Is Ted a Mad Man?

This morning in Los Angeles, I had the pleasure of stopping by the set of Better Off Ted, aka "the best new show you may not yet be watching." For a few hours, I was happy to step into a lab deep within the bowels of the Veridian Corporation, where Phil and Lem -- aka the hysterically funny Jonathan Slavin and Malcolm Barrett -- fretted over a small cosmetic change in their premises which I can't tell you about.

From Victor Fresco, the creator of the cancelled-too-soon Andy Richter Controls the Universe, Better Off Ted films at the LA Center Studios on the edge of downtown, a complex I'd frankly never heard of before visiting the set of Mad Men there last year during the Television Critics' Convention. Turns out, CBS' Numb3rs is shot there, too, as will be The Station, the new comedy pilot for FOX from producer Ben Stiller .

But here's the fun bit of trivia I discovered today: while the lab and other sets like Ted's apartment are constructed on soundstages, Veridian's main office setup, cubicles and all, is filmed on a converted, formerly real office floor within the complex (which houses not just TV and film productions depicting corporate types but real corporate types as well, in fields like advertising. )

Mad Men's offices are also constructed on a floor within the same building. So watch Better Off Ted, then watch Mad Men, and then compare. Apart from the cosmetic changes in set dressing, the two office floors will look eerily similar. They have the same bones, because the Veridian Dynamics of the 21st Century and the Sterling-Cooper ad agency of the 1960s are located mere floors away from each other.

Better Off Ted debuted with a short run this past spring, and then returned to air 7 new episodes over the summer. Unfortunately for Ted, not a single broadcast network show in any genre -- comedy, drama or even reality -- which aired this summer got any kind of decent ratings. So I hope when Ted returns to ABC as a replacement for midseason (or earlier, depending upon the health of the network's other shows), execs will show some patience

for this so-far undiscovered, but worth discovering, gem.

Better Off Ted returns next week

Fans of Better Off Ted, worry not:  even though it may not have aired tonight as originally scheduled, the show is not gone.  Not for at least one more week, anyway.

The laugh-out-loud comedy -- if you haven't found it yet, I urge you to catch it -- was due to air its sixth episode tonight, but was preempted by President Obama's press conference to mark his first 100 days in office.  (Wow, how I still love typing that phrase:  "President Obama!")

In fact, as is customary, ABC, CBS and NBC all set aside their regularly scheduled programming in tonight's 8PM hour in order to bring us the president's address.  But in a historic -- and troubling -- move, Fox opted not to use its place in the public trust to bring us the words of the leader of the free world, instead thinking we might be better served by an hour of Lie To Me (which really just sounds more like a speech from the previous administration.)

Anyway, the President's speech meant that Better Off Ted will now air its season (and hopefully not series) finale next week.  But it won't be on Wednesday night, which will be reserved for the Scrubs season (and hopefully series) finale.  So mark your calendars and set your DVRs, because next week, Better Off Ted airs on Tuesday night (5/5) instead, at 8:30 PM.

To promote the date and time change, the show's creator Victor Fresco has created a clever commercial parody, along the lines of the fake ads for evil megacorporation Veridian Dynamics which air as part of the show.  Check it out below:

And to learn more about Better Off Ted, listen to The Frank DeCaro Show on OutQ (Sirius satellite radio channel 109 or XM channel 98) tomorrow, Thursday, April 30, at 11AM Eastern/8AM Pacific, for an interview with Ted's delightfully funny female, Andrea Anders.  And to hear series creator Victor Fresco's interview about the show from Frank's show last week, click here.

And check out Better Off Ted.  I guarantee, you'll like it.  Everyone does -- except maybe President Obama?  Otherwise, why would he schedule an address that could harm a fledgling comedy?  Maybe Veridian Dynamics was a big campaign contributor.