Line #44 Series/BetterOffTed


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4	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_tv_better_off_dead.png]]
5	[[caption-width-right:350:Left to right: [[CloudCuckoolander Phil]], [[TheHeart Linda]], [[TheProtagonist Ted]], [[IceQueen Veronica]], and [[BlackAndNerdy Lem]].]]
6
7	->''Veridian Dynamics: Right and Wrong. It means something. We just don't know what.''
8	-->-- Veridian Dynamics commercial
9
10	''Better Off Ted'' was a quirky, cartoonish [[Creator/AmericanBroadcastingCompany ABC]] series about a man with a conscience who works for a mysterious corporation [[EvilInc without any signs of one]]. The series lasted from March, 2009 to January, 2010. A total of 26 episodes in two seasons.
11
12	Ted Crisp (Creator/JayHarrington) is the head of Research and Development for Veridian Dynamics, a company that manufactures anything and everything that could make them a profit (weaponizing pumpkins and cryogenically freezing employees is just the tip of the iceberg - no pun intended). His boss is Veronica Palmer (Creator/PortiaDeRossi), a terrifyingly go-getter executive always looking to cut costs and seem intimidating so that employees do not feel encouraged to talk to her. Although Ted and Veronica had a brief affair, neither seems to be holding a torch for the other in the first season, though in the second season their friendship deepens. On the other end of Verdian Dynamics' employee list is Linda Zwordling (Creator/AndreaAnders), a sweet, if off-beat, member of Ted's team who often provides the voice of humanity when the team gets carried away with science.
13
14	There is a definite attraction between Linda and Ted, which is hampered by his "one office affair" rule (his quota having been filled with Veronica), her returning boyfriend, and his fear of the effect his dating will have on his young daughter, Rose (Creator/IsabellaAcres). Ted uses Rose as a moral compass when he must decide how immoral the mandates he receives from Veridian are (as the series progresses Veronica and Linda also bond). Actually developing the cutting edge inventions is the crack scientific team of Phil and Lem (Jonathan Slavin and Malcolm Barrett), two hilariously left-brain geniuses rarely seen without each other who provide some of the best comedy in the series.
15
16	''Better Off Ted'' is a 30-minute WorkCom with a twist (besides the insane and hilarious inventions that are produced by Veridian Dynamics that occasionally turn the series into stealth sci-fi); Ted often uses the camera as a confessional, breaking the fourth wall and offering commentary on the strange events constantly unfolding around him. Unlike in ''Series/{{The Office\|US}}'', Ted is the only one who speaks to the camera and does it while going about his business (as opposed to ''The Office'' which takes the form of a documentary). Most (but not all) episodes also feature a faux commercial from Veridian Dynamics reflecting the theme of the episode. For example: "Man and Machines. Best Friends Forever ([[AIIsACrapshoot We Hope]])."
17
18	In May of 2010, ABC announced it was pulling the plug on the show. The final two episodes produced for ABC were never broadcast by the network, receiving their broadcast premiere months later in Australia.
19
20	----
21	!!This show provides examples of:
22
23	* AccidentalDeclarationOfLove: * In episode "Love Blurts". Veridian tries to play matchmaker for its employees, and has Ted matched with Danielle, a co-worker from another office -- they hit it off, even going to bed together but after the climax he says "I love you..." to her and then immediately corrects himself with "...Utah" and then cooks up a story that he in fact is from that state and is a Native-Aamerican, going so far as to create a fake indian language. Ultimately, he tells Danielle that he lied but that he did it in order to cover up the fact that he is lonely and needy.
24	* AbsentMindedProfessor: Phil and Lem. For example, they engage in a philosophical debate about hypothetical murderer babies instead of stopping a drugged co-worker from kidnapping an actual baby. A drugged co-worker... that they drugged. And were tasked with watching.
25	* AccidentalKidnapping:
26	** In "Win Some, Dose Some", Linda is inadvertently drugged and, in a misguided fit of appreciation, steals a baby and writes her name on it so she can claim it as her own.
27	** In another episode, Ted regales the demographic he's unpopular with with a tale of how, in his youth, he once accidentally kidnapped a random pig rather than another school's mascot.
