My overall rating of "Better off Ted"'s Season 1: 4/10.
In this episode we get what I'd consider some of the most true-to-form character writing. We observe Ted's legitimate managerial skill, competitiveness and protectiveness over Rose; Veronica's questionable and self-centred morality, intelligence and imperiousness; Lem&Phil's whimsical yet timid nature; only Linda is somewhat off her usual character for most of it, for plot-related reasons. The characters' interactions are brilliant - I especially liked that mix of genuine camaraderie and competitiveness between Ted and Veronica. There were a few laugh-out-loud moments, such as Phil's reaction to Lem's moral puzzle - the whole dialogue being very funny. Only a couple of scenes/lines that didn't quite land for me, all having to do with Linda, but that's no big deal.
Now, to bring up a broader point, the general's (comedic) complaints about the changing culture (shows you how little the overall slogans of the US cultural debate changed in these 12 years) led me to reflect a little bit on how we would expect the show to be different, were it made in the modern day. And at a risk of needlessly wading into that culture war, I have a feeling that the writers of a modern (well, slightly more modern) remake of "Better off Ted" would probably make the protagonist less competent, stupider and more whimsical, bringing him closer to the classic archetype of sitcom dad like Homer Simpson, and would have to make Veronica (and especially Linda!) more sympathetic, moral etc, to be able to claim some feminist cred. Portraying a white male main lead as a decent, caring and competent person, especially in a comedy, almost seems a little bit dated... But perhaps it's just a loud minority of works hiding the forest behind their trunks, so to speak.
In this episode we get what I'd consider some of the most true-to-form character writing. We observe Ted's legitimate managerial skill, competitiveness and protectiveness over Rose; Veronica's questionable and self-centred morality, intelligence and imperiousness; Lem&Phil's whimsical yet timid nature; only Linda is somewhat off her usual character for most of it, for plot-related reasons. The characters' interactions are brilliant - I especially liked that mix of genuine camaraderie and competitiveness between Ted and Veronica. There were a few laugh-out-loud moments, such as Phil's reaction to Lem's moral puzzle - the whole dialogue being very funny. Only a couple of scenes/lines that didn't quite land for me, all having to do with Linda, but that's no big deal.
Now, to bring up a broader point, the general's (comedic) complaints about the changing culture (shows you how little the overall slogans of the US cultural debate changed in these 12 years) led me to reflect a little bit on how we would expect the show to be different, were it made in the modern day. And at a risk of needlessly wading into that culture war, I have a feeling that the writers of a modern (well, slightly more modern) remake of "Better off Ted" would probably make the protagonist less competent, stupider and more whimsical, bringing him closer to the classic archetype of sitcom dad like Homer Simpson, and would have to make Veronica (and especially Linda!) more sympathetic, moral etc, to be able to claim some feminist cred. Portraying a white male main lead as a decent, caring and competent person, especially in a comedy, almost seems a little bit dated... But perhaps it's just a loud minority of works hiding the forest behind their trunks, so to speak.
