Ted (TV series)

Ted (stylized as ted) is an American fantasy comedy series created and directed by Seth MacFarlane for Peacock. The third installment in the Ted franchise, it serves as a prequel to the first film and its sequel. It stars MacFarlane reprising his role as the voice of the titular character, alongside Max Burkholder, Alanna Ubach, Scott Grimes, and Giorgia Whigham.

Ted
Genre	Comedy
Created by	Seth MacFarlane
Based on	Ted by Seth MacFarlane
Directed by	Seth MacFarlane
Starring	Seth MacFarlane Max Burkholder Alanna Ubach Scott Grimes Giorgia Whigham
Theme music composer	Walter Murphy
Opening theme	"Everybody Needs a Best Friend" by Norah Jones
Composer	Walter Murphy
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	7
Production
Executive producers	Aimee Carlson Alana Kleiman Erica Huggins Jason Clark Seth MacFarlane Paul Corrigan Brad Walsh
Producer	John Jacobs
Cinematography	Jeffrey C. Mygatt
Editors	Tom Costantino Tony Orcena Bart Rachmil Justin Ulrich Hillary Wills
Running time	33–51 minutes
Production companies	Fuzzy Door Productions MRC Universal Content Productions
Original release
Network	Peacock
Release	January 11, 2024 (2024-01-11) – present
Related
Ted Ted 2

Ted premiered on January 11, 2024. In May 2024, the series was renewed for a second season.

Premise

Set between 1993 and 1994, in between the opening sequence and main plot of Ted (2012), the series depicts the early life of a sentient teddy bear named Ted, as he lives with 16-year-old John Bennett and his family in Framingham, Massachusetts.^[1] In addition to John and Ted, the Bennett household includes John's father Matty, his mother Susan, and his cousin, Blaire, who is living with them while attending a college nearby. In the pilot episode, Ted is forced to attend school with John from then on, due to the trouble he causes while the rest of the family are at school and work.

Cast

Main

• Seth MacFarlane as the voice and motion capture for Ted, a brash, foul-mouthed, anthropomorphic teddy bear and former celebrity whom John wished to life when he was a child.
  • Tara Strong as Ted's "I Love You" sound bite replay function.
• Max Burkholder as John Bennett, a naïve but kind-hearted 16-year-old boy who is best friends with Ted and is near the bottom of the social ladder at John Hancock High.^[2] He was previously portrayed by Mark Wahlberg in Ted (2012) and Ted 2 (2015), and by Colton Shires and Bretton Manley in the opening sequence of Ted.
• Alanna Ubach as Susan Bennett, John's gullible, caring, soft-spoken, stay-at-home mother. She was previously named Helen in the opening sequence of Ted, and portrayed by Alex Borstein.
• Scott Grimes as Matty Bennett, John's quick-tempered Republican father who is a Vietnam veteran and is prone to many paranoid theories and irrational fears. He was previously named Steve in the opening sequence in Ted, and portrayed by Ralph Garman.
• Giorgia Whigham as Blaire Bennett, John's intelligent, sardonic politically liberal cousin and Matty and Susan's niece, who attends Emerson College. In "Just Say Yes", it is revealed that Blaire is living with the Bennetts because of her own dysfunctional family. She is protective of John and Ted and tries to keep them out of trouble. In "Loud Night", Blaire reveals she is sexually fluid and is in a romantic relationship with Sarah, an Indian girl from her college.

Recurring

• Marissa Shankar as Sarah, Blaire's girlfriend who sells marijuana to pay for tuition.
• Ara Hollyday as Andrew, a classmate of John and Ted, and the boyfriend of Polly.
• Liz Richman as Polly, a classmate of John and Ted, and the girlfriend of Andrew.
• Jack Seavor McDonald as Clive, John and Ted's former bully.
• Julius Sharpe as Mr. George, John and Ted's mentally unstable teacher who often overshares his personal life in front of the class. He is fired in "Desperately Seeking Susan".
• Penny Johnson Jerald as Principal.

Guest

• Mike Henry as Bank Employee
• Charly Jordan as Sheila Borgwat
• Ian McKellen as the narrator
• Don Lake as Bert
• John Viener as Dr. Frankel
• Audrey Wasilewski as Muriel
• Dana Gould as Priest
• Marc Jablon as Restaurant Manager
• Brendan Jennings as Ostrich Owner
• Danny Jolles as Will
• Josh Stamberg as Professor Lucas Damon
• Ivar Brogger as Father Odell
• Jason Kravits as Mr. Maynard
• Paul Schackman as Sandy
• Bobby Strom as Dennis
• Charlotte Fountain-Jardim as Bethany Borgwat
• Tim Russ as ER Doctor