28	* AcmeProducts: A small sampling of things made by Veridian Dynamics:
29	** exploding pumpkins that release genetically-modified powdery mildew as an antipersonnel weapon
30	** solar-powered ovens that leach poisons into food when exposed to ''sunlight''
31	** a killer cyborg that can't distinguish between "soldiers" and "children"
32	** weight loss toothpaste
33	** horribly uncomfortable office chairs
34	** the [[VertebrateWithExtraLimbs Octo-chicken]] (which lives in a web)
35	** fabric softener with a high chance of causing deafness
36	** unbreakable plates that light on fire when smacked against a hard surface
37	** macaroni and cheese that causes blindness and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking never gets hot]]
38	* ActionGirl: Linda appears in TheTag of "You Are the Boss Of Me" in full ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'' regalia, complete with sword.
39	%%* AcquiredSituationalNarcissism: Phil, "Trailblazer of the Year"
40	* AdBumpers: In every episode of the first season and some in the second, there is an ad for Veridian Dynamics before the first commercial break. The ads even exist in their universe as Linda mentions having seen one.
41	-->''"Veridian Dynamics: Don't Cross Us. Ever. Seriously. Just Don't."''
42	--->- "The Lawyer, The Lemur, and the Little Listener"
43	* AerithAndBob: Lem and Phil. Even moreso with their competition Ritchie and Fuzzle.
44	* AlternateAesopInterpretation: InUniverse where Ted insists that at the end of one episode the lesson is to never take the low road. Veronica feels that what they should really take away is that when they take the low road they should coordinate better.
45	* BiggerIsBetterInBed: Veronica implies this about Ted a few times.
46	-->'''Veronica:''' Wow, you should have a license for that thing.
47	* BioluminescenceIsCool: Phil and Lem, having hit a slump in their inventing skills,[[note]] successfully designing unbreakable dishware, except a plate weighs eight pounds and might possibly burst into flames when struck[[/note]] attempt to get back in Ted's good graces, pitching in with Linda's rooftop garden project by gengineering bioluminscent flowers ("We call them ''fire flowers.''"). Subverted about a second later when a glowing squirrel ("...fire squirrel.") runs past and is mentioned in the epilogue as having gone mad due to its constant glow.
48	* BitchSlap: When confronted by Ted, Veronica's boyfriend completely humiliates Ted using an obscure slap-based martial art that apparently works via DeathOfAThousandCuts.
49	* BunnyEarsLawyer: The entire science team is mentioned to be terribly awkward socially, but are still employed due to their incredible scientific skill.
50	* BlatantLies: Veronica frequently uses these to achieve her means. She once told an employee that she couldn't hear him because she was going through a tunnel. They were both standing next to each other in an office when she said this.
51	* CameBackWrong:
52	** Phil says the name of the trope verbatim, referencing Lem and his attempts to rebuild Chumley, a scrapped spill-technician robot.
53	** Also Phil himself, as after he's been cryonically frozen he for a time makes strange screaming noises at random times.
54	* ChickMagnet: Ted ends up attracting a lot of girls at the company, including Veronica and Linda.
55	* CloudCuckooLander:
56	** Phil and Lem are almost always in their own universe, but sometimes save the day.
57	** Veronica's surreal immersion in her work causes this as well [[spoiler: when talking about her father dying ("It's not in his nature to die!") and mish-mashing this with Dutch bashing]].
58	** Linda is a friendlier, more GenkiGirl type CloudCuckooLander.
59	* TheComicallySerious: Veronica, whose sense of humor best comes out when being snarky rather than actively attempting to make jokes.
60	* ConsummateLiar: Veronica is a good enough liar that, when Phil and Lem develop a [[LieDetector lie-detecting black box]], they need to recalibrate it specifically for her.
61	* CrazyWorkplace: Viridian Dynamics is a blatantly EvilInc that can invent ''anything'', and specializes in things that [[MadScientist make the world worse]]. Among its products are bombs, spy drones, and weaponized pumpkins (engineered to carry a fungus that feeds on human flesh). Much of the show's BlackComedy comes from this.
62	* CuttingTheKnot: Dr. Bhamba's method for deactivating the security cameras. He [[PlanningWithProps explains in detail]] how advanced their technical specs are... GilliganCut to him knocking the camera aside with a broom handle.
63	* DancePartyEnding: The series closes as Phil, Lem and Linda happily dance badly in the lab, while playing the game "Bowling at Nachos", which involves testing how much cheese is actually in the nacho cheese, and if somebody bowled over that percentage, they get hammered.
