This new series premieres on March 18 on ABC. It was created by Victor Fresco, who also did Andy Richter Controls the Universe. Plus Jonathan Slavin is in it, and that's a major plus.

Granted, I'm still pissed at ABC for cancelling Pushing Daisies, but I'm looking forward to BOT. It looks pretty funny. Anyone else?

The concept looks amusing, so I'll be tuning in. I love Jonathan Slavin from when he was on My Name is Earl, and Portia was funny on AD. Who is the lead guy though? I just can't place him.

I had to look it up, but his name is Jay Harrington. Among other appearances, he's had a recurring role on Private Practice and Desperate Housewives.

He was one of the two American Coupling actors (along with Rena Sofer) who didn't pale horribly in comparison to the British originals.

The show looks silly, stupid, and pointless. But it also looks entertaining as hell, so I'm no doubt gonna watch it every week. I'm definitely planning to tune in when it premieres.

TYVM, peeayabee! I knew I had seen him elsewhere!

Well, it got a great mini-review from Kristin at E!.

The commercials make it seem like my cup of tea. I haven't watched a sitcom on ABC in a long time. I really liked Andy Richter Controls the Universe.

Every preview of this makes me laugh out loud. I'll definitely check it out.

I can't wait. I remember people complaining about the title but I always figured it was deliberately silly and stupid so I loved it. I can't wait.

And for me, I will look forward to how great Portia De Rossi looks in every episode, like Cuddy on House. I've been watching some old DVDs lately, and I just love how Portia delivers some lines.

This looks wacky enough to be a perfect match-up with Scrubs and I will be watching.

Portia De Rossi does deliver lines well. The other blond lady, who I know as Joey's neighbor when he moved to LA though I've seen her in other stuff, also has good comedic timing.

Plus, crazy science is always funny.

Judging by the adds, it'll take some seriously bungled execution for me not to like this show. All the proper elements are in place.

I don't know; it just looks mean to me. And I'm just so tired of mean on TV. A show can have characters that are sympathetic, and not so arrogant and full of themselves, and be entertaining. This just looks like a show full of assholes.

The Jonathan Slavin character looks like it will be the main sympathetic character. Can any character of his NOT be likable?

When I first saw the commercials for this show, I thought the lead actor was Michael Landes. This looks funny so I'll check it out.

If it's half as good as Better Off Dead, then I'll stick with it.

A thumbs-up from the NY Times

I thought it was very good for a pilot, the best new show this season but that doesn't say much. I liked all the characters and didn't find the central romance annoying. My only complaint is I hope Portia starts wearing her hair down, because it is her best feature.

Ok, not a very detailed review, but I always go easy on pilots.

I really wanted to like it but I didn't. I LOVE Arrested Development and other quirky comedies but this one seemed so forced and self-conscious. I'm very disappointed. Maybe I just wasn't in the right mood. I'll keep watching and hopefully my opinion will change.

I loved it. I didn't expect to be so entertained by a mid-season replacement. I love its complete randomness ("The toaster's not a sociopath, he just doesn't want to make toast anymore!") and a nice blend of insensitive humor/sentimentality. I'm not sure how long they could keep this up for (a lot of the jokes are easy, particularly with Phil, and they might get old fast), but for now, I'm keeping it.

I've seen Jay Harrington in other things before, but I don't remember him looking this good.

Loved it.

Child actors usually annoy me, but the little girl in this was a real scene stealer.

Jay Harrington has gotten more handsome with age, the bastard.

I liked it. I don't think it needs a precocious little girl as the moral center, though. Ted is plenty.

I really thought I would like this, but I really couldn't make it through the first 10 minutes. I hated it.

Heh. I liked the conversation about bringing the toilet paper to the toilet.

"It becomes normal, if you do it enough. Everything does."

Jay Harrington's acting seemed a bit george clooney-ish. just a weird vibe

It was no Arrested Development right out of the gate,but I think it has great potential. Still better than According To Two and Half Men.

I liked it, especially for a pilot. It seems to be confident in its focus and direction. I'm not a sitcom-y person, but I love Arrested Development, 30 Rock, and Scrubs (which BOT was compared to in the NY Times article), so this could just be my genre. Can't stand sitcoms with laugh tracks, and I was pleased with the absense. The characters, although exaggerated, aren't so odd that they get on your nerves. Linda reminds me of Eliot from Scrubs, only slightly less neurotic and a bit more charming. The office flirtation between her and Ted could have come off as cheesy or overplayed, but it was surprisingly amusing. I liked that they went ahead and addressed it in the first episode, I felt like that way it didn't come across as so angsty.

