When the first season of Ted came out on Peacock in the spring of 2024, the shift of cancel culture led many to revisit shows like The Sopranos and Entourage, wondering how characters like these could survive in today’s climate. Of course, now, anyone, from someone with a social media account or someone in a higher office, can say something so incredibly offensive that hardly anyone would give it much thought.
That made me wonder if the return of Ted’s second season would lose some of its edge. Not that writer and creator Seth MacFarlane has lost his edge, but whether the show’s brand of gut-busting hilarity would push the envelope as much as it did in the first stellar season. However, the madcap genius behind the Ted film franchise and Family Guy signature blend of social, political, and cultural satire is as funny and relevant as ever.
Not to mention an irresistible combination of irreverent bite and unexpected heart.
The story continues to follow Ted (voiced to comic perfection by Seth MacFarlane) and his best friend, John (Parenthood’s Max Burkholder), as they reach their senior year of high school. They come from a blue-collar Boston family and live with John’s parents, Matty (Band of Brothers alum Scott Grimes) and Susan (Coco’s Alanna Ubach, the show’s secret comic weapon), who try to manage the boys’ indiscretions through love and, well, tough love.
Also living with them is Blaire (Giorgia Whigham), the voice of reason, who needs a copious amount of pot to get through the day. The liberal college student is outspoken about her Uncle Matty’s conservative opinions, while Susan remains the glue that holds the family together. The writing is particularly strong this season. Mostly in the way Matty and Susan’s characters peel back layers to explain why the patriarch is so prickly and why the matriarch is so self-effacing.
This year, the boys are obsessed with sex, using a school phone line to call 1-900 numbers and run up a bill of five grand, while pushing boundaries. Which, at one point, Ted, ugh, straps on some manhood in hopes of having his Mrs. Robinson moment. The season is filled with jaw-dropping, laugh-out-loud, bonkers moments, unlike any sitcom on television, network, or streaming.
I’ll start by saying that, like many sophomore streaming seasons, the second effort is a bit bloated, ranging from self-indulgent stretches to episodes with an extraordinary amount of layered joke intensity. You simply cannot help but admire the attempt. MacFarlane’s humor has always been smarter than it gets credit for (and its audience). The style offers a complement of sophomoric humor without patronizing the viewer.
MacFarlane’s writing, like in the first season, still does a wonderful job of filtering social and political commentary through an adolescent lens. You will notice that the adults, like Scott Grimes’s Matty, are stunted in their arrested development. Meanwhile, Ted and Burkholder’s John navigate adolescence themselves with dirty, wide-eyed innocence that is not only hilarious but endearing. Their confusion and insecurity fuel the comedy like no other.
This strange coming-of-age comedy delivers outrageous humor alongside unexpected emotional depth. Yes, the series fills the streaming screen with sarcasm, skepticism, and occasional wisdom. However, if you look closely, this is intentional. MacFarlane begins exposing cultural absurdities. He does so with such sharpness that you can almost call it brilliant. It’s the kind of social satire we haven’t fully embraced since All in the Family.
MacFarlane understands that comedy provokes laughter by poking at social conventions that some people once treated as holier-than-thou. That is what continues to make Ted so bold, brash, and brazen. This show is a gift to comedy fans. The ones who long for the days when sitcoms didn’t just push the envelope, they obliterated it. MacFarlane and the talented cast find that sweet spot where naivety becomes the comic engine.
That is the part that will keep the audience coming back again and again.
Season 2 ofTed is now streaming exclusively on Peacock.
Seth MacFarlane’s Ted returns with uproarious, side-splitting second season.
I am a film and television critic and a proud member of the Las Vegas Film Critic Society, Critics Choice Association, and a 🍅 Rotten Tomatoes/Tomato meter approved. However, I still put on my pants one leg at a time, and that’s when I often stumble over. When I’m not writing about movies, I patiently wait for the next Pearl Jam album and pass the time by scratching my wife’s back on Sunday afternoons while she watches endless reruns of California Dreams. I was proclaimed the smartest reviewer alive by actor Jason Isaacs, but I chose to ignore his obvious sarcasm. You can also find my work on InSession Film, Ready Steady Cut, Hidden Remote, Music City Drive-In, Nerd Alert, and Film Focus Online.
