Seth MacFarlane, born on October 26, 1973, in Kent, Connecticut, is a multifaceted American animator, writer, producer, actor, and singer. Widely recognized as the creator of the animated television series “Family Guy” since its premiere in 1999, MacFarlane’s distinctive humor, marked by satire and pop culture references, has significantly impacted the entertainment landscape. Beyond animation, he ventured into live-action projects, notably directing and voicing the titular character in the successful film “Ted” (2012), showcasing his ability to cross genres and mediums with comedic flair.

Ted (series)

If you ever wondered what the early life of John Bennett and his stuffed sidekick, Ted, was like, and you adore pop references that only Gen-Xers will understand, then Ted is the series for you.

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Ted is precisely what you expect. It’s ridiculous, crass, vulgar, and filled with random and inappropriate humor. However, most importantly, it’s funny, maybe not wet yourself funny, but fans will certainly chuckle throughout.

That’s more or less the series’ milieu. It’s not quite hysterical, and it’s not quite heartwarming, and it’s not quite much of anything. Instead, it’s pretty standard sitcom fare but with dirty words.

The performances are all fine, with room to grow. John, played by Max Burkholder, and Ted exhibit the same easy chemistry as Mark Wahlberg and MacFarlane in the films. However, Alannah Ubach, who plays John’s mother Susan, is outstanding. Her brilliant portrayal of an unassuming and oblivious housewife who wants peace in her home and a little attention from her husband is refreshingly original, wonderfully, and subtly zany. She is the actual star of the program, and we predict that the future episodes that highlight her will be the most memorable ones.

Another bright spot is the technical achievement of making Ted (the bear) never feel like a special effect. The live cast’s eyelines are always perfect, and the show masterfully achieves the illusion that the bear is actually there and interacting in the world.

Arguably, the weakest link is the live-in cousin Blaire, played by Giorgia Whigham. Written to be a grounded foil and the voice of reason in an otherwise over-the-top household, Whigham’s performance isn’t the problem so much as the character is unlikable and unnecessary. The audience already knows that the household is peopled with ridiculous characters and doesn’t require someone to point it out.

At around the fifth episode, the showrunners briefly seemed like they began to understand that her character was best portrayed as an annoyance told to shut up, but quickly gave that up and decided to double down on using her to shove Leftist ideology down the audience’s throat.

Ultimately, Ted is funny and worthy of being used for background noise, but otherwise, season one never transcends to anything special.

WOKE ELEMENTS

A shockingly BASED storyline in one episode makes the case that a housewife can be happy and fulfilled taking care of her family.

DISCLAIMER: It may seem like the following is a lot of wokeness, but you have to remember that it’s peppered over the course of multiple episodes and that the lesbian stuff is almost entirely concentrated in one episode. So, while that one episode is unequivocally woke, the rest manage only a smattering of wokeness.

Battle of the Sexes

• The only character who isn’t a cartoon character is the 20-something girl.
  • She is “more intelligent” than the rest of the family (i.e., she’s a liberal).
  • She’s wiser than the rest of the family (i.e., she’s a liberal, and they lean cartoonishly conservative)

We Get It, You’re An Atheist

• MacFarlane doesn’t shy away from one of his favorite pastimes, making fun of Christians in general and Catholics specifically.
  • There’s a smattering of blasphemy throughout the season.
  • The Christmas episode is unwatchably blasphemous.

Random Acts of Lesbianism

• There are random lesbians in one or more of the episodes.
• Episode 6 gets downright preachy about homosexuality.
  • It just so happens that this is the Christmas episode. I’m sure it was a coincidence.
  • The only side of this argument that provides a valid and thoughtful point is the emotional “this is who I am” one.
• Out of nowhere, toward the end of the season, the cousin comes out of the closet as sexually “fluid” and “attracted to personalities” a la 90’s Anne Heche.
• There’s a vocally and uber-crass anti-homosexual character introduced just so that the homosexual characters can justifiably be offended and upset.
  • This character, of course, is a closet homosexual
• Within this context, the line “I thought I’d go someplace a little more tolerant, like Iran” is uttered without irony.

Dems Good. Republicans Bad

• The line “All Republicans care about is winning the argument. You don’t care about actual change. It’s all about feeling fake smart for like two seconds” is said in such a way to be understood that the showrunners believe it and believe that you should as well.
  • The irony isn’t lost on me.