64	* DeadpanSnarker: Veronica is the queen of this, but Ted, Linda and even Rose get good shots in.
65	* DefrostingIceQueen: Veronica, while still quite chilly, has had a prior affair with the protagonist, and [[spoiler: broke the rules to get him his job back]] in "Goodbye, Mr. Chips". She defrosts further in season 2 as she increasingly treats Ted as a confidant, discussing the appeal of having a child in one episode, expressing how much she'd miss him if he spent more time with Veridian's CEO in another, and closing one episode by singing a duet of "I Got You Babe" with a reluctant Ted. She also bonds with both Rose and Linda as the series progresses, and even becomes a mentor to Linda, which is addressed in several subplots.
66	* TheDividual: Phil and Lem, syndividual variant. They are so conjoined that they are almost exclusively referred to as a unit, and when Veronica forces them to work apart while on a project with them, they do everything they can (both consciously and subconsciously) to stick together, from unintentionally holding hands to Phil ''whistling'' to communicate with Lem when Veronica singles him out.
67	* DumbBlonde:
68	** Generally, Veronica falls more into CloudCuckooLander territory, but the trope is lightly invoked (if not lampshaded altogether) whenever she (literally) lets her hair down.
69	** Linda whenever science is involved.
70	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The pilot episode seems like it was supposed to have a laugh track, as a lot of conversations are full of empty pauses.
71	* EmbarrassingMiddleName: Theodore Margaret Crisp. [[PronouncingMyNameForYou It's pronounced "MargaRAY"]]. It's a family name. It means "Lamb of God"...
72	* EpunymousTitle:
73	** A play on "better off dead" with the main character, Ted.
74	** Also sometimes PlayedWith in other areas of the show. The above episode "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" uses the fact that 'crisp(s)' and 'chips' are both terms used to reference potato chips/crisps or similar snacks.
75	* EurekaMoment: Ted's antacid addiction keys Phil in to the problem with the biocomputer in "Bioshuffle".
76	* EvilInc: Veridian Dynamics sure had undercurrents of it, but it's played for laughs. Between its management practices (which are out of the Bond Villain Handbook, less the overtly lethal punishments) and occasional insanely, evilly amoral projects, Veridian made it clear that good/evil is ignored in favor of profitable/unprofitable. Their general ineptitude happily kept ''most'' of the evil from getting out. Mostly.
77	* FakeStatic: Veronica uses this to end a conversation with a subordinate... in person. She's intimidating enough that the victim doesn't question her.
78	* {{Fanservice}}:
79	** The aforementioned scene with Linda dressing up as [[Series/XenaWarriorPrincess Xena]]
80	** Veronica's stint as a magician's assistant.
81	** Ted's brothers' non-brotherly love, which is "all about the sex".
82	** Also the episode in which Linda and Ted must share an office and he's caught [[EatingTheEyeCandy staring at her butt]].
83	** Also the rare occasion in which Veronica is allowed to LettingHerHairDown (literally).
84	* FlashbackToCatchphrase: In "Trust and Consequences", we see Linda's first day at the company. Veronica notes that she likes her powerful hairdo, and asks if she can wear her hair pulled back like that. After being told she can, Veronica informs Linda that she is now the ''only'' one who can wear her hair this way.
85	* FreudianSlip: In the first episode of season two, Linda keeps saying "a-lonely" instead of "alone" and then insisting she's fine.
86	* GratuitousGerman:
87	** {{Subverted\|Trope}}, kind of. The Germans appearing in one episode might not be real Germans but they do a pretty good job at faking it. As does Phil.
88	** This doesn't apply to the episode's female guest star, Creator/StefanieVonPfetten who, though Canadian-born, is in real life the daughter of a German baron, so her German impersonation is a cut above most.
89	* GratuitousLatin: Apparently the company has a PretentiousLatinMotto that translates as "Money Before People" (according to Veronica "it sounds more heroic in Latin").
90	* GreenEyedEpiphany: Subverted in "Racial Sensitivity". Linda gets Ted to play racquetball with her new boyfriend Don in the hopes that he'll have a terrible time because he's not over her. This backfires when Ted and Don have a great time and become friends. After [[spoiler: Veronica explains this to him]], Ted pretends to hate Don to make Linda feel better.
91	* HenpeckedHusband: Although his wife never appears in the series, Phil seems almost completely whipped by his worse half, who is so completely indifferent to him that she encourages him to cryonically freeze himself.