I'm going to keep tuning in, although I don't really think I could STOP watching Jay Harrington. Man.

I loved it.

I didn't laugh out loud at it, but there are a lot of comedies I watch and I don't laugh out loud but do find funny.

My only disappointment:

That they had to set up another will they/wont they in the pilot.

That Andrea Anders is another object of someones affection. That's Joey, The Class and now Better Off Ted. I would like her to not be the love interest for a change. I do love the actress though.

My favorite line- Ted "Did you do you math homework?"
Daughter "Yes"
Ted "What's 6 x 8?"
Daughter "Yes that was on there too."

I found myself laughing out loud several times. I'm definitely watching again.

Yes! This! Also? He sort of looks like John Stamos.

Did anyone else want every single outfit that Linda wore? I need to know where they found all those wrap dresses. Can anyone help me out?

I really enjoyed the pilot. It had some funny moments. There is HUGE potential there for comedy week after week given the nature of the work that they do. All of them cringing at -20 degrees over the potential eyeball popping was great. All the characters were likeable. The funniest line was the one about the mom leaving to try and save the world, which didn't turn out to be so great for the daughter or the world.

Only a couple of complaints. The love story wasn't needed that early and for any fan of The Shield, the choice of the name Lem for one of the researchers is a bit odd because I will always thing of Lem from that show and how he died. Its not a very common name and the mental association is hard to avoid.

I thought this was okay. There were some LOL moments (Phil breaking into the scream was hilarious), but it felt a bit uneven. But since Jay Harrington is so unbelievably gorgeous (IMHO), and I actually like everyone in the cast, I will continue to watch, until its inevitable cancellation after 6 episodes. ABC is on my shit list.

Put me down in the "I loved it!" column. Hilarious, fun music, irreverent. Wonderful.

Things that were great:

• Weaponizing pumpkins
• The visual gag of a large drawer stuffed to the brim with creamers
• Portia di Rossi's delivery of the line about how maybe she's SO funny that he missed her attempt to make fun of his joke.
• The daughter was cute, and she got some great lines. Since normally child actors bother me, the fact that I didn't hate her says a lot.
• The seduction scene between Portia and Ted
• The way everyone cringed when they thought Phil's eyeballs were going to explode
• "Nature is a great killer of things!"

This one's definitely going on my must-TiVO list.

I was really looking forward to this show, but I thought it was HORRIBLE! I kept looking at the clock to see when it would be over and I almost cried when I saw that it was only at the halfway point. The little girl was supremely annoying and the jokes weren't funny. What a disappointment.

I was getting more of a Don Draper (Jon Hamm) vibe what with since the main character on this show was a tall guy with dark slicked hair and a suit working in an office.

I thought it was average at best. Rather than being a series it felt like a bunch of sketches about life at a R&D company.

It's interesting how much people differ on their reactions to this show. I wanted to love it also - but to me it was just ok. The delivery of some lines were good, and I appreciate a non-laughtrack comedy. But, I wasn't blown away or anything. It might take being in a certain mood and/or without distractions. I'll certainly keep watching though.

I think the name makes a lot of sense for a researcher, especially one at this company where they're turning pumpkins into bio-weapons. Stanislaw Lem was a science fiction writer.



I got the same vibe. The man who can think up all these ideas and remains icily cool no matter what happens around him.

On the whole, I liked it. Laughed out loud a few times and I've always liked Portia DeRossi.

It felt like what a soulless mega-corporation would produce if it set out to make a wacky sitcom because there was a market segment for it. Given the subject matter, maybe that's what they were going for. If so, that's very clever.

It just didn't manage to be organically quirky the way Scrubs and 30 Rock and Andy Richter Controls the Universe did. It's not that it's bad, it's just that it's not especially good.

Portia de Rossi stole the show and made me laugh more than a few times, though. As long as it's tucked comfortably next to Scrubs, I'll give it another chance. Lots of shows have creaky pilots.

I wish I hadn't read the glowing reviews in advance because my expectations were sky-high. I thought the premiere was just so-so and definitely not in the league of Arrested Development or 30 Rock. That said, there was enough there to induce me to stick with the show for a while at least—assuming it isn't cancelled (the ratings were nothing to write home about).

I guess my expectations for it weren't that high since I don't normally watch TV in that time slot on Wednesdays except for Lost. Plus it being a mid season debut show made me think it wasn't going to be a 30 Rock or AD. If it was, it most likely would have been placed on the schedule for an August debut with all the other new shows.

Its certainly not in the same category as some of my favorite comedies (30 Rock and the thursday NBC shows), but I think its a good compliment to Scrubs and is a pretty solid show overall.

