I cant stop...watching Better Off Ted

The Office is among the most popular shows in America, and chances are you like it. Great. You're an idiot. And you know how I know you're a moron? Because while you are watching the gang in Scranton, there is a show out there that can only be described as the show the Office wishes it could be and its about to get canceled. This show is superior to your precious Office in every way possible but you are too stupid to watch it, and a result it will probably doomed to join Freaks and Geeks, Arrested Development, Bill Clinton and 2Pac as things you were too stupid to appreciate until they were gone. The show, of course is Better Off Ted and you really should be watching it.

The Office is a fine show. It’s sort of funny in a "there is no way you can miss these jokes because they are so big kind of way." (Note: if this is what you prefer, you likely support Jay Leno over Conan and you shouldn't be here because you really are a moron and at CSWS, we are on team CoCo.) It provides us with a sense of reassurance that we aren’t alone in thinking that our places of work are insane and our bosses completely clueless. But that’s about it – it doesn’t really provide any meaningful commentary about working for corporate America or the struggles associated with actually working everyday - because its way too focused on the absurdity of the characters. As a result, the Office provides us with some cheap, obvious laughs, but it misses a chance to become the defining comedy of the genre. Better Off Ted takes that chance and runs with it.

Better Off Ted manages to do everything the Office does and then some. It manages to be legitimately funny and provide subversive commentary about corporate America. The show follows the R&D department at Veridian Dynamics, a multinational corporation whose only concern is profit and efficiency – their motto “Money over People” makes that abundantly clear. The show succeeds where the Office fails for five reasons. 1) Most importantly, the show is funny – funny in a way that the Office just never reaches in part because it never tries. The show is smart, but not so aloof that you won’t know what’s going on if you just watch one episode at a time (unlike Arrested Development). But it certainly does require paying attention and does not rely on cheap jokes. The humor is dry, self referential and at time subtle. The characters are amazing, especially Veronica (Portia D'Rossi) the head of the department who seems to have lost all sense of humanity as she tries to please her higher-ups and get the most of the team and the research scientists, Lem and Phil, who mix nerdiness, social awkwardness and awesomeness. The show also usually features a fake Veridian Dynamics ad that refers to the events of the episode and shows how corporate American can put a positive spin on anything.

2) The people, even those like Linda, the newly hired bleeding heart who hates corporate America but ended up there somehow, are committed to the company’s success which makes it a better representation of life in a company. Jim Halpert’s constant undermining in the Office is funny, but its not really viable – we are lead to believe Jim is good at his job, but he in no way seems to care about Dunder Mifflin. We just know he is smarter than Michael and less socially retarded than Dwight, so we can buy into his success, even though he never does any work. In Better Off Ted we see the characters' struggles with the company, how they resolve their issues and how they move on to help the company succeed. 3) Similarly, we see how corporations affect people’s lives. In the Office we see how people’s personalities affect the office, but never vice versa. In Better off Ted, we see both how people affect the office, but also how the office affects people. This is the thing that anyone who has worked at a soul sucking job can really relate to that the Office just misses - working for the man changes you, your values and your understanding of the world. Better Off Ted deals with this head on in an amazingly humorous way.

4) As an offshoot of 3), the Company seems to be a character in the show, influencing people’s actions. Characters are constantly hoping for approval from “Upstairs.” The Company itself creates situations that result to absurd, humorous and amazing results. 5) While the show relies on absurdist humor, the absurdity is not so far removed from real corporate policies as to be unwatchable. Michael Scott is funny, but every time I watch the Office all I can think is: how has he not been fired? Maybe it’s the consultant in me….but its just too much for me a lot of the time and seems created only so we can get a cheap laugh at his expense. Same with Dwight. And more or less everyone on the show except Pam and Jim. In Better Off Ted, absurd corporate policies or goals are ludicrous, but they are always things that I could see a company in a board meeting thinking it might be a good idea. Credulity is rarely strained past its breaking point.

Basically, this show is superior to the Office in every way possible and you need to start watching it so it doesn’t get cancelled or put into purgatory like the world’s best show. I’m not providing a clip to watch because I really think you need to watch a whole episode to appreciate the show. ABC has like 5 episodes online, and you can watch them here. Enjoy and thank me later. Idiot.