Better Off Ted Cancelled, No Season Three

[R.jsheedy]

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, 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?

http://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/be...-season-three/

[TVFactFan]

Not surprising since the show wasn't realistic and too cartoonish

[TV Knowledge Fan]

...it's just that "BETTER OFF TED" was too "offbeat" for a mass audience, the way "ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT" was (which, incidentally, comes from the same studio, 20th Century-Fox). People like reading Scott Adams' "Dilbert" comic strip every day, but that's aimed at a mass audience, and has "likeable" characters people can identify with [even the "pointy-headed boss"]. There was absolutely no one at "Veridian Dymamics" to empathize with or "root" for (and why does Ted Crisp continue to work at what's obviously an unpleasant and uncomfortable work atmosphere?). If it had been scheduled on a cable channel, perhaps, there might have been a third season, as cable channels tend to attract critics and "cult viewers" who often feel disenchanted from broadcast network offerings. As it stands, the series doesn't "fit" into any of ABC's current time periods, nor is it compatible with their "Comedy Wednesday" lineup. And, most important, ABC/Disney has no ownership in it; they prefer to favor their own "in-house" comedy shows {"COUGAR TOWN", "ROMANTICALLY CHALLENGED"} and give those a better chance to succeed over an "outside" studio's product, making money from syndicated/cable repeats and home video sales, should they succeed. The only studio "BETTER OFF TED" would have prospered from is Fox. Perhaps one day, there'll be more people watching the DVD's and scattered repeats of the series on various Fox outlets...as for now, "they tried".

[TVFactFan]

Originally Posted by TV Knowledge Fan

...it's just that "BETTER OFF TED" was too "offbeat" for a mass audience, the way "ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT" was (which, incidentally, comes from the same studio, 20th Century-Fox). People like reading Scott Adams' "Dilbert" comic strip every day, but that's aimed at a mass audience, and has "likeable" characters people can identify with [even the "pointy-headed boss"]. There was absolutely no one at "Veridian Dymamics" to empathize with or "root" for (and why does Ted Crisp continue to work at what's obviously an unpleasant and uncomfortable work atmosphere?). If it had been scheduled on a cable channel, perhaps, there might have been a third season, as cable channels tend to attract critics and "cult viewers" who often feel disenchanted from broadcast network offerings. As it stands, the series doesn't "fit" into any of ABC's current time periods, nor is it compatible with their "Comedy Wednesday" lineup. And, most important, ABC/Disney has no ownership in it; they prefer to favor their own "in-house" comedy shows {"COUGAR TOWN", "ROMANTICALLY CHALLENGED"} and give those a better chance to succeed over an "outside" studio's product, making money from syndicated/cable repeats and home video sales, should they succeed. The only studio "BETTER OFF TED" would have prospered from is Fox. Perhaps one day, there'll be more people watching the DVD's and scattered repeats of the series on various Fox outlets...as for now, "they tried".

I honestly feel that this ABC's pathetic response to of "The Office"

[TMC]

Why Was Better Off Ted Canceled?

Better off Ted had unsustainable viewership numbers

While the critical reception and audience reaction to "Better off Ted" are overwhelmingly positive, Victor Fresco's assessment that the show didn't have enough viewers to keep it on the air is accurate. After the show was renewed for a second season, ABC kept airing Season 1 episodes during the summer break, but those episodes averaged just a little more than two million viewers and an abysmal 0.74 rating among viewers ages 18-49.

The Season 2 premiere showed a promising improvement to a respectable 1.5 rating in the 18-49 demographic, just shy of four million viewers per episode. Those numbers, however, dropped back to Season 1 levels, and the fate of "Better off Ted" was sealed.

Yair Rosenberg of The Atlantic pointed out that "Better Off Ted" may have been too far ahead of its time to be appreciated. Rosenberg outlined how the show predicted how facial recognition technology would fail to properly register the faces of people of color and how corporations have come to cut more ethical corners in the name of innovation and profit. Victor Fresco, who also created "Santa Clarita Diet," said this large-scale corporate disconnect is what inspired him to create "Better off Ted."

"At the time," Fresco said, "companies would talk about 'team members' and how 'we're all family,' but they would slit your throat and leave you by the side of the road without health care if they could save 20 bucks."