The Most Awesome Thing I Saw Last Week (Apr 15-21)

And more hilarious was the “British Perspective” as presented by John Oliver.

And finally (I know it probably seems like Comedy Central is the only channel I watch), just watch The Colbert Coalition’s Anti-Gay Marriage ad.

Hopefully EJ is around this week (I guess he’s got some crazy comedy competition where he’s landed himself in the finals) and can continue to tell you how “awesome” Breaking Bad continues to be week in and week out.

Over the weekend, I spent my time catching up on some of the pretty serious backlog accumulating on the old DVR.  And now, I am deeply in love with ABC’s Better Off Ted.

I had been recording the series since it came from Victor Fresco, creator of Andy Richter Controls the Universe and featured Portia de Rossi in her first major role post-Arrested Development.  I figured it had to be pretty good, but after plowing through the first five episodes, I can safely say that it is, in fact, really good.

A workplace comedy set at the massive tech company Veridian Dynamics, Ted tells the story of, well, Ted, a product manager.  He’s the guy who, when asked “Can we create a mouse that can withstand temperatures of 195 degrees?” responds with “Sure”, before asking whether they mean “an animal mouse or a computer mouse”.

There’s a lot of surreal humor in the series, mostly resulting from Veridian’s insane product line.  Weaponized pumpkins, synthetic beef, chairs that are uncomfortable enough to increase productivity without actually driving anybody insane, and macaroni and cheese that “Causes blindness if eaten more than twice a week.  Also, no matter how long you heat it, it never gets warm.”

Ted occasionally talks to the camera, which makes him a little more relatable, given the borderline evil nature of his job.  He’s played by Jay Harrington, who looks weirdly familiar, but I can’t place him.  Regardless of where I know him from, he’s very funny.  Portia de Rossi is, of course, fantastic.  Her Veronica clearly shares some DNA with Lindsay Bluth – that social climbing callousness, incapably of recognizing the feelings of anybody else.  But Veronica is also a driven career woman who rules her employees with an iron fist.  Andrea Anders, who is adorable and used to be on Oz, plays Linda an office drone with feelings for Ted and a healthy dose of quirkiness.  (In a funny running joke, she continually steals huge quantities of creamer from the break room.)  And then there’s the lab guys, Phil and Lem.  Jonathan Slavin, of Andy Richter and My Name is Earl plays Phil, and while Lem is a relative newcomer, they have hilarious chemistry. The best scenes in the series so far come from their interactions.

The best episode so far is “Racial Sensitivity”.  See, Veridian installs new motion sensors to activate the lights and elevators and such.  However, a glitch in the programming means that the sensors don’t pick up black people.  This means they have to work in the dark or wait at the drinking fountain until a white person gets close enough.  The company’s first solution is to fix the drinking fountains, which results in separate fountains with the hilariously awful sign “Manual Drinking Fountain (for Blacks)”.  Eventually, they hire white people to follow black people around, which creates a hiring conundrum.  Long story short, Better Off Ted is The Most Awesome Thing I Saw This Week.  And considering that Breaking Bad had a scene with a tortoise walking through the desert with a human head on its back, that’s some pretty stiff competition.

And with that, we bid you a fond farewell and happy viewing until next week when we help fill in the gaps of television, movies, and viral video you might have missed.  Your friends, the spunkybean Staff.