Ted | |
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Genre | Comedy |
Created by | Seth MacFarlane |
Directed by | Seth MacFarlane |
Starring |
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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 |
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Producer | John Jacobs |
Cinematography | Jeffrey C. Mygatt |
Editors |
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Running time | 33–51 minutes |
Production companies | |
Original release | |
Network | Peacock |
Release | January 11, 2024 – present |
Related | |
Ted Ted 2 |
Ted (stylized in all lowercase) 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 2012 feature film and its 2015 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 premiered on January 11, 2024. In May 2024, the series was renewed for a second season.
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.
Season | Episodes | Originally released | ||
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1 | 7 | January 11, 2024 |
No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | |
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1 | 1 | "Just Say Yes" | Seth MacFarlane | Seth MacFarlane | January 11, 2024 | |
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 | 2 | "My Two Dads" | Seth MacFarlane | Paul Corrigan & Brad Walsh | January 11, 2024 | |
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 discovered due to him only knowing about Pippin . Although angry, Clive comes to realize that his rival's 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. | ||||||
3 | 3 | "Ejectile Dysfunction" | Seth MacFarlane | Dana Gould | January 11, 2024 | |
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 pornos 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 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. 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 | 4 | "Subways, Bicycles and Automobiles" | Seth MacFarlane | Jon Pollack | January 11, 2024 | |
As payback for taking the fall for John and Ted in the previous episode, 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 | 5 | "Desperately Seeking Susan" | Seth MacFarlane | Seth MacFarlane | January 11, 2024 | |
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 | 6 | "Loud Night" | Seth MacFarlane | Julius Sharpe | January 11, 2024 | |
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 | 7 | "He's Gotta Have It" | Seth MacFarlane | Paul Corrigan & Brad Walsh | January 11, 2024 | |
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, much like how Susan and Matty were interrupted by the news of President Richard Nixon's resignation in 1974. The episode ends with John and Ted coming up with the "Thunder Buddies" song from the first Ted film. |
It was announced in June 2021 that Peacock had given a straight-to-series order for a prequel series to the 2012 film. 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 were not expected to reprise their roles. [3] In April 2022, Scott Grimes, Max Burkholder, and Giorgia Whigham joined the cast. [4] In May 2022, Alanna Ubach rounded out the cast of the series. [5]
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. [6] MacFarlane also noted the appeal of doing a streaming show in which the main character is CGI, something he had not really seen before. [7] 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. [8]
Filming began in August 2022 at the Universal Studios Lot. [9] [10] 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. [11] The series consists of seven episodes. In November 2022, Seth MacFarlane confirmed that filming had wrapped. [12]
In May 2024, the series was renewed for a second season. [13] 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. [14]
The show's premiere took place on January 10, 2024, at the AMC Cinema at The Grove in Los Angeles. [15]
All seven episodes of Ted were released on January 11, 2024. [16] Within the first three days after its premiere, the series became the most-watched original title on Peacock. [17]
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." [18] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 51 out of 100 based on 18 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [19]
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." [20] Chris Vognar of Rolling Stone was similarly optimistic, describing the show as "silly" and "juvenile" but full of laughs nonetheless. [21] Neal Justin of Star Tribune described Ted as "actually kind of sweet––and noble", praising its comedy and heart. [22]
Variety 's Allison 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." [23] Angie Han of The Hollywood Reporter gave the show a mixed review, praising the casting 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. [24] 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." [25]
Family Guy is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series premiered on January 31, 1999, following Super Bowl XXXIII, with the rest of the first season airing from April 11, 1999. The show centers around the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois, their children, Meg, Chris, and Stewie, and their anthropomorphic pet dog, Brian. Set in the fictional city of Quahog, Rhode Island, the show exhibits much of its humor in the form of metafictional cutaway gags that often lampoon American culture.
