Watch of the Week – Ted
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- March 23, 2024
Seth MacFarlane’s foul-mouthed teddy bear gets a logical scaled-down home in Ted, a Peacock prequel series that solves the “Why no Mark Wahlberg?” question by featuring his character as a teenager, with the wish-upon-a-star talking teddy as his only pal. The show is raunchy, juvenile, proudly offensive, and occasionally very, very funny.
For those unfamiliar with the original 2012 movie (which spawned a sequel three years later), John Bennett (Max Burkholder) made his wish in 1985, bringing his teddy bear to life and briefly bestowing fame and riches upon him. But now it’s 1993, John is a 16-year-old high-school student, and the world has moved on so much that the highlight of Ted’s day is watching The Price is Right.
The pair live with John’s parents – his beer-swilling, racist dad (Scott Grimes) and mother (Alanna Ubach) – as well as a cousin, Blaire (Giorgia Whigham), who rents the room above the garage, which Ted, leaving jaws agape, compares to Anne Frank’s attic.
Although best known for his animated comedies like Family Guy and American Dad, MacFarlane (who also provides the voice of Ted) has branched out into live-action fare, and Ted allows him to explore his more outlandish sensibilities in a comfortably sized package.
If some of the gags perhaps push a little too far, it seems more justifiable when A) people know the source and B) the protagonist is a talking teddy bear. Taken in the playful spirit in which it’s intended, the series is generally fun even with a few clunky outings in the seven-episode season, which is full of knowing references to the 90’s in which it’s set, from Jurassic Park and the cannibalism-related Alive to the dad’s obsession with Rocky IV and the poster of Full House’s Lori Loughlin on John’s wall.
In that sense, Ted feels like an especially appropriate use of streaming, allowing MacFarlane to capitalise on the name and the concept’s irreverence without having to concoct something that might justify another movie (which, as Ted 2 suggested, pulled the string once too often).
If the title character remains trapped in his furry form, Ted hews toward a ‘90s comedic sensibility that’s not merely nostalgic but seeks to tap into the inner teenager that some of us never entirely outgrow.
That might not qualify as high art, but in its unpretentious silliness, this Peacock comedy is still more than bear-able.
Boluwatife Adesina is a media writer and the helmer of the Downtown Review page. He’s probably in a cinema near you.
