Better Off Ted

Since the pilot, I've been faithfully watching Better Off Ted in hopes that something will finally click. Why isn't it clicking? Jay Harrington's Ted is likable, sexy, funny; Portia de Rossi does a perfect Veronica, deadpanned, dry, witty; the Tweedledum, Tweedledee scientists, Lem and Phil, get cuter and cuter; the stories are entertaining. And who doesn't love a show that skewers big business? So what's off?

I think there's something wrong with the way the actors are interacting. I'm not sure if they're not getting the right direction, or maybe they all hate each other, or the studio where they tape has some bad feng shui going on. I've seen better interaction in a cartoon — and there is something like a cartoon about this show, not just in the premise, but in the acting, like each actor taped his part on a different day and some guy in the editing room put all the pieces together.

It is an odd show, with an odd sense of humor (I like that). I was surprised it showed up on ABC — you'd really expect a show like this to be on cable. In a vague way, it's like The Middleman, and, now that I make that connection, has the same problems, although the actors on Ted are much better.

If this show gets a second season, I hope the producers get rid of Linda. Andrea Anders has NO chemistry with Jay Harrington, and her Linda is not likable or funny, even though all her lines scream "This character is likable and funny!"

The Middleman

Entertainment Weekly recommended that I watch it, so I did. Boy, was it a painful start. Stilted dialogue, blind acting. It sort of had the air of "Gee, I wonder if anyone will really buy this pilot." But slowly, things did pick up and get better. The setup or the plot doesn't really matter. The show is based on the comics of Javier Grillo-Marxuach and it's a kind of Men in Black must-stop-the-weird-stuff-and-protect-humanity action show. According to the Wiki article, the comic book series was intended to be a television series but got hijacked into a comic book series and is now a television series. On ABC Family. Makes sense to me. From the Wiki article I get the idea that Grillo-Marxuach wanted to cram in as much stuff as he could from every TV show and movie he ever liked. Okay, that's fun, until you trip on the zillionth cultural reference and you wonder, hey, where's the show? Is there a show?

What they did right was in the casting. Natalie Morales as Wendy Watson and Matt Keeslar as The Middleman are fun to watch and even have a bit of chemistry together. And boy, can Natalie deliver rapid-fire dialogue. But what's with the dialogue? You've got the rapid-fire delivery of a 30s screwball comedy with the inane content of a 60s adventure series like Batman. But what you don't have is the sophistication and wit of the 30s screwball comedy nor the languid, sultry rhythms of the 60s shows like The Avengers so it's like taking a bite out of a blueberry-arugula muffin.

The Middleman can get a lot worse or a lot better. I hope it gets a lot better. But it needs something more, something unique that has the potential to become a cultural reference of its own. Otherwise it's just a visual card catalog.

I think you can still watch the pilot at the ABC Family website.