Don't Miss Better Off Ted, tonight on ABC

Last Tuesday, Scrubs returned to ABC with a double-episode premiere of its new "2.0" format, set in a medical school. The ratings, unfortunately, were abysmal.

Tonight, following Scrubs, is the return of my favorite new show of last season, Better Off Ted. If you haven't yet sampled the show, set in the hilariously amoral corporate offices of conglomerate Veridian Dynamics, you're missing some of the edgiest, most pointed and yet silliest writing to be found in today's TV comedy. And some of the best performances, like standouts Portia DeRossi, as the driven and icy blonde boss Veronica, and Andrea Anders as the neurotic and moral underling Linda.

Yesterday, on Sirius OutQ's The Frank DeCaro Show, another of the show's stars, out gay actor Jonathan Slavin, who plays the hilariously put-upon lab researcher Phil, noted that ABC hopes that the pairing of Scrubs and Ted will click, since they both have such a smart comic sensibility. (I would also add that if you are/were a fan of either Arrested Development or 30 Rock, you should check in tonight with Ted.)

Personally, I wish ABC had given Ted the berth in its more successful Wednesday lineup which used to be occupied by Kelsey Grammer's now-cancelled Hank, and which now temporarily houses repeats of this season's best new comedy, Modern Family. Let's hope that Scrubs and Ted, two shows worth watching, can cause some uptick in the numbers at ABC -- although with CBS' combination of NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles and The Good Wife catching fire this season, it's going to be a tough battle.

So check out the following clip from last season's finest half-hour, entitled "Racial Sensitivity" (in which Veridian's new automatic light sensors are unable to sense the presence of black people, effectively locking them in dark rooms at work) and then, if you still can't miss your LL Cool J fix -- and who could blame you? -- set your DVRs for a season pass of Ted.

Better Off Ted
Tuesdays at 9:30 Eastern
ABC

Better Off Ted returns TONIGHT!

For some reason, when ABC launched Better Off Ted at midseason this year, they planned only for some of its first season episodes to air, and inexplicably held back another 6 installments, which they would stockpile in case the show was granted a second season.

Luckily for fans of this smart, hilarious and critically hailed show, Better Off Ted will be returning for season 2, sometime in the late fall.

The even better news is, though, that ABC isn't going to make us wait that long. Starting tonight, the network is airing those 6 originally held-back episodes. Which means a rare chance for us to see some smart, original comedy during the dog days of summer -- normally the time of year when the only original episodes we get to see of anything on a broadcast network are burned off episodes of already-cancelled shows (see: Pushing Daisies et al.)

In tonight's episode, Linda (Andrea Anders) wonders whether a boss can be a friend when Veronica (Portia de Rossi) starts sharing way too much about her personal life. Meanwhile, Ted (Jay Harrington) horns in on Phil (Jonathan Slavin) and Lem's (Malcolm Barrett) Medieval Fight Club.

Tune in tonight at ABC at 9:30 Eastern/Pacific -- and be ready to laugh out loud!