I watched every episode of this AMAZING show every week when it first aired, and just finished binge-watching its sadly limited two seasons during the past two days for the umpteenth time. And while I enjoyed every episode this time around as much as I did every other time I've watched them since 2009, and laughed at every single crazy story-line and sub-plot, every word of dialogue written, every character, facial expression, reaction, and performance, the breaking of the "fourth wall" by Ted, the tight-assed and uncaring ladder-climbing nature of Victoria and the growth of her character over 26 episodes, the hesitant chemistry between Ted and Linda, Ted's adorable and too-wise-for-her-age daughter, Rose, the goofiness and consistent fear and paranoia of Lem and Phil, as well as their strange relationship, the many "drones" and their small story lines, even Scott Lausen's Latin score and Veridian's hypocritical "commercials", (not to mention how adorable and unarguably sexy Jay Harrington is physically), made this the most enjoyable sitcom I have seen in my nearly 60 years, and I've seen a lot of them in those years.
In fact, for those of you in my generation, if you think back to the early days (60s and 70s), when watching TV was free and there were only three major networks before pay cable and it's millions of channels, more often than not, all three networks had such great shows on during prime time that you couldn't decide which to watch most of the time. Whereas, now that we have SOOO many channels to watch, not to mention DVRs and other ways of recording, streaming, downloading, and purchasing programs, think about how often you sit on your sofa or in your favorite easy chair clicking your remote for hours searching unsuccessfully for anything at all that is worth your time to watch.
While I still enjoy many network comedies, especially the ABC Wednesday night lineup and the CBS Thursday night lineup, none of my favorites from either of these two can compare to the quirkiness, wittiness, and totally unusual and tongue-in-cheek concept of "Better Off Ted."
But as I've believed for many years of listening to all types of music and watching all types of TV shows, movies, Broadway shows, and even operas at the MET, the American public, to paraphrase the late great Sylvester, has often, and even more so lately, had its taste in its foot. If so many of the "unreality" unscripted shows built around the lives of totally untalented pseudo-celebrities like the horrible Kartrashians (not to mention Honey Boo Boo) get more viewers than creative and innovative shows like 'Ted' and "Arrested Development," it only further proves my point.
American audiences lately have become so totally numbed by the lack of creativity and talent out there today clearly indicated by Hollywood's absolutely outrageous number of highly successful sequels and prequels instead of new ideas, along with the overload of unrealistic-looking mind-blowing special effects, car crashes, and gun fights, have grown so out of touch with reality due in part to the lack of actual human interaction brought on by so-called social media and anonymous Internet commenting such as on this site, and following the masses like sheep led to the slaughter by so many pieces of crap passing as entertainment, that programs like 'Ted' never have a chance of surviving. And while it wasn't a comedy, don't even get me started on another of my very favorite shows that got cancelled WAY too soon, "Eli Stone." Another innovative and groundbreaking series ahead of its time.
And while this may be off topic, as another example of the poor taste of today's American public which without a doubt will insult 90% of the music-listening public, if the totally musically untalented Kanye West is the self-proclaimed "genius of his generation" he says he is, it doesn't say very much for his generation. And to piss off even more people, if Beyonce and other so-called singers of her ilk could really sing, they wouldn't need to have engineers auto-tune and tweak their voices with computers to make them sound even as minimally good as they do on their recordings. And they wouldn't have to lip-sync during their live performances, especially Beyonce's at the Presidential Inauguration. To me, that was not only a total insult to the presidency and all Americans, but proof of her own lack of confidence in her own talent, which I question in the first place. In my opinion, the real singers these days are the ones performing on Broadway stages eight times a week, most while dancing exuberantly and still not sounding winded. When Beyonce and Ms. Spears can pull that off, then, and only then, will I give them the respect the rest of their foolish fans give them.
And how many other so-called singers and even musicians these days, other than Country performers, actually perform "live" in their concerts, let alone write their own music (God forbid), like in the 70s when groups like Earth Wind & Fire and most others had a ton of singers and musicians filling the stage singing and playing their instruments live with no aid from computers and/or technicians to make them sound every bit as good as they did on their albums. In fact, back in the day I had the extreme privilege of seeing Pink Floyd perform "The Wall" in NY in one of their limited performances around the country. And not only were the staging, huge inflatable character puppets, and the animation on the wall they gradually built during the first half and then exploded at the end incredible for their time, but the "live" playing and singing was totally indistinguishable from the album. Every single note, even the solos, that you heard on the album were sung and played exactly as we had become accustomed to hearing them day after day. Unlike today's "performers" who have hardly anyone other than themselves on stage actually singing or playing instruments, but instead replace that with a dozen great dancers and wild lighting effects to distract their fans from the fact that they actually suck. And with today's technology, even if you are in the front row of a concert, you still have no idea what is live and what is pre-recorded. And that's a fact.
In closing, I can't wait for all the anonymous haters and trolls out there to give me crap for being "old" and out of touch, as well as full of crap, telling me this is all "just your opinion" rather than fact learned by a lifetime of experience. It'll give me something to really laugh about, now that hilarious and groundbreaking comedies like 'Ted' are off the air.
reply
share