92	-->'''Lem:''' Sometimes, I don't know how you put up with that woman.\
93	'''Phil:''' Usually, I hold perfectly still until she goes away.
94	* HeterosexualLifePartners: Phil and Lem fit this trope to a T (even though Phil is described as being married).
95	** Even though they are opposite genders and have - in fact - slept with each other, Ted and Veronica have this type of relationship.
96	* HighHeelFaceTurn: Veronica often uses her position to undermine company efforts when they negatively impact her underlings (as she likes to call them; except for Ted the use of the word "friends" is alien to her). On the other hand, she doesn't like it when people take her toys (and her employees count) and losing them makes her look weak, so many examples are debatable. Saving Ted's job, definitely isn't though.
97	* HollywoodSilencer: Veronica keeps a silenced pistol in her office for stress relief (shooting the furniture) that when fired makes a light Thwip sound. It is implied that she does this frequently without anyone noticing.
98	* HowWeGotHere: "Jabberwocky," which begins in medias res and then cuts to a few days earlier.
99	* HumanPopsicle: Veridian attempts to freeze Phil for a year. It only lasts a day before the machine that froze him malfunctions (thanks to clumsy workmen knocking the pod over). Phil ends up suffering the side effect of screaming uncontrollably at inopportune moments.
100	-->'''Ted''': We didn't 'allegedly' freeze Phil; we ''froze'' him. Like a human leftover.
101	* IBangedYourMom: Lem's mom has sex with Dr. Bhamba. Somewhat PlayedWith as, although Bhamba didn't know the woman in question was Lem's mom (due to Lem keeping their connection a secret), the end result is still this trope anyway.
102	* IgnoredAesop: Phil helps Linda think of an ending for a children's story she's writing about a lemur who feels stuck in his tree. He suggests that the lemur should learn to take pleasure in the friendships he has where he is rather than dreaming of bigger things elsewhere. Linda thinks that's the perfect ending... and her book will sell millions and she can ''finally get out of Veridian!''
103	* IKnowYouKnowIKnow: Veronica has a conversation like this with her father, who controls a rival company. He comments that "conversations like this are why your mother left us."
104	* TheILoveYouStigma: Ted, on a first date ([[Series/HowIMetYourMother hmm, that sounds familiar]]) in "Love Blurts".
105	* ImmediateSelfContradiction: A man in the sex addict group tries to explain why he's innocent.
106	-->'''Keith''': I'm innocent, too. I just tripped and grabbed some chick's boobs to keep from falling. Plus, she wanted it.
107	* InsaneTrollLogic: Featured in most Veridian commercials.
108	* InternalReformist:
109	** Ted tends to play this role, thanks to Rose acting as a surrogate conscience.
110	** Linda is also described outright as being {{the conscience}} of the office.
111	* ItRunsInTheFamily: Veronica's dad (CEO of a major rival company) shares a lot of her quirks.
112	* IWantMyJetpack: Phil and Lem reflect that the jetpack is "the greatest dream of all scientists".
113	* KindheartedCatLover: One of the four possible identities assigned by the company to its workers when decorating their cubicles to express their individuality, along with "Green Bay Packers Fan", "Space", and "Classic Cars". But inverted when the workers in the cat clique begin exhibiting gang-like behavior.
114	* LackOfEmpathy: Veronica, generally PlayedForLaughs but means that [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness the rare occasion in which she lets her guard down]] (learning her father is dying; dating a colleague out of guilt) is much more striking.
115	* LargeHam: While technically not a character, the [[spoiler: Jabberwocky presentation]] fits like a glove.
116	* LeeroyJenkins: Potentially referenced in "Beating a Dead Workforce" as a MemeticBadass.
117	* LieDetector: One episode has Phil and Lem make one. Veronica is such a ConsummateLiar that she can trick it, though.
118	* LineOfSightName:
119	** After rejecting "Boots" and "Sandals" to name her new pet kitten, Linda takes a move away from footwear:
120	--->'''Linda:''' Stapler! Neh... now I'm just looking at things on my desk.
121	** This is also how Ted came up with the name Jabberwocky.
122	* MadScientist: Lem and Phil claim not to be, despite what their bowling shirts say. For consideration, here's this quote:
123	--> '''Phil''': You're using science for no good... we took an oath we would try to do that less.
124	** However, there is a second season episode in which Lem and Phil are horrified to come to the realization that they are, indeed, mad scientists.
