Reviw by C.J. Bunce
Season 2 of Seth MacFarlane’s Ted is everything it promised it would be. All of your favorites are back–Seth MacFarlane as the voice of the funny and irascible titular teddy bear, Max Burkholder as the show’s lead human and Ted’s pal John, The Punisher’s Giorgia Whigham as the ahead-of-her-time cousin Blaire, The Orville’s Scott Grimes as John’s entrenched dad Matty, and Venom: The Last Dance and The Good Cop’s Alanna Ubach as the always very sweet mom Suze. Plenty of stories start as a TV show and then switch to a movie version, and vice versa, including flipping around between sequels and prequels. But how many are actually consistent in quality? Count season 2 of Ted among the rare successes. The two seasons encompass a prequel worthy of their movie predecessors and more–adding more dimension to what could otherwise be merely a gross-out joke fest. A biting, laugh-out-loud combination of That ’70s Show, Alf, and Fast Times at Ridgemont High that only could emerge from the mind of creator and star Seth MacFarlane, both seasons of Ted are now streaming on Peacock.
The 2012 Seth MacFarlane movie Ted starred Mark Wahlberg as John Bennett, an everyguy in Boston whose talking Teddy Ruxpin bear came to life in his youth, and he brought it… him… Ted… along as his buddy for his entire life. MacFarlane provided the snarky voice of Ted. Ted co-starred Mila Kunis, and Joel McHale, with Sam Jones returning as Flash Gordon, and it was narrated by Patrick Stewart. It’s a burst-out-loud every minute kind of gross-out comedy, that was followed up by the equally funny Ted 2, co-starring Amanda Seyfried, Jessica Barth, Morgan Freeman, and Michael Dorn.
The TV series stars MacFarlane again as Ted, introducing Max Burkholder as young John, in the year 1993. The comedy is 100% like the movies, only a coming-of-age version, like an updated Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Every scene works only to the extent of the quality of performance of the human actors. They had to appear to believe Ted before the viewers could believe, and as with the first season you’ll never stop to ask whether a teddy bear is really running around talking because the actors never flinch or blink at the notion.
MacFarlane, known for his love of musicals and theater, blends this into the choice of music and comedy timing of every scene. The segues and music cues between scenes are like those in the classic fantasy series Bewitched. After some quaint music the uninitiated never would guess what was coming up is a scene of a teenager and his bear sharing a bong. Somehow MacFarlane & Co. interwove it all into something for anyone who didn’t know they needed an R-Rated version of That ’70s Show.
Now it’s John and Ted’s senior year of high school. The only problem with this season is that the finale lays out clearly that the television series is over. And all reports and interviews indicate no plans for a third season. And that’s too bad. Ted the bear is a one-of-a-kind creation, and the show exists alone in the annals of TV comedies.
At every turn the series leans into all things MacFarlane. It has five major ties back to MacFarlane’s series The Orville. That of course includes MacFarlane in the lead role. The Orville’s pilot Scott Grimes plays John’s angry dad Matty, a truly obnoxious–and yet probably very real to many–update to the dads from My Three Sons and Leave it to Beaver, only he’s closer in temperament to the dad on The Wonder Years or A Christmas Story–or Fred Flintstone. Matty’s politics and worldview are kept in check by John’s older cousin Blaire, who lives with the Bennetts. She’s played by Giorgia Whigham, who played guest character Lysella on The Orville (and co-starred in The Punisher). The Orville (and Deep Space Nine) star Penny Johnson Jerald is the friendly but serious principal at John and Ted’s school. Also from The Orville is MacFarlane editing collaborator and producer Tom Costantino, who keeps all the jokes snappy. Even more players cross over from MacFarlane projects behind the scenes. Alanna Ubach rounds out the cast as John’s mousy 1950s throwback mom Suze–it’s very much like she was plucked straight from any family drama pre-1960. As a bonus Ian McKellen steps in as narrator. And Star Trek Voyager’s Tim Russ is back again for a cameo appearance.
Ignore the actors’ ages from the younger characters and the use of modern phrases, terms, and concepts–the show is about getting laughs. Burkholder, Grimes, and Ubach seize what must be tough roles to play. Giorgia Whigham’s performance in the first season was a standout as the voice of all women. This year she continued to stand up against the likes of Matty, but she didn’t get to do as much as in the first season–like in the Watcher in the Woods episode. But she gets to make out with Ted and be the focal point of an episode about abortion.
Producer and editor Costantino and the rest of the editing team and VFX companies work their magic again. The splicing into every scene of Ted the CGI bear, a puppet, his movements, his speaking, others’ reactions… every bit is seamless. In Blaire’s abortion episode Ted tries to liberate some of the baby shower gifts for his own amusement and it’s more laugh out loud hysterics. But one scene features a CGI appearance of President Bill Clinton that triumphs over any other TV effort to date.
Season 2 delivers an episode where John and Ted use a school phone to dial a 900 number over and over. In an episode spoofing Mrs. Robinson from The Graduate, Ted starts dating a married woman. Another has John’s family all playing a night of Dungeons & Dragons–one of the best efforts by a series yet to incorporate the game into its story. One episode features the aftermath of Blaire being dumped by her girlfriend. An episode finds John’s efforts to date the best looking girl in school botched because of his marijuana use, all while participating in a school play so he has an extracurricular activity for his college applications. Who would have thought Suze would admit to pot possession to help her son, and end up in jail? MacFarlane makes that work, too. And for the series finale MacFarlane creates a twist on the movie Good Bye Lenin! when Matty has a heart attack. The family creates a perfect world for Matty to try to keep him from having another.
We at borg counted the first season of Ted in the win column (check it out here) naming it 2024’s Best Series, Best Comedy Series, Best TV Retro Fix, Best New Series, Best Coming-of-Age Series, Best TV Writing, and Best TV Visual Effects. It’s a prequel worthy of its movie predecessors and more–adding more dimension to what could otherwise be merely a gross-out joke fest–although the second season is even more of a gross-out joke fest than the first.
It’s not all gloom for the franchise with this final season of the TV series. MacFarlane accounced a new animated spin-off is coming, featuring the cast from their older, movie incarnations. So look for Mark Wahlberg as the voice of older John, plus Ted the movie and Ted 2 the sequel co-stars Amanda Seyfried as Sam and Jessica Barth as Ted’s lady Tami-Lynn. Plus new to the franchise, Kyle Mooney will voice Apollo and first season actor Liz Richman (who played Polly) will voice a character named Ruth.
The first season was everything it promised to be and more and the second season a worthy follow-up. Fans of Ted and Ted 2 won’t want to miss the gut-busting comedy of Ted the series, one of recent TV’s funniest and smartest written shows, with all 15 episodes streaming now on Peacock. Keep checking back here at borg for news on the premiere of the animated series.
