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.
It made me angry when I found out that Better Off Ted was canceled! It’s not often that a sitcom comes along anymore, let alone one with genuine laughs! Instead people would rather watch some horribly written, obviously staged, “reality” shows. If you look at the shows that have been canceled before their time you will see that they were all the ones of quality… yet we’re in what? — season 412 of American Idol and Dancing with the who cares? I’m almost tired of “good television” coming out … because it’s always taken away.
This was my favorite show in recent years, since season two of The Office. I am sad there will only be a small pool of reruns for me to stream from Netflix!
We watched every episode of this series, and there were a couple of times that we were recording it as we watched it! We loved everything about the show. Jay Harrington was sly, wry and intelligent and he and Andrea Anders had tremendous chemistry. Then again, so did Jay and the wonderful Portia de Rossi. And speaking of Portia de Rossi – is she fabulous or what?! What a stunning comedic talent. And if you want to talk chemistry… Jonathan Slavin and Malcolm Barrett?! I mean Come ON! We love those guys! They’re wonderful. The entire cast was wonderful, even… Read more »
I never even knew the show was on – never mind cancelled. I caught up with it via Netflix and now I’m hooked! Fie on you silly TV exec programmers!! This (unlike Nurse Jackie which is billed as a COMEDY–whose sick little mind categorized THAT show) wonderful, fresh humor was such a brilliant break in the stale script routine of most shows pitched in the network lineup. Silly, silly people–who told you that you could pick our comedy for us? Let us drones think for ourselves!!!
Man, I just started watching this show and I love it. I never heard of it till I got Netflix! This is one of the best show since scrubs… I will definatly miss better off Ted!!!!!!
This might be down to torrenting perhaps. It makes you wonder if popular shows that hit the age demographic of those terrible illegal down-loaders, might impact on perceived ratings. I will miss better off Ted.
Mr Internet i would have to refer you to my earlier post, where i really try to make it clear that US is not the only country with Color TV’s!!! the fact that i download my series doesnt change anything on the stats in US since in Denmark the TV stations don’t by rights to a show before at least the first season is finished and aired. Therefore if i didnt have the possibility of torrenting then i would be forced to see Friends, two and a half men and all of the CSI (insert city here :D) whitout knowing… Read more »
I can’t believe Better off Ted was cancelled and that ridiculous FOX show The Office is still on! I definitely can’t believe it failed when paired with Scrubs! The timing of the show was horrible but the show was insanely hilarious. I can’t stand the two shows named above, they are NOT funny. I’m still laughing about the “Deal with it!” episode. ABC, get your scheduling people to find a better timeslot and do better advertising. My DVR is still set to record and I’d really like to see it on there. Come on, people, make it happen!
So, it’s July 2010 and I had never seen this show. I ran across it on HUKU for 5 episodes, then found season one on Netflix. It was funny and worth watching, but when was it ever on?I am not one to set in front of the TV every night searching for someting to occupy my time, but I don’t remember seeing it. Perhaps (as another post suggested) it was not in a stable time slot. I also never watched Scrubs except in re-runs, so maybe I was just out of the loop. The show was funny and innovative in… Read more »
Why did they have to cancel the show? It was hilarious!
The show was cancelled because we have too many IDIOTS in this country who wouldn’t recognize well written humor if it jumped up and slapped them in the face. The average American would rather watch American Idol or The Bachelor or some other idiotic mindless show. What a sorry state of affairs. kudos to the creators and actors who brought this extremely talented show to life. you will be sorely missed 🙁
I am very sad that I will not be able to see a new episode of this show. It was by far my favorite comedy.
It never seemed to be consistent with the time slot. The DVR is the only reason we were able to watch this amazing show. It was the best sitcom on TV!
Best show on TV – right up there with Modern Family! I will sorely miss Better Off Ted!! 🙁
This show was hilarious, witty, and sharp with a true comic edge. It poked fun at corporate America and hence, the axe was swung. Unforgivable. America needs more shows like this.
My congrats to the writers, actors, and to ABC production. They should’ve won an Emmy.
I’m so upset that this show has been canceled!! I watched it on ABC when I could but it was always on at a bad time for me. I watched the episodes I missed through Netflix. This is my favorite TV show. Bring it back!!