To no surprise, ABC’s Better Off Ted has been cancelled after two seasons on the air. Though it was a hit with critics and a devout group of fans, it just never found a mass audience.
Better Off Ted follows Ted Crisp (Jay Harrington) and his fellow employees at Veridian Dynamics, a strange and heartless technology company. The rest of the cast includes Andrea Anders, Jonathan Slavin, Malcolm Barrett, and Portia de Rossi.
Last May, ABC decided to show some faith in the freshman sitcom and renewed Better Off Ted for a second season. At that time, the ratings weren’t great and they got even worse after the renewal announcement.
When the network began airing the remainder of season one during the summer months, they averaged a terrible 0.74 in the 18-49 demographic and 2.09 million viewers.
For season two, Ted debuted with a 1.5 rating in the demo and 3.82 million viewers. As bad as those numbers sound, they got even worse.
Paired with Scrubs, ABC decided to burn off the remaining episodes of Ted in January. Despite campaigning from some loyal fans, viewership hit a new low for the season — a 0.8 rating and 2.17 million viewers.
The writing’s been on the wall for a long time and realistically, based on the numbers, the TV show shouldn’t have been renewed for a second season. Many in the cast have taken other jobs and the series has now been cancelled by ABC.
What do you think? Many really loved this show but it never attracted a big audience. Why?
Image courtesy ABC.
We discovered it AFTER it was off the air. It wasn’t advertised enough, if at all. What time was it on, anyway? We bought both seasons on DVD after we watched one episode! Bring it back and advertise it! And don’t put it on at the same time as Bachelor/Bachelorette, Master Chef/Jr., DWTS or AGT.
I loved this show! One of the funniest I’ve ever seen. I wish they would keep going with it! All the actors are so good & the story lines so perfect. Some great ideas for office humor. I don’t get why it was cancelled, really. Somebody needs to bring it or something similar back, but I’m thinking, Who could top it?!
BETTER OFF TED!!! Brilliantly , masterminded writing , cast is great and makes me pee myself !!!
I think they stopped it because those who didn’t like it didn’t understand it !!
The humor is high and fast !! The way it also plays out is different to to other shows and a few people enjoy the way it plays out !!!
WISH THERE WAS MORE!!!
We loved the show. It was funny. However, we are 50 something professionals and slightly nerdy. Really loved the two scientists. They were hilarious. Sorry that we didn’t watch it the first time around. But professionals rarely know what is on television….mostly shows on tv are not entertaining.
Very sad about the news NO SEASON 3 for Better Off Ted …
Writing was excellent … cast were phenomenal… ABC is out of their minds as evidenced by all around poor ratings …
only good show they have is Grey’s Anatomy…
Huff Off
I discovered this show on Netflix as well and it has become my all-time FAVORITE sitcom. I’ve watched both seasons so many times I pretty much have them memorized by now. From the writing and acting to the directing and soundtrack, this show is the complete package. And corporate America gives us so much fodder, I figured this show would last for at least 5 seasons! I agree with the others who’ve speculated that this show is too clever for a mass audience (which is SO SAD on so many levels!). Hey Netflix… maybe you would consider getting the original… Read more »
I agree 100 percent. This show is phenomenal, but if they never make another season, at least it ended while it was still good.
It worked with Arrested Development. Same type of intelligent writing for sure!