Better Off Ted: Pretty funny, actually

May 25th, 2009 | by | abc, better off ted, sitcom

May
25

Over two or three days last week, we watched the entire first season of one of the few sitcoms left on television, Better Off Ted.

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Part of why it works, I think, is because it doesn’t try to ground itself in reality. It is a satire of the corporate world and does not pretend to be anything other than satire.

Oddly enough, the least realistic part of it is not the thought that a corporation would try to quick-freeze one of its scientists for a year just to see what would happen. It was that Ted, the head of R&D for this corporation, is not a blood-sucking leech of a man.

He’s actually rather decent, though he does have his rather corporate moments.

It would be a little difficult to develop a show people would want to watch if the main character were thoroughly unlikable.

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Ratings: Worst. Season. Ever.

May 22nd, 2009 | by | ratings, season

May
22

OK, I guess the TV seasons before most people had televisions were worse, but this season was for the birds, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

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The four major networks (that’d be CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox – sorry CW) lost an average of 16 percent of viewership in the coveted “demo” – adults 18-49. That includes DVR use.

Fox was on top, followed by CBS, ABC and NBC. But “on top” still includes a steep drop.

Why is this?

A whole mess of things.

First off, a lot of people are watching online – legally and illegally (Hulu an example of the former, BitTorrent an example of the latter). I know some folks who don’t have televisions, even, and only watch what they like online.

Second, a lot of people watch on DVR, but not within that 7-day window included in ratings. For example, my husband and I haven’t watched Season 2 of Damages yet. The entire season is sitting there on our DVR. We just finished up the entire first seasons of Dollhouse and Better off Ted in a few days in marathon viewing sessions. (I’ll be writing about BoT in a couple days). I still have episodes of Reaper, the season finale of Supernatural and Sunday’s episode of Breaking Bad on my DVR, waiting for me to have a chance to sit down and watch ‘em.

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