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
1	"Just Say Yes"	Seth MacFarlane	Seth MacFarlane	January 11, 2024 (2024-01-11)
After causing one too many mishaps while home alone, Ted is mandated to start attending high school with John. After multiple attempts to get himself expelled, he discovers that Blaire sells marijuana to pay the rent that Matty charges her, and she reluctantly supplies him with some. After Ted gets both himself and John hooked on the substance, Matty evicts Blaire from his house after finding out about her drug business. She explains to John and Ted that she insists on living with them instead of her dysfunctional birth family because she sees potential in her cousin and wants to look out for him. Ted bribes Matty with the real mouthguard from Rocky in exchange for letting Blaire stay, and he complies. John and Ted promise Blaire that they won't do drugs again, but secretly agree to still smoke pot.
2	"My Two Dads"	Seth MacFarlane	Paul Corrigan & Brad Walsh	January 11, 2024 (2024-01-11)
After being attacked in the bathroom, John and Ted get back at Clive, the school bully, with a prank call in which they pretend to be his absentee father and humiliate him in public. Despite succeeding, the two feel guilty over hurting his feelings and continue pretending to be Clive's dad in hopes of bettering his life, something they quickly grow to enjoy doing. However, things come to a head when Clive becomes more interested in meeting his father in person at his birthday party. John and Ted hire a mall cop and aspiring actor to pose as Clive's dad, but the ruse is quickly discovered. Although angry, Clive comes to realize that their actions truly did help him out, and they all enjoy Clive’s birthday together. Meanwhile, Matty is hesitant to receive a colonoscopy due to a painful secret from his Vietnam days. However, he quickly realizes that having Blaire around makes him more comfortable. After the colonoscopy, Blaire pressures Matty to confess his secret, and he reveals to the family he was forced to masturbate a dog in Vietnam.
3	"Ejectile Dysfunction"	Seth MacFarlane	Dana Gould	January 11, 2024 (2024-01-11)
John wishes to watch his first porno, but is too young to rent one. Ted is also barred from this since he's only been alive for eight years. Using fake IDs, the two rent several porno videos to watch at home while Susan and Matty are out on a date, but one of the VHS tapes gets stuck in the player. John and Ted sneak into the school building to swap out the AV room's VCR with their own, knowing it's an identical model, but are too late to stop Susan, who has returned home, from discovering the porn tape. Already upset at Matty for his dismissive attitude throughout their date, she assumes the porn is his and believes that he no longer finds her exciting, even going to confess to a priest. Blaire reassures her that this is not true and lies about the VHS being hers, much to the relief of John and Ted, who have run away from home in shame.
4	"Subways, Bicycles and Automobiles"	Seth MacFarlane	Jon Pollack	January 11, 2024 (2024-01-11)
As payback for all the suffering she is forced to endure from him, Blaire forces Ted to be her designated driver on Halloween night, which gets in the way of his and John's plans to throw eggs at trick-or-treaters. Ted ends up getting drunk at the party and crashes Blaire's car, with their quest home only being prolonged as they suffer multiple, progressively weirder, setbacks. Meanwhile, John is bored at home waiting for Ted, who promised to be home by 9:00. Susan attempts to remedy this by calling over her friend's eccentric, thirty-eight-year-old son to keep him company. John is unamused by this, but does learn a valuable lesson in seizing every moment of his life. At the end of the episode, John is shocked when Susan's friend's real son arrives.
5	"Desperately Seeking Susan"	Seth MacFarlane	Seth MacFarlane	January 11, 2024 (2024-01-11)
Blaire believes that Matty and Susan's marriage is unhealthy, given the latter's propensity to let everyone walk all over her, and insists that they undergo marriage counseling. After Matty walks out on a professional counselor, Ted is asked to help instead. While the couple opens up, Susan reveals that she almost became a teacher before settling down with Matty, something Blaire implores her to give another shot. After John and Ted's teacher, Mr. George, is fired for yelling at his genitals in the faculty lounge, Susan is hired to fill in for him. Despite a mostly successful first day, she ultimately decides to remain a housewife, as she is plenty satisfied with what she already has.
6	"Loud Night"	Seth MacFarlane	Julius Sharpe	January 11, 2024 (2024-01-11)
As Christmas approaches, Blaire's friend, Sarah, decides to stay with the Bennetts due to a canceled flight. Matty draws the family's ire after choosing to watch the football game over Susan's choir solo at church, as well as insulting John's masculinity and making insensitive remarks about Sarah. Feeling blown off, he makes a wish on a shooting star much like John did in the past, granting sentience to his childhood toy truck, Dennis, who is even more conservative than he is. Both of their beliefs are challenged when Blaire comes out as sexually fluid and reveals that she and Sarah are a couple. The two almost leave before Matty decides to put his family's happiness first and admits that his beliefs were brought on by his upbringing. Dennis admits that he's gay as well and was projecting this whole time. After everyone reconciles, he drives away to pursue his new life.
7	"He's Gotta Have It"	Seth MacFarlane	Paul Corrigan & Brad Walsh	January 11, 2024 (2024-01-11)
Following the introduction of Sex Ed in his class, John realizes that he may be the only remaining virgin in the student body. He and Ted try to prepare him for sex above all else, and soon enough, John forms a connection with his classmate, Bethany. However, Ted insists that she won't want to sleep with him if she thinks he's inexperienced, so the two lie about him being a ladies' man with a high body count. Right before John and Bethany can attend the Junior Prom, Bethany decides to break up, not wanting to just be a notch on his belt. After getting arrested and then blowing up at Ted, John goes to the prom separately from him and reveals his secret to the student body, winning Bethany back. The two prepare to have sex at her place, but are interrupted by the news of O. J. Simpson fleeing the cops, news that upsets Bethany and leaves John frustrated, due to now being denied sex. The episode ends with John and Ted coming up with the "Thunder Buddies" song from the first Ted film.[3]

