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.
this show should have air in the time slot before “The Middle” and given more ad time. Would have been a big hit.
i really love this show!!! im a big fan of portia!!!
Agree with previous responses – this was one of the more intelligent and enjoyable shows on TV. Just like Arrested Development, which only lasted 3 seasons was just as a good of a show. Hopefully someone will realize the true genius of these shows & bring them back (sort of like Family Guy was brought back after being cancelled).
Seriously disappointing, half the crap that passes for entertainment these days…
Honestly, I blame ABC for this tragedy. They did very poor PR for this show and the time in between seasons/episodes was very spaced out. This was an excellent, intelligent comedy and I am so sad. It was great. Hello, running new episodes in summer months? If they wanted it to do well it needed to be better placed and in a better season. Also, they are attempting to pump out SO many new shows every year now! It is affecting production budgets including advertising. Personally I think they are half-assing way too much to pump out so many shows… Read more »
I never heard of the show until I stumbled across a season 2 episode by accident. Fell totally in love, what genius writing!! This seems to happen to all of the best, “outside the box” shows . . .
1. It should have been paired up with a show that was also really worth watching.
2. Lack of advertising. Some of the not so entertaining shows have ads running on just about every commercial break.
3. All the good shows seem to get the ax. I believe it is because they are not given equal hype compared to other shows, like reality shows, re-make shows under same names as in the 90’s, vampire shows, or super natural shows.
Sadly good bye Better Off Ted. What’s next, Modern Family?
I feel bad for Portia. First “Arrested Development” and now “Better Off Ted”! Tow great shows that should’ve never been canceled!
Sad to see such a great show end. Ted was amazing, but, like any show a network isn’t too keen on (for whatever reason) it was poorly advertised AND impossible to find in the schedule. Some weeks they aired 2 new episodes, sometimes they didn’t air it at all for 2 weeks and at least once they aired 2 new episdoes on the wrond day. Of course people aren’t going to watch, it was bounced around so much it was dead already. I am of the understanding that there are 2 or 3 episodes that never aired. Will they be… Read more »
Better off Ted is the funniest show ever! Portia is so fierce!
I have to agree with everyone who has made a post. ABC needs to look at how they are marketing these shows. Better Off Ted (and Pushing Daisies) were excellent choices for viewing. I am definetly going to stop watching ABC because it’s just not worth getting interested in show on this network only to have it pulled. Good Bye ABC.
I loved this show. I hope that we are able to see the final 2 eps in June. It should have been better promoted particularly in the IT/Geek community. It was so totally awesome. I know that no matter what, at the heart of it. I work for Veridian Dynamics.
ABC has again ruined one of the best shows on television because they didn’t publicize it better. They killed of Pushing Daisies and now Better Off Ted! I have introduced dozens of people to these shows and created many devoted fans… however I only found a couple people who had even heard of either show before I mentioned it to them! ABC, whoever is making your decisions is totally out of touch with what REAL people want to watch! You’re finding the most incredible shows but not advertising them correctly and then killing them off. I wish they had gone… Read more »
Amen.
What a loss, pairing this Great Show (Better off Ted), with Scrubs was a death blow.
If the swapped time slots with Modern Family. Ted would have lived and Ted Bundy would be dead, again….
BTW, the lack of advertising that would have been commensurate with the quality of the show is telling and may alone have hurt the ratings enough to cause cancellation. And, of course, such advertising decisions are indeed made intentionally.
I never knew about this show until it was on netflix – and now I find out its cancelled and I don’t know what to watch now! Perhaps they needed better advertising. Plus the title makes it seem like Ted is dead or something.