125	* MeaningfulName:
126	** Mordor The Unforgiving. "And I just hope he understands."
127	** Inverted: "I declare Ted the victor... and Victor, the loser."
128	* MeaninglessMeaningfulWords: Ted and Veronica's non-presentation for a non-existent product involves flashing a lot of these up on a screen while they utter equally-meaningless platitudes to the audience. Also, fireworks.
129	* MegaCorp: Veridian Dynamics is a multi-national corporation that fears only governments more powerful than itself- and, at this point, there's only 3 of them left.
130	* {{Metaphorgotten}}:
131	** When Linda is meeting an ex-boyfriend for coffee:
132	--->'''Linda''': I gotta go meet Don at the Who Cares What People Think Café, where if someone sees something that they want, they just have it, and it's the best thing they've ever had. Because that meal's [[FlexibilityEqualsSexAbility been practicing yoga for seven years]]. In case you missed it, [[DontExplainTheJoke by "that meal" I mean me]]. I'm [[LampshadeHanging bad at metaphors]], but I'm [[SexGoddess great at sex]].
133	** When Veronica is yelling at a receptionist to get Phil his medical records, Phil tells Lem, "This must be how a baby lion feels, when its mum yells at a receptionist to get its medical records".
134	** Also:
135	--->'''Veronica''': It's time for this fawn to strap on a machinegun, spread its wings and fly! <!-- "fawn" as in young deer, or "faun" as in wood-sprite or satyr? -->
136	* MissingMom:
137	** Ted's wife ran off on him and their eight-year-old daughter, Rose, to help the world, which Ted has more problems with than Rose. It hasn't been easy on the world either.
138	** Ted's mom is also never seen in the series, although a photograph of her is briefly shown (his dad, however, appears in one episode).
139	* MisterSandmanSequence: Subverted when the flashback to Phil's first day on the job turns out to take place not in the sixties, but during the company's Sixties Week.
140	* MoralityPet: Rose is Ted's pet, while Ted himself serves as a pet for the orders-of-magnitude more immoral Veronica. For matters within the company, Linda tends to be this for Ted (and Veronica by extension), as the one time she nearly compromises those morals, Ted specifically refers to her as "the only one who never compromised her morals."
141	* MortonsFork: A small when. When about to perform the presentation for Jabberwocky, Veronica tells Ted it's time to "Go big or go home." When Ted asks if that means he can go home, Veronica clarifies that the stage ''is'' his home.
142	* MyEyesAreUpHere: When Linda and Ted are forced to share an office, she catches him staring at her bottom on more than one occasion.
143	* NeverTrustAHairTonic: In "Father Can You Hair Me?", Ted tests an experimental hair tonic (packaged as an aerosol) on his arm, causing massive amounts of hair to grow not only on Ted's arm, but also on his desk.
144	* NoFourthWall: Ted always explains plot points directly to the viewer.
145	* NoodleImplements: Several are mentioned, usually in relation to something Phil and Lem shouldn't have done.
146	** When Ted wants to sabotage a product to convince the company that long hours are bad for productivity, Linda's plan involves a fire hose, ten pies, a ramp and a motorcycle.
147	* NoodleIncident: Veridian evidently turned a panda into an assassin, among many, ''many'' others mentioned in passing.
148	* OfficeSports: Lindabagel from the episode "Lust in Translation".
149	* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Is there anything Lem and Phil can't do? The real question is there anything they can't fail at.
150	* OnlySaneEmployee: Ted. It's his job to take every BunnyEarsLawyer in his department and utilize their talents to actually accomplish something.
151	* OnlySaneMan:
152	** Ted. Much more level-headed than his colleagues in general.
153	** PlayedWith: Linda is definitely the voice of reason when it comes to product testing, but is also trying to teach a fish to talk and has a merciless pranking streak.
154	* OrganicTechnology: The living computer that features in the plot of one episode.
155	* PercussiveTherapy: Veronica lets out some stress by firing a gun at her room, much to Ted's horror.
156	* PitySex: When Veronica was promoted to management, there was another employee with the same last name up for the same promotion, and a typo in the memo made it unclear which of them had been promoted. A few years later she meets the other employee again and finds out that his life since then had gone completely down the toilet, so she starts dating him out of guilt. [[spoiler:She finally brings herself to dump him when Ted finds another memo proving that the promotion really was meant for her, though she even feels guilty about dumping him, so she gives him an office with a window view.]]
