Back on the complimentary side, John and Ted’s escapades are made even more entertaining by the surprising spins put on familiar sitcom tropes. For example, one episode finds the duo trying to get revenge on a school bully named Clive (played by “Never Have I Ever” supporting star Jack Seavor McDonald). After John and Ted learn that Clive’s father abandoned him as a child, they pretend to be his father on the phone, making him think that he wants to reconnect. Predictably, they end up feeling bad about taking this prank too far when they leave him abandoned in a restaurant. But rather than ending the storyline with that lesson learned, John and Ted take it upon themselves to build Clive back up, and the two begin acting like adoptive fathers from afar, trying to help Clive achieve more in school and feel better about himself. Another episode uses John and Ted’s attempts to rent an adult movie as a way of opening up a can of worms about the sex lives of John’s parents, resulting in Alana Ubach giving one of the funniest performances with a banana that I’ve ever seen.
Of course, the strange twists and turns don’t always work. In the Christmas episode, which is the penultimate episode of the season, amidst a major family argument, John’s father ends up wishing another inanimate toy to life, and it starts to feel just a little too absurd. The episode still ends up working for the most part, largely thanks to the heartfelt subject matter that comes from Blaire’s side of the story, but that’s where “Ted” almost goes off the rails. If there’s one overarching problem the series has, it’s that the episodes, ranging anywhere between 35-40 minutes, could probably be trimmed down a bit to a tighter edit. But the rapid-fire comedic pacing still has very few lulls.
Overall, “Ted” is a hilarious expansion of Seth MacFarlane’s ribald comedy franchise. In fact, even though the bar has never been set consistently high in this department, “Ted” just might be one of the best TV adaptations of a movie that’s ever been done. From the surprisingly slick visual effects bringing Ted to life on a smaller budget to the seamless transition between Mark Wahlberg and Max Burkholder, Peacock’s “Ted” series works infinitely better than you might have anticipated. Personally, I’m hoping there’s more foolishness to come, but if not, this seven-episode run works perfectly well as a standalone series.
/Film Rating: 8 out of 10
All episodes of “Ted” are streaming now on Peacock.