Production

It was announced in June 2021 that Peacock had given a straight-to-series order for a prequel series to the 2012 film. MacFarlane originally asked Mark Wahlberg to reprise his role as John, but due to being too occupied on other projects, the show became a prequel to the film series.^[4] In addition to serving as executive producer for the series, Seth MacFarlane reprises his role as the titular character Ted. Due to the prequel nature of the series, film stars Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, and Amanda Seyfried do not reprise their roles.^[5] In April 2022, Scott Grimes, Max Burkholder, and Giorgia Whigham joined the cast.^[6] In May 2022, Alanna Ubach rounded out the cast of the series.^[7]

MacFarlane stated that he was offered a chance to make a Ted television series by Universal, following the success of the films, and agreed to do it so long as the CGI on Ted was not "nickel-and-dimed." He ultimately decided on a prequel as opposed to a continuation from where Ted 2 left off, citing the greater story potential and Wahlberg's busy schedule.^[8] MacFarlane also noted the appeal of doing a streaming show in which the main character is CGI, something he had not really seen before.^[9] According to Burkholder, each of the main cast members had to walk around with a life-sized replica of Ted for three months to prepare for their roles before filming.^[10]

Filming began in August 2022 at the Universal Studios Lot.^[11][12] The show was produced with ViewScreen, a new program developed at Fuzzy Door Productions that allowed special effects to be viewed in real-time while filming instead of waiting to add them in post.^[13] The series consists of seven episodes. In November 2022, Seth MacFarlane confirmed that filming had wrapped.^[14]

In May 2024, the series was renewed for a second season.^[15] In August 2024, it was reported by Puck that the second season was nearly cancelled due to high production costs around $8 million per episode, with Universal opting to continue the franchise with an animated series in addition.^[16] In January 2025, MacFarlane confirmed that the filming for the second season had wrapped.^[17]

Release

The show's premiere took place on January 10, 2024, at the AMC Cinema at The Grove in Los Angeles.^[18]

All seven episodes of Ted were released on January 11, 2024.^[19] Within the first three days after its premiere, the series became the most-watched original title on Peacock.^[20]

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 73% of 41 critics' reviews are positive for the series, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "The silly old bear isn't quite up to new tricks with this foul-mouthed sitcom, but fans of Seth MacFarlane's caustic comedy will get plenty of kick out of Ted's latest antics."^[21] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 51 out of 100 based on 18 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[22]

Nick Schager of The Daily Beast gave the season a positive review, praising its humor and handling of political themes, even stating that the series "earns quite a few more chuckles than its big-screen counterparts."^[23] Chris Vognar of Rolling Stone was similarly optimistic, describing the show as "silly" and "juvenile" but full of laughs nonetheless.^[24] Neal Justin of Star Tribune described Ted as "actually kind of sweet––and noble", praising its comedy and heart.^[25] C.S. Hasty of The Oklahoman gave the series high praise, describing the show as lighthearted romp through the 1990s.^[26]

Variety's Alison Herman was far more critical, describing the franchise as "not the kind of story that requires expansion" and criticizing the show's similarity to the movies and lack of identity. She also criticized the series' 40-minute runtime and low episode count, describing seven episodes as "when an actual network sitcom would just be getting started."^[27] Angie Han of The Hollywood Reporter gave the show a mixed review, praising the casting of Ubach and the chemistry between MacFarlane and Burkholder, but criticized the episodes' length and pacing. She stated that "for every element that clicks, there are a half dozen more that don't" and suggested that Seth MacFarlane might be getting in his own way.^[28] Anita Singh of The Daily Telegraph awarded the series one star out of five, writing "MacFarlane's sweary Paddington has one joke… and it isn't big, it isn't clever and it's certainly not funny."^[29]