Better Off Ted: Smart, silly and obviously horribly doomed
Nicole Yates is back Guest Clacking for us again….
Victor Fresco’s Better Off Ted gives me hope that networks actually want to take a chance on something quirky and hilarious. Unfortunately, these types of chances don’t usually last very long. Let me explain.
Better Off Ted stars Jay Harrington as Ted, a button up kinda guy who is the head of R&D at Veridian Dynamics, a company that makes pretty much everything. It’s a sort of veiled GE if you will, promptly explained with a hilarious opening ad for the company in which they explain they are everywhere and do everything (including making a sheep). Jay is more or less the straight guy, with his little daughter as his conscience.
Ted has to deal with his boss Veronica, who could come off as a psycho or a Jack Donaghy clone if not for her odd understanding of her overlords (the upper, never seen bosses) and her hilarious can-do attitude that Jay also shares. Portia de Rossi takes one part Lindsay from Arrested Development and a tiny bit of Olivia from Nip/Tuck and rolls it into Veronica, a bun-wearing corporate soldier. What really sells her character for me is that she delivers all of her lines like she walked out of an old screwball comedy, goofy facial expressions and all.
The schism between quality and popular shows – Guest Clack
Today’s guest clacker is Kelly Bedard, who — wouldn’t you know it — has her own TV-themed blog and podcast.
This summer a friend and I engaged in an epic Facebook TV war. For months we quizzed each other, back and forth, pretentiously spouting off on such enthralling quandaries as “which small screen characters do you think make the strongest feminist argument?” and “of all Whedon’s creations, who do you think demonstrates the greatest heroic arc?”
We debated the symbolism of Six Feet Under’s archer moments and discussed the darkest mysteries of the Lost island, but the conclusion we ultimately came to is that, while we love slogging through the metaphorical depths of some of TV’s artier shows, there’s a reason that we can watch an episode of Friends ten times and still find it funny, while once through Mad Men is quite enough. TV critics and award shows have descended into irretrievable depths of elitism in recent years and television is suffering for it.
Saturday Night Live – Ben Affleck; David Cook
(Season 34, Episode 7)
This week we’re trying something different (big surprise). We pay attention to great comments here at CliqueClack TV and we want to acknowledge them in some way. So, this week’s SNL review comes from frequent commenter ‘ac’, who’s actually Albert Camwell, a student at Ramapo College. Albert is our first foray into guest blogging. If you want to be considered for something in the future, make sure you leave good comments — we’ll be watching!
ac’s review is below …
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