Review: ‘Better Off Ted’ on ABC
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It’s hard not to root for “Better Off Ted,” which premieres Wednesday night on ABC. Lord knows the networks could use a nice big hit right about now, and someone has to breathe life back into the comedy genre before the last quirky detective or doctor idea is scraped up.
Certainly the premise of ‘Better Off Ted’ is rock-solid, if not wrenched from today’s headlines -- a take-down not only of those multinational corporations-without-borders but also of our consumer-based obsession with research and development no doubt seemed timely and unassailable back when it was greenlighted. Now, of course, the most odious job is better than no job. But the bloodsucking quality of corporate America is an evergreen, and creator Victor Fresco has brought his own mad-scientist twist to things.
Close your eyes and imagine the love-child of “
” and “Fringe” and you’ll have Veridian Dynamics, the setting for ‘Better Off Ted’ and possibly the best company name ever invented. Here, among those now-iconic bleached-out, soul-free cubicles and ill-lighted conference rooms, attempts are made to turn pumpkins into weaponry (the country in question has a pumpkin surplus), rubber into diet food and humans into Popsicles. Read more here.
(Photo courtesy ABC)