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 agree with every one else. My wife and I found this show on Netflix and it is HILARIOUS. When it was actually on, it was never advertised and I never heard a single word about it. Of course, the same thing happened to me with Modern Family. No advertisement for it, until my wife’s parents told us to watch it. Seriously, ABC must have a really bad marketing department for these great shows to be so far under the radar.
I agree with all of the comments so far. I love this show. Just caught it on Netflix, along with all of the other shows that I find I like, Arrested Development, Coupling, and yes most of the ones I like now are from BBC, or the paystations. I agree with the person that said I might just give up TV all together and read more books. It really burns me. I work shift work and love my Netflix, its the only way I can catch shows like this, and I don’t think it gets counted in the ratings, or… Read more »
My hubby and I found this show via netflix and love it. we were so sad to find that there are only two seasons to watch! I have recommended it to most of my friends, and most of them have NEVER heard of it–we hadn’t either. I am SURE this show could do really well with a relaunch (do shows ever do that??) if it was just promoted well, and not competing with shows that draw a similar audience. I love smart comedies, and rarely laugh out loud—but I do during this show! Light hearted, subtle, witty, smart–well, I guess… Read more »
Loved this show. Found it on Netflix. Cannot believe it didn’t make it with all the other crud that is on TV!
We are usually up to date with latest shows on our paid channels, astro company. but i hv never heard of this show until i imdb’ed portia de rossi. and i really enjoy this show, like i do the big bang theory. i have to agree with the marketing effort they did, if ever any, they should ‘discontinue’ the marketing team instead of the whole show itself. and yes, 2 and a half men is the worst sitcom ever produced. every charlie sheen’s lines are backed up with ‘recorded’ audience laughter and it sounds so damn fake because, (given the… Read more »
I am still reeling from the cancelation of Happy Town, old news I know…but the disappointment is still with me…who the crap was the Happy Man??? It sux that I will never know..now I find out Cold Case and Raising the Bar aren’t coming back either…I mean wow, if I hadn’t of accidentally found this website I wouldn’t even know…what’s up with that? I mean, real people actually watch these shows, we get immersed in characters and story lines, we adapt our lives to fit these shows into our schedules, feel remorse at the end of each season…count the weeks… Read more »
Clever show, good writing and funny characters. Similar to other fantastic shows that got canned like Arrested Development, Ted requires some level of intelligence to get the hillarous story lines and humor. Conversely, the “Reality TV” fad that we are currently in requires no thought or intelligence whatsoever and this seems to be what people are into. You can get all of the Ted episodes on Netflix and watch it on a Roku box which I am currently doing!
I didn’t know this show existed until only recently!! It’s too bad they didn’t do anymore marketing, the cast was great, the show was great, the jokes were great. I don’t know what happened. Perhaps they could sell it to some other network who takes it a bit more viral?
I loved the show. It’s one of the only ones on television that’s ever been able to get me to laugh out loud.
This show is a great show about how bizarre work could really be with no morals or restraints I didn’t see it until a friend told me about it the advertizement wasn’t there. However neither was the big bang theory advertized correctly in the beginning and now it is one of the biggest sit coms I say give ” Better off Ted” another chance and sell it this time.
It was probably received badly because any humour requiring any amount of subtlety is immediately disregarded by the American public, usually because it lacks a ‘canned laughter’ track and they simply do not know what is meant to be found funny nor when to laugh. I point the finger at awful, awful, ‘successful’ comedies such as “2 and a half men” and “My Wife and Kids”. Hell even “Frasier” considered by many Americans to be an ‘intellectual’ comedy yet they still require cues in order to find the appropriate parts amusing. The funniest thing ever to come out of an… Read more »
Its just got to the UK, my god i thought the yanks had finally produced a good comedy but alas it seems they either can’t or wont sell good comedy. so long and thanks for the laughs.
I think it was poor advertisement. I didn’t even know this show existed until I found it on netflix. Good show, very funny, I wish it were coming back
This is one of the best written and funniest shows I have ever seen. I can’t believe it is cancelled. I think they should have done better marketing. I have never heared of it before I saw it on netflix. It really should come back on and with some marketing I think it will sky rocket. Funny, well written, sexy, what can you ask for more?
Truly a great show. Unlike movies/games, tv critics don’t get a large audience following their suggestions. In this case, it’s sad. Better off Ted was a really well written, hilarious show that did so many things right. I will really miss the ball-busting boss, funniest sit-com character I’ve seen in a LONG time. Maybe ever?