157	-->'''Veronica:''' I'm thinking I might need new breasts. These are covered in sadness.
158	* PlanningWithProps:
159	** In "Goodbye, Mr. Chips," Ted and the gang form a plan to hack into Veridian's mainframe, which they illustrate with household objects and Rose's toys. And a salt and pepper set for Phil and Lem.
160	** Lem (the black guy) asks why ''he's'' the pepper, and then immediately turns to Phil (the white guy) and says, "Probably because I'm so spicy." Phil: "And I'm salt, because I'm salty--like a sea captain."
161	* PostCoitalCollapse: We see Veronica and Ted both collapsing on a desk after they conclude their "office affair".
162	* PretentiousLatinMotto: We are told that one of these is engraved in the lobby floor, as a [[GratuitousLatin more attractive]] translation for "money before people."
163	* PrimAndProperBun: Veronica is a powerful, cold-hearted executive; also, when Ted takes his daughter to work, Veronica teaches her to put her hair in this kind of bun. Apparently if you're doing it right it should hurt, but that goes away after a couple of years. And the three or so episodes in which Veronica is shown LettingHerHairDown also coincide with the character being allowed to, well, let her hair down. It turns out she stole this hairstyle from Linda on her first day, who presumably wanted to be sure to be taken professionally at her new job.
164	* PublicRelationsAd: Spoofed with the AdBumpers.
165	* PunBasedTitle: In addition to the [[EpunymousTitle show itself]], most of the episode titles are based around puns.
166	* ResetButton: The episode where Linda sells her children's book to a big publisher ends with her sabotaging the deal herself when she learns they're using her creation to sell beer to children in Asia.
167	* TheSchlubPubSeductionDeduction : Veronica flirts with Phil in "Get Happpy" to get him to sign a waiver promising not to sue the company.
168	* ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules:
169	** Linda could've allowed the Asian beer company to keep using her Phil inspired lemur character to sell beer to children and made a mint that would've gotten her out from under Veridan's thumb but instead she decided to have the company claim it as their intellectual property to stop the ads from running.
170	** Both Ted and Veronica have also followed this trope for various reasons.
171	%%* SexDressed
172	* SexEqualsLove: Averted as Ted and Veronica, who have slept together, have a seemingly less confusing relationship than Ted and Linda, who didn't even kiss [[spoiler: until the second-to-last episode of the series]]. This is lampshaded in "Racial Sensitivity". Ted and Veronica, in fact, are depicted as growing closer as friends as the series progresses.
173	* ShoutOut: "Where's the [[Series/BattlestarGalactica2003 frakking]] aspirin?"
174	** In "The Great Repression" episode a [[Series/DoctorWho Dalek]] is shown in the background of a robot storage area.
175	*** Ted refers to the sexual harassment group as a [[Film/TheLeagueofExtraordinaryGentlemen "league of extraordinarily perverted gentlemen"]] in this episode as well.
176	** In "Beating a Dead Workforce", Veronica is able to convince everyone at eulogy to get back to work with a long speech that ends with "Now let's go upstairs and get back to work, [[Film/ThreeHundred for tonight, we dine in Hell!]]"
177	*** At the beginning of said eulogy, Veronica mistakenly calls the deceased [[Film/StarshipTroopers Carl Jenkins]].
178	* SnowballLie:
179	** "Jabberwocky," which starts as an attempt to hide a money transfer to Linda for a personal project and, due to nobody in the company who hears about it wanting to appear "out of the loop", is soon a ShroudedInMyth confidential super-project.
180	** One episode has Ted [[TheILoveYouStigma accidentally slipping an "I love you" to the women he just slept with]]. He tries to cover it by explaining he actually said he "Loves Utah" because of he's actually an Indian. This leads to him making even more elaborate lies to her and his fake Indian ancestry including making up his own language.
181	* SoBeautifulItsACurse: {{Parodied\|Trope}} in "Racial Sensitivity". Veronica, handling a complaint from a group of black employees, tells them that she, too, knows what it's like to deal with discrimination... and then proceeds to talk about how no one liked her in high school because she was so pretty.
182	-->'''Veronica''': If it wasn't for the modeling contracts and the comfort of college boys, I don't know how I would have made it.
