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.
I think it didn’t do as well because of maybe advertising or the time it was on. I watch ABC, but never saw the show until I got it through netflix. I saw a whole season in 3days. Now that I am in love with the show, it is gone and I am in shock and I am mad that a fantastic show like Better Off Ted is cancelled when crap shows continue to air. Is Kate plus 8 going to air instead of something really interesting? What the heck. How does she continue to haunt the television when we… Read more »
Saw this show for the first time this weekend through “Netflix” of all mediums. Loved it and I would pay to download this show.
Maybe if it was on NBC or Showtime it would have survived….can we rally somehow to get this show on a better network….where there is better promotion and more appreciative audience
It happened to Arrested Development…after AD this was the only other show which was way above the sitcoms passed as “Comedy”
It doesn’t get any better than Better Off Ted. It’s exactly the refreshing yet eye opening comedy the world needs right now. And I would rarely ever say that the world ‘needed’ TV. I do believe that if promoted right this would have become popular. Perhaps the masses are entertained by mindless comedies, however everyone that I introduced to BOT LOVED it. For this kind of show it takes time to build an audience. It took Seinfeld 4 seasons to find their audience…this could have been a Seinfeld. I generally don’t take an interest in TV and certainly don’t Laugh… Read more »
I hate ABC. They’ve canceled all of the show I’ve been watching starting with Ugly Betty, Better Off Ted, Pushing Daisies, Eli Stone. This network is the worst.
they won’t get picked up because the actors have already taken other jobs. They would have destroyed all the sets by now as well, I am afraid we are out of luck. If ABC would have been more straightforward on the airing, perhaps it would have had a chance. Too bad, it was a cute show.
Better Off Ted was one of the smartest funniest shows on television. I am so disappointed. I hope another network picks it up.
Now that I’ve discovered “Better Off Ted” on Netflix, I find out it’s been cancelled? How come the good stuff never gets promoted and only lasts for a couple of seasons?
Me too. I found it on NetFlix and I’m in love with Ted and how can I find my fix now?
To a great extent, I can’t blame ABC too much for canceling the show with the numbers that bad. I *do* blame them for poor promotion and scheduling, but I have to wonder how much of a difference that would have made. I agree with Roy’s comments on the dismal state of the average viewing public. Jokes need to be obvious and well broadcast. Perhaps if Phil and Lem’s remarks were all followed by a snaredrum/cymbal “ba-dum!”. The show was simply filled with too much nuance for people with a steady diet of The Biggest Loser and According to Jim.… Read more »
Why didn’t this show garner a large audience? That’s a simple question to answer. I have not found ANYONE that doesn’t think this show is absolutely hilarious. But then, I don’t know ANYONE that still watches broadcast television because there are, quite simply, never any good shows any more. That leaves the network in a Catch-22. The ONLY way to bring viewers back is through good product, but most of us aren’t even sampling the product any more. This leaves only word-of-mouth or massive promotion on other (cable) networks. But there’s an idea they never tried, and could have easily… Read more »
For me this has reached the point to where I don’t even bother with TV anymore. I watch what I can online, for the minor few shows that still are on air. I think the only way to improve our television, is to boycott what is left of it. Better Off Ted was fantastic, and it is truly sad how such entertaining creative story telling is wasted for cheap senseless “reality” TV. To those that write and create this wonderful form of entertainment, if you ever do decide to go viral I will with many others choose to support you.
Reading the prior comments of Matas and others. I really think there is a section of the viewing audience that is just over looked. Last season I regularly watched four great shows every week, Better off Ted, Life, Reaper & House. Now three out of four are gone. We have watched House from the start. It had poor ratings for a while, I’m glad the network gave it a chance, unlike the rest.
I agree with Roy. Wit and intelligence are being surpassed by pleasing the masses with ‘reality TV’. At the end of my day, I don’t need to see or hear someone else’s problems and issues. I like to be stimulated with laughter and creativity and the networks just don’t get that. I’ll miss Veronica and the scientists. This was wonderful writing.
I really dont understand why the networks just waste such a talent and refuse to air this show and many others. Are the Networks really that retarted that they cannot see the possibilities in the internet???? I would be glad to pay to download this and other shows. I understand the masses bring in the income from comersials for the networks, but how many people have made fortunes on simple webpage just by linking porn sites, hehe not saying that they should do that, but by letting these shows live online the networks would keep a lot of fans happy… Read more »
I wonder sometimes about the masses not being able to appreciate a comedy (or any show) that’s much above the lowest common denominator of entertainment. This one was too smart and witty, perhaps.
Of course, it was especially witty to those of us who’ve worked in a similar high-tech office environment. Maybe too many people did not resonate with that. Now if a show were set in a McDonald’s or Wal-Mart…it might succeed, sadly.
I’ll miss Ted.
Roy, you hit the nail right on it’s square and doughy yet firm little head. Joe 12-Pack wants Hee-Haw and female mud wrestling, while ABC lacks the good business sense to properly market its best programing
I truly agree. I unfortunately am currently living in “redneck heaven” and Joe 12 pack is alive and well and as clueless as ever. Needless to say, tv is going so far downhill it is not even a pleasure to watch anymore. The only reason I started watching network tv again was because of bot. What a sorry state that Americans can only appreciate the most crude and simple forms of humor.