Ted Review | Seth MacFarlane’s Prequel Series to the Hit Films Is Bulky But Often Brilliant

Summary

• MacFarlane’s Ted prequel series on Peacock is snarky and hilarious, just what viewers loved about the original films.
• The new series explores the dysfunctional family dynamics and bromance origins, with a grounded and genius performance from Max Burkholder.
• Despite occasional runtime issues, Ted delivers the light, crass humor viewers expect from MacFarlane, making it a must-watch for fans of his work.

Peacock’s R-rated Ted prequel series is stuffed with snark and barbs, and all the hilarity you’d expect from its creator Seth MacFarlane. Between the subversive humor, dysfunctional family dynamics, and throwback to the early 1990s, the creator of Family Guy, American Dad, and The Orville wants to make a dent with the prequel series based on his popular Ted films.

Overall, MacFarlane hits his mark in a refreshing, just-what-we-needed-at-the-moment comedy, which, despite its lengthy episodic runtime, offers viewers everything they loved about the Ted films. Mark Wahlberg starred as John in the films, which captured the hilarity and absurdity of one man’s bromance with his bestie — the cute, stuffed Teddy bear that mysteriously came to life years earlier after a childhood wish. Things shift in this prequel series.

Max Burkholder grabs the baton and runs with it with a surprisingly grounded genius. MacFarlane is back, as showrunner and executive producer, but tweaks the Ted-verse a bit. Scott Grimes and Alanna Ubach have been cast as John’s parents, Matty and Susan, and Giorgia Whigham seems to be the only voice of reason as Cousin Blaire. It works. It’s everything you’d want it to be from Seth MacFarlane, a kind of live-action amalgam of American Dad and Family Guy with humorous winks to the 1990s. But does it have staying power?

Bromance 2.0, Ted Style

Ted

Release Date January 11, 2024

Creator Seth MacFarlane

Seasons 1

Looking back, the original Ted film reportedly grossed nearly a half-billion dollars at the box office. Ted 2 didn’t hit that peak in 2015. The world began to unravel in 2016, but audiences eventually embraced MacFarlane’s next endeavor, The Orville, a humorous sci-fi outing that found a great fan base. Future iterations of Ted would have to wait.

This prequel series feels like walking into the living room of a relative you know and love. You can pick up right where we left off, as it were, although in this case, we’re heading back to school in suburban Massachusetts. Ted’s initial celebrity has waned. He used to be all over the news — teddy bear coming to life and all that. Now, he’s just an annoyance to the Bennett family members. Mostly Cousin Blaire, who suggests that Ted goes to school with teenage John. The result delivers some good laughs early on, particularly one story arc involving a bully that becomes downright ingenious. Ted was never a good influence on John in the films, and now get to see where it all began.

Related: Every Seth MacFarlane Movie and TV Show, Ranked

On the homefront, Scott Grimes and Alanna Ubach channel the heart and soul of Archie and Edith Bunker from All in the Family. But they put their own creative spin on what certainly will become one of the most memorable couples to hit the screen this year. Grimes’s Matt is tightly wound and blames everything on the Clintons. Ubach’s Susan is loving, kind, and naïve.

One funny bit involves Ted morphing into a couples counselor. He rattles off a slew of offensive questions. When he asks: “What about anal?” Susan doesn’t blink. She informs him that they do like to keep the bedroom tidy. It’s MacFarlane at his best. Makes you wonder how this entire endeavor would have landed if MacFarlane followed through with his original plan to make Ted an animated series.

A Whole New Ted-Verse, Sort Of

As the series moves through its seven episodes, MacFarlane delivers a nice mix of ideas and themes. A Halloween episode stands out in that it’s one of the rare episodes where John and Ted are mostly apart from each other. A story about Matty’s old toy truck should deliver some great laughs and Claire’s responses to the absurdity she contends with offers a sense of groundedness to the series.

Additionally, Whigham delivers a fine turn here as Claire, while Grimes and Ubach simply shine. It’s as if they were born to play these roles. Teen sex, LGBTQ+ declarations, pot smoking, and inter-family dynamics play out across the seven episodes. Comments on the cultural woes that befell the early ’90s are delivered with a punch by Matty. It all weaves itself into a digestible comedy pie.

As it was in the films, the CGI here is seamless. The actors were talking to blank space during the shoot, responding to MacFarlane’s voice off-camera. But, you’d never know it, and that’s the point. Viewers will appreciate the antics and, at times, the acrobats we find that cute little Ted in.

Related: Family Guy: The 10 Most Rewatchable Episodes

The only hiccups are the runtime of each of the episodes. If you’re a major Ted fan, this may be a moot point. But there’s a sense that MacFarlane wanted to pack as much as he could into these seven episodes. At 50 minutes or more, the runtime occasionally weighs things down. This isn’t The Morning Show or Succession, where viewers needed time to dive deeper into the various story arcs. It’s Ted. It’s light. Crass. But light.

On that note, there’s a hint sometimes that these kinds of jokes have been expressed before — whether that be in the Ted films or MacFarlane’s Family Guy. Still, there aren’t that many comedic geniuses on the streaming landscape who see the world quite as sharply as MacFarlane does, so these footnotes may fall to the side. Bottom line: if your idea of fun is to sit back and know you’re going to be entertained by a foul-mouthed but adorable Teddy bear flopping around the dysfunctional family pool, then dive right in. Ted is, at times, brilliant and just the thing we’ve all been waiting for.

Ted is streaming on Peacock, check out the trailer below.

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