After watching a few episodes of Better Off Ted, I’ve noticed that this new half-hour sitcom bears a striking resemblance to Arrested Development, and it goes way beyond having Portia DiRossi on board.
Saying that one show is like another is easier than hunting nerds Star Trek convention, but I think there’s something more to this, as I find that shows like Arrested Development, Better Off Ted, and even 30 Rock, represent a different breed of sitcom – even as they all maintain a distinct comedic flavour of their own. What is it about these new breed sitcoms that set them apart from the more standard fare of Three’s Company, Reba, 2 and a Half Men?It’s something more than just the fact that they’re “better” – there’s a thoughtfulness injected into these shows that most would consider belongs in more of an hour-long dramatic show. Perhaps the 20 year old animated sitcom known as The Simpsons can take some of the credit for showing the world that shows can discus Edgar Alan Poe while simultaneously extolling the virtues of Star Wars action figures in the same episode. Taking the high road to comedy isn’t always the road to success, as evidenced by many of those shows’ short lifespans, but they’re one of the few shows that keep TV aficionados coming back every season, hoping for something good.
Where was I? Oh yeah, Arrested Development and Better Off Ted. At face value, both shows share an affinity for a steady stream of humour without resorting for the need of punctuating punchlines – although both shows do make use of those tactics as well, they’re just not their backbone. Instead, the try to keep one foot in the absurd at all times, likely to highlight the absurdity of their setting – which was likely the whole point of both shows in the first place.
Both shows share the same kind of seemingly normal, almost too normal, main character at the centre of all the madness. This is also hardly a unique concept in TV shows, but it is interesting to note that both characters are single parents (although for different reasons) and both are fairly stoic about that fact. Both men are also reticent to get into new romances, one for quirky professional reasons, and the other for misguided parental motivations. There are subtleties to both, but those are the broad strokes.
Finally, and most importantly, both shows operate in a strange amoral netherworld where the characters are free from having to worry about the ethical ramifications of their actions. In Arrested Development, the Bluths’ wealth and family dysfunction has left them oblivious of social norms, or of how the “other half” lives, even though their legal and financial problems have them neck deep in the have-nots of society. Whether its GOB letting Michael rot in jail for not listening to his CD, or Lindsay looting his dead sister in law’s jewelery to wear on her toe (roast beef), or George selling his son-in-law to White Power Bob in prison, operating outside of the traditional morality is both the show’s mandate as a roast of the affluent people of the OC (don’t call it that) and also the show’s strength as it mines this kind of behaviour for outrageous comedy. The same can be seen in Better of Ted, except seen from the perspective of the immoral choices of corporate America, as Veridian Dynamics arbitrarily decides to cryogenically freeze one of its employees, or creates meat in a lab without the use of a cow while toying with the idea of giving it a mouth. By removing the need to consider the morality of these choices, the field is opened up to all kinds of corporate ribbing and scientific depravity.
What can you take away from this? I’d say that if you were a fan of Arrested Development, you should at least give Better Off Ted its day in court. It will hopefully help to continue the legacy of more cerebral half hour sitcoms on TV.
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