History Series / BetterOffTed

''Better Off Ted'' was a quirky, cartoonish Creator/{{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.

** 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 SaltAndPepper set for Phil and Lem.

* SaltAndPepper: Phil and Lem, lampshaded in "Goodbye, Mr. Chips." When outlining who should be where in the plan with various household objects, Ted gets nervous when Phil and Lem ask which one of them is the salt and which one the pepper. Lem then proceed to sidestep the obvious racial implications by declaring that he must be pepper because "[he's] spicy." Phil decides that he's "salty, like a sea captain," and they move on from there.

* TheResolutionWillNotBeTelevised: As a sitcom without ongoing story arcs, this trope does not strictly apply, however the final two episodes did not air on the original network, ABC, and the second of these episodes, the series finale, [[spoiler: resolves the "will they or won't they" plot element involving Ted and Linda by having them finally start a relationship]]. ABC had planned to air them as filler programming if the [[NationalBasketballAssociation NBA Finals]] ended early, but the series went the full seven games.
** The last two episodes ultimately aired in Australia and the UK.
** In the US, the Resolution ended up as a digital download, although there wasn't that much resolution (besides [[spoiler:Ted and Linda kissing]] and [[spoiler: Veronica admitting that her friendship with Ted is valuable]]).

* ADateWithRosiePalms: Discussed by Ted in "The Great Repression: "I work full time and I have an eight-year-old daughter. I don't even have the energy for a onesome!"

** Phil says the name of the trope verbatim, referencing Lem and his attempts to rebuild Cholmondeley, a scrapped spill-technician robot.

-->- "The Lawyer, The Lemur, and the Little Listener"

-->'''Linda:''' Stapler! Neh... now I'm just looking at things on my desk.

-->'''Ted:''' Guys, this all seems really-\\

-->'''Woman:''' We're gonna get awesome Veridian merchandise if we work hard?\\

-->'''Ted:''' I gave the money to Linda to build a roof garden.\\

* EmbarrassingMiddleName: Theodore Margaret Crisp. [[ItIsPronouncedTropay It's pronounced "MargaRAY"]]. It's a family name. It means "Lamb of God"...

%%* TheComicallySerious: Veronica so much.

%%* TheDividual (Syndividual variant): Phil and Lem. Oh so much.

%%* HowWeGotHere: "Jabberwocky"

* IBangedYourMom: Lem's mom has sex with Dr. Bhamba.

%%** "Conversations like this is why mother left us."

* MoralityPet: Rose is Ted's pet, while Ted himself serves as a pet for the orders-of-magnitude more immoral Veronica.

* WouldHitAGirl: Veronica slaps Ted across the face. He immediately slaps her in return. Both of them are completely deadpan about the whole thing.

''Better Off Ted'' was a quirky, cartoonish 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.

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 (Portia de Rossi), 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 (Andrea Anders), 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.

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 (Isabella Acres). 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.

''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]])."

* ActionGirl: Linda appears in TheTag of "You Are the Boss Of Me" in full Series/XenaWarriorPrincess regalia, complete with sword.
* AcquiredSituationalNarcissism: Phil, "Trailblazer of the Year"

* AdBumpers: In every episode of the first season and some in the second, there is a fake ad for Veridian Dynamics before the first commercial break.

** The ads even exist in their universe as Linda mentions having seen one.

* CameBackWrong: Phil says the name of the trope verbatim, referencing Lem and his attempts to rebuild Cholmondeley, a scrapped spill-technician robot.

* ChickMagnet: Ted

* TheComicallySerious: Veronica so much.
* ConsummateLiar: Veronica is a good enough liar that, when Phil and Lem develop a lie-detecting black box, they need to recalibrate it specifically for her.

* 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.
* TheDividual (Syndividual variant): Phil and Lem. Oh so much.
* DumbBlonde: Generally, Veronica falls more into CloudCuckooLander territory, but the trope is lightly invoked (if not lampshaded altogether) whenever she (literally) lets her hair down.

* EpunymousTitle: A play on "better off dead" with the main character, Ted.
** Also sometimes played with 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.

* {{Fanservice}}: The aforementioned scene with Linda dressing up as Xena, and also Veronica's stint as a magician's assistant. And Ted's brothers' non-brotherly love, which is "all about the sex".
** Also the episode in which Linda and Ted must share an office and he's caught [[MaleGaze staring at her butt]]. Also the rare occasion in which Veronica is allowed to let her hair down (literally).

** Subverted, 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.
** This doesn't apply to the episode's female guest star, Stefanie von Pfetten who, though Canadian born, is in real life the daughter of a German baron, so her German impersonation is a cut above most.

-->'''Lem:''' "Sometimes, I don't know how you put up with that woman."
-->'''Phil:''' "Usually, I hold perfectly still until she goes away."

* HowWeGotHere: "Jabberwocky"

* InternalReformist: Ted tends to play this role, thanks to Rose acting as a surrogate conscience.

** "Conversations like this is why mother left us."

* LineOfSightName: After rejecting "Boots" and "Sandals" to name her new pet kitten, Linda takes a move away from footwear:

* MeaningfulName: Mordor The Unforgiving. "And I just hope he understands."

* {{Metaphorgotten}}: "I gotta go meet Don at the Who-Cares-What-People-Think Cafe. Where when people see something they want, they just have it. And it's the best thing they've ever had. Because that meal has been practising yoga for the last seven years. In case you missed it, by "that meal" I mean me. I'm... bad at metaphors. But I'm great at sex."

* MissingMom: 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.

** When Ted wants to sabotage a product to convince the company that long hours are bad for productivity, Lindas plan involves a fire hose, ten pies, a ramp and a motor cycle.

* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Is there anything Lem and Phil can't do?
** The real question is there anything they can't fail at.

* OnlySaneMan: Ted. Much more level-headed than his colleagues in general.
** Played with: 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.

** "I'm thinking I might need new breasts. These are covered in sadness."
* PlanningWithProps: 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 SaltAndPepper set for Phil and Lem.

* 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 letting her hair down 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.

* ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules: 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.

* SnowballLie: "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.
* SoBeautifulItsACurse: Parodied in "Racial Sensitivity". Veronica, handling a complaint from a group of black employees, tell 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.

* SureLetsGoWithThat: Ted's reaction to [[spoiler:Medieval Fight Club]]:

* VertebrateWithExtraLimbs: The Octo-chicken.

* WillTheyOrWontThey: 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.]]
-->'''Ted:''' I gave the money to Linda to build a roof garden.
-->'''Veronica:''' A ''roof garden?'' For God's sake Ted, why don't you just ''do'' her already?