-must-read television blogs, not to mention an effusive tweet or two, you may be surprised to discover that this TV Addict’s initial reaction to last night’s series premiere of BETTER OFF TED can be summed up in one sentence: I would have been better off watching GARY UNMARRIED.
Don’t get me wrong, TED has potential, After-all, it comes from the mind of Victor Fresco, the man who brought us the brilliant-but-cancelled ANDY RICHTER CONTROLS THE UNIVERSE. Unfortunately, the pilot lacked that one essential ingredient that not even the incredibly likable combo of stars Jay Harrington and Portia de Rossi could help overcome. That ingredient: The funny.
Perhaps it’s as a result of the current economic crisis, where greedy and corrupt corporations simply aren’t nearly funny as they used to be. Or, that I spent the better portion of the show’s opening minutes debating in my mind how Ted’s employer Veridian Dynamics stacks up to that of FRINGE’s Massive Dynamics in the ‘evil’ department. But either way, I didn’t find the show nearly as funny as I thought I would. Did you? 