To be fair, if you only judged 30 Rock on the strength of its pilot, you'd probably think it was only a mediocre show at best. Episode 1 and 2 of 30 Rock were terribly average. I was just about to give up on the show, until episode 3 (Blind Date) blew me away.

I thought that this was a pretty strong showing for a pilot episode.

The LA Times had a so-so review, so my expectations were muted a bit.

I liked it. It wasn't always laugh-out-loud hilarious, but I LOVED the characters. I knew I'd love Phil (Jonathan Slavin), but I'm really looking forward to seeing more of Lem (Malcolm Barrett), whom I expected to enjoy but not that much. Of course Portia de Rossi was fantastic. She has amazing comic timing. Her character, Veronica, is terrific. I don't know Andrea Anders, but her line readings were unexpected and funny. I like her character. Oh, and it was great to see Maz Jobrani. I didn't know he was in the show.

I liked Ted all right. He's a good center for the show. I'm enjoying his relationship with his daughter, who is precocious but not too much. That little actress is very good.

Lots of great dialogue. The very premise of the show has lots of potential for craziness.

I expect to fall in love with these characters even more as I watch each week.

I just watched this online, and I loved it. I can't remember the last time I watched a comedy (it was definitely during the Seinfeld/Friends era), but this one made me laugh out loud several times. And I was having a really, really shitty day, and was not predisposed to laughter.

I agree with those who get a John Hamm vibe from the lead. And, while I thought he was fine, the ones whose delivery floored me were Andrea Anders and Malcolm Barrett. (Barrett reminds me a lot of Dave Chapelle, but with a severely contained exterior.) Barrett's delivery of "I'm definitely goin' in there. Sometime. Twice also. As well," was perfect. I'd probably have been similarly impressed with Portia di Rossi's delivery, had I not already known how good she was. But, damn, she does do that brittle female corporate exec better than just about anyone.

I'll tune in again. But online is working for me right now.

May I just ask, why are so many people holding this show up to 30 Rock and AD?

I love The Office, 30 Rock and Arrested Development. But, I wouldn't keep comparing every single new comedy to those shows because I think that is a tall order to compete with the varying greatness of those shows.

I'm sorry, I just feel like shows are doomed to fail or not live up to expectations if they're going to be continuously compared to what some (especially me) perceive as remarkable comedies.

I know this show has a quirky, off-beat feel to it like those shows but I don't think that should automatically trigger constant comparisons.

Once again, this isn't a attack on anyone's opinions, but it's just my opinion.

For what it's worth, when I watched the show, it didn't remind me of The Office, or 30 Rock, or Arrested Development. The show that it reminded me of was NewsRadio.

Workplace comedy? Check.

Quirky characters? Check.

A healthy dose of absurdity? Check!

I loved NewsRadio (still do; watch the DVDs often) because all those elements came together in a way few sitcoms even bother to attempt. It seems that Better Off Ted might become a worthy successor in style, tho'. And I'd be all for that!

Well, they DO have thematic similarities. 30 Rock: no-laugh-track workplace comedy marked by ridiculous, outlandish scenarios. The Office: no-laugh-track workplace comedy with people talking directly to the camera; revels in un-PC humor. AD: no-laugh-track comedy with morally questionable characters balancing absurd/callous humor with family sentimentality; Portia DeRossi.

It's not a stretch to say that Better Off Ted is a conglomeration of these three shows, so I can understand why people would want to make comparisons.

Personally, I wouldn't compare BOT with 30 Rock/Office because people seem to forget that the pilots for 30 Rock/Office were not that good. Both shows stumbled in the first season.

I was giggling all the way through; everyone's line delivery was spot on. The ending seemed a little abrupt, though; I wonder if maybe they were expecting to have a full hour for the pilot and the network split it in half?

Tabbyclaw, I thought the ending was so abrupt too. I prefer when shows end with a title screen of Executive Producer.

I don't mind comparisons to AD and 30 Rock because I think Ted was probably inspired by them. Some say copy, I say inspired because I think Ted will hopefully develop a clear voice of its own.

Tim Goodman's review in SFGate ("Better Off Ted" Develops Laughs) points out similarities with "Andy Richter Controls the Universe," which I'm not familiar with. Of particular note is Goodman's observation that "the show improves with every episode." And this has me stoked:

I thought it was just ok. I got more of a Malcolm in the Middle vibe, with the guy breaking the fourth wall all of the time, from it than anything else. Never liked that show, so that's not really a compliment. I did love how deadpan Portia di Rossi's character was.