183	* SomebodyDoesntLoveRaymond: In "Get Happy," Ted finds that he is not as popular with males over 50 in the company as he is with all the other demographics. He discovers after a series of surprising and unpleasant encounters with the males over 50 in an effort to win them over that he doesn't really care.
184	* SoulCrushingDeskJob: Linda (the only member of the main cast who is neither a manager nor a researcher) is constantly trying to avoid the boredom by engaging in small, safe acts of rebellion, such as stealing all the creamer from the coffee stations (her desk is full of it) or throwing donuts into the ventilation system (which she eventually turns into a competitive sport).
185	* SpiritualSuccessor : To ''Series/AndyRichterControlsTheUniverse''.
186	* SpoofAesop: The end of "The Long and Winding High Road", where Veronica delivers the moral "if you're taking the low road, you need to coordinate".
187	* StandardOfficeSetting: It is set in the main offices of a huge, faceless, multinational corporation. Ted, a middle manager, has a large, well-appointed, lush private office, while Linda and other regular workers sit in small cubicles, and are frequently forced to interact even when they don't want to.
188	* SureLetsGoWithThat:
189	** Ted's reaction to [[spoiler:Medieval Fight Club]]:
190	--->'''Ted:''' Guys, this all seems really-\
191	'''Phil:''' Cool?\
192	'''Ted:''' ...Sure, let's go with "cool"...
193	** And again in "Swag the Dog":
194	--->'''Woman:''' We're gonna get awesome Veridian merchandise if we work hard?\
195	'''Ted:''' Yeah, let's go with "awesome".
196	* TastesLikePurple: The beef made without cows "tastes like despair."
197	* TitleOnlyOpening
198	* TheUnseen: Ted's ex-wife, Phil's wife, the Octo-Chicken, and the ever-present "They" Veronica answers to. The show drops a few hints that nobody is really sure who "they" are.
199	* VandalismBackfire: In “Get Happy”, after Linda discovers her cubicle was vandalized by the cat clique, they confront her and imply they did something to her car. When Linda informs them that she didn’t drive to work that day, they [[OhCrap quickly leave in silent panic]]. [[BrickJoke Later in the episode]], Veronica confides to Ted that someone put cat feces in her car.
200	* VertebrateWithExtraLimbs:
201	** The Octo-chicken.
202	** Also, Ted and Veronica are mentioned to have lost a three-legged race to "something Phil and Lem made".
203	* {{Unperson}}: Ted, when the IT network accidentally deletes his employee records.
204	* WellDoneSonGuy: Ted, whose father wanted him to follow in his footsteps as a plumber, and is unimpressed by Ted's success.
205	* WhyDontYouMarryIt: Linda claims Ted loves the rules so much he wants to marry one and have little rule babies.
206	** And [[{{Metaphorgotten}} build a house made out of rules]].
207	*** [[MoralEventHorizon A house made of his own children?]]
208	*** That's between him and his conscience.
209	* WillTheyOrWontThey:
210	** Ted and Linda. [[spoiler: They kiss at the end of the second unaired (in America) episode and both clearly, without needing to say it, have decided to finally start a relationship and not caring what anyone else thinks.]]
211	--->'''Ted:''' I gave the money to Linda to build a roof garden.\
212	'''Veronica:''' A ''roof garden?'' For God's sake Ted, why don't you just ''do'' her already?
213	** Also, although the pilot reveals they already ''have'', there are several charged moments during the series in which one wonders if Ted and Veronica might do it again (and they come close several times, one time interrupted by Veronica and one by Rose).
214	** And, let's be fair, the bromance between Lem and Phil gets so intense that, even though the series goes out of its way to indicate they're heterosexual, this trope comes close to being applied.
215	* WindowLove: Ted and Linda "kiss" while both wearing plexiglass-visored Hazmat suits.
216	* WorthlessTreasureTwist: Veronica helps an eccentric CEO search for files he hid years ago to prevent him from being forcibly retired. They finally discover it, the man gloating on how his board will do anything to avoid the public knowing of such things as smoking causing cancer or the dangers of various building materials. Veronica stares as she realizes the files were hidden back in 1962 and the "secrets" are all things that have been public knowledge for years.
217	* WouldHitAGirl: Veronica slaps Ted across the face. He immediately slaps her in return. Both of them are completely deadpan about the whole thing, with Veronica even saying "We're cool" and brushing past it without missing a beat.
218

Context Series / BetterOffTed