Seth Woodbury MacFarlane is an American actor, animator, writer, producer, director, comedian, and singer. He is best known as the creator and star of the television series Family Guy and The Orville (2017–2022), and co-creator of the television series American Dad! and The Cleveland Show (2009–2013). He also co-wrote, co-produced, directed, and starred in the films Ted (2012) and its sequel Ted 2 (2015), and A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014).
StewartGilligan "Stewie" Griffin is a fictional character from the animated television series Family Guy. He is voiced by the series creator Seth MacFarlane and first appeared on television, along with the rest of the Griffin family, in the episode "Death Has a Shadow" on January 31, 1999. Stewie was created and designed by MacFarlane himself, who was asked to pitch a pilot to the Fox Broadcasting Company, based on The Life of Larry and Larry & Steve, two shorts made by MacFarlane featuring a middle-aged man named Larry and an intellectual dog, Steve.
The first season of Family Guy aired on Fox from January 31 to May 16, 1999, and consisted of only seven episodes, making it the shortest season to date. The series follows the dysfunctional Griffin family—father Peter, mother Lois, daughter Meg, son Chris, son Stewie and their anthropomorphic dog Brian, all of whom reside in their hometown of Quahog, a fictional city in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The show features the voices of series creator Seth MacFarlane, Alex Borstein, Seth Green, and Lacey Chabert in the roles of the Griffin family. The executive producers for the first season were David Zuckerman and MacFarlane. It is also the only full season to feature Chabert, before she was replaced by Mila Kunis for the rest of the series' run, starting with the season two episode "Da Boom".
The Cleveland Show is an American adult animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane, Richard Appel, and Mike Henry for the Fox Broadcasting Company. A spin-off of Family Guy, and the second television series in the franchise, the series centers on Cleveland Brown, his new wife Donna Tubbs-Brown, and their children Cleveland Brown Jr., Roberta Tubbs, and Rallo Tubbs. Similar to Family Guy, it exhibited much of its humor in the form of cutaway gags that often lampoon American culture, though it used this form significantly less than Family Guy. The animation was produced by Fox Television Animation.
Alanna Ubach is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Serena McGuire in Legally Blonde (2001) & Legally Blonde 2 (2003), Isabel Villalobos in Meet the Fockers (2004), Maria in Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993), Noreen in The Brady Bunch Movie (1995), Jane in Clockwatchers (1997), Naomi in Waiting... (2005) and Still Waiting... (2009), Margarete in Being Us (2011), Jeanine Pirro in Bombshell (2019), and the voice of Mamá Imelda in Coco (2017), as well as Jo Hernandez-Frumpkis on Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce, Suze Howard on Euphoria, Amy Hobbs on See Dad Run, Tessa Flores on Guilty Party, Carol Atkinson on The Flight Attendant, and Susan Bennett on Ted.
Alexander Matthew Sulkin is an American screenwriter, producer, and voice actor known for his work on Family Guy and The Cleveland Show.
Laugh It Up, Fuzzball: The Family Guy Trilogy consists of three episodes of the American animated sitcom Family Guy. The episodes are a crossover and parody retelling of the Star Wars original trilogy, consisting of the films Star Wars (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and Return of the Jedi (1983). The first episode, "Blue Harvest" (2007), was released to commemorate the original film's 30th anniversary. Due to its success, it was followed by two direct-to-video sequels: "Something, Something, Something, Dark Side" (2010) and "It's a Trap!" (2011), which were subsequently aired on television in edited versions, omitting most profanity and sexual references. The trilogy was released on Blu-ray and DVD in the United States on December 21, 2010. Its title comes from a phrase Han Solo said to Chewbacca in The Empire Strikes Back as the latter was laughing at the former.
Ted is a 2012 American fantasy comedy film co-produced and directed by Seth MacFarlane and written by MacFarlane, Alec Sulkin, and Wellesley Wild. The film stars Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis, with Joel McHale and Giovanni Ribisi in supporting roles, and MacFarlane providing the voice and motion capture of the title character. The film tells the story of John Bennett, a Boston native whose childhood wish brings his teddy bear friend Ted to life. However, in adulthood, Ted and John's friendship begins to interfere with the progression of John's relationship with his girlfriend, Lori Collins.
