Peacock's Ted TV Series Trailer Sends Seth MacFarlane's Foul-Mouthed Teddy Bear To School
After the big screen delivered the marijuana and beer-fueled antics of John Bennett (Mark Wahlberg) and his living teddy bear in Seth MacFarlane's "Ted" franchise, the raunchy debauchery of the longtime friends is coming to Peacock in the form of a prequel TV series. Thankfully, since this is streaming, "Ted" can be just as raunchy as the movies. However, because this is a prequel series, there's no Mark Wahlberg screwing around with Ted. Instead, we have a 16-year-old John Bennett (Max Burkholder) enduring the trials and tribulations of high school with Ted by his side, and having a living teddy bear as your best friend in school goes about as well as you'd expect for a teenager in the 1990s.
The "Ted" trailer (watch above) just debuted from Peacock, giving us a blend of your average sitcom with the R-rated comedy of a cable series. After riding a wave of fame from being the world's first living toy, Ted is now living an average life back with John's family. That means John's parents (Scott Grimes and Alanna Ubach) have a big part to play, and there's also cousin Blaire (Giorgia Whigham) hanging around too. And it's 1993, so this kinda feels like Seth MacFarlane's own version of "The Goldbergs," the series from Adam Goldberg that was charmingly nostalgic about the 1980s. Though I'm betting this will skewer the decade more than look back on it quite so fondly.
Thunder buddies for life
Based on the trailer, this looks like a fairly formulaic sitcom approach to Ted's earlier years, but there's plenty of room for fun. Having Ted around during John's formative years allows for plenty of teenage shenanigans. Considering MacFarlane broke out with his irreverent spin on the animated sitcom with "Family Guy," I'm hoping he's got some more tricks up his sleeve for a live-action sitcom.
Having directed, produced, written, and starred in both "Ted" movies, Seth MacFarlane is doing it all again for the Peacock series, including acting as showrunner. Joining him as executive producers, writers, and co-showrunners are Paul Corrigan and Brad Walsh, who both worked on the entire series run of "Modern Family" and nearly two dozen episodes of "King of the Hill." Erica Huggins, Alana Kleiman, Jason Clark, and Aimee Carlson also serve as executive producers.
Here's the official synopsis for the "Ted" series from Peacock:
In this comedic prequel event series to the Ted films, it's 1993, and Ted the bear's (Seth MacFarlane) moment of fame has passed. He's now living back home