Ted 2 is a 2015 American fantasy comedy film that serves as the sequel to Ted (2012) The film was directed by Seth MacFarlane who wrote the script alongside Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild. The film follows the talking teddy bear Ted as he fights for his civil rights in order to be recognized as a person and not as property. The film also stars Mark Wahlberg, Giovanni Ribisi, Jessica Barth, Bill Smitrovich, Patrick Warburton, and Patrick Stewart returning from the first film alongside Amanda Seyfried, John Slattery, and Morgan Freeman as new characters.
"Everybody Needs a Best Friend" is a song from the 2012 feature film Ted, with music composed by Walter Murphy and lyrics by Seth MacFarlane. Performed by Norah Jones during the film's opening credits, the song was used as the film's main theme song. It was released by Universal Republic Records on June 26, 2012.
Seth MacFarlane is an American actor, animator, writer, producer, director, comedian, and singer. MacFarlane began his career as an animator and writer for Hanna-Barbera for several television series, including Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken, Dexter's Laboratory, and created a sequel to his college thesis film Larry & Steve.
I Know That Voice is a documentary film about American voice acting. It premiered on November 6, 2013, at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre. The documentary was narrated by John DiMaggio, the voice of Bender on Futurama and Jake on Adventure Time, and stars DiMaggio and many other voice actors, including Billy West, Tara Strong, Tom Kenny, Grey DeLisle, June Foray, Rob Paulsen, Rachael MacFarlane, Mark Hamill, Ed Asner, Robin Atkin Downes, and Pamela Adlon.
Family Guy is an American animated comedy franchise created by Seth MacFarlane and originally developed for Fox. Consisting of two television series: Family Guy (1999–present) and The Cleveland Show (2009–2013), the franchise primarily focuses on the Griffin family and their friends and associates. The franchise also shares a fictional universe with American Dad! (2005–present), another series developed by MacFarlane with the same art style, to which it features numerous crossovers and shared characters.
The Orville is an American science fiction comedy-drama television series created by Seth MacFarlane, who also stars as the protagonist Ed Mercer, an officer in the Planetary Union's line of exploratory space vessels in the 25th century. It was inspired primarily by the original Star Trek and Next Generation eras, both of which it heavily parodies and pays homage to. The series also uses inspiration from the Star Wars franchise. It follows the crew of the starship USS Orville on their episodic adventures, as well as a serialized story which develops over the length of the series.
Giorgia Whigham is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Kat in the first season of 13 Reasons Why, Amy Bendix in the second season of The Punisher, Beth in the third season of Scream, and Blaire in Ted.
The third season of the comedy-drama science fiction television series The Orville, also known as The Orville: New Horizons, premiered on June 2, 2022. It streams on Hulu in the United States and on Disney+ internationally. Filming began in October 2019 but was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and production was ultimately completed in August 2021. This season streamed exclusively on Hulu, after its previous two seasons aired first on Fox, and is the only season to premiere since the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney in March 2019.
The Ted franchise consists of American comedy installments, based on characters created by Seth MacFarlane. The plot centers around the titular teddy bear that magically comes to life, after the child he was gifted to wishes for it on a shooting star. Together, the pair form a friendship that lasts into their adulthood. The films star Seth MacFarlane and Mark Wahlberg as the two best friends, Ted and John Bennett, respectively, while the television series stars MacFarlane with Max Burkholder as a younger John, alongside an ensemble cast of the wider Bennett family.
Ted (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack to the 2012 film Ted directed by Seth MacFarlane. The soundtrack featured musical score composed by Walter Murphy and songs from Queen, Hootie & The Blowfish, Rita Coolidge, Tiffany amongst others; an original song "Everybody Needs a Best Friend" written by MacFarlane and Murphy and performed by Norah Jones, which was later nominated for Academy Award for Best Original Song. The soundtrack was released through Universal Republic Records on June 26, 2012, three days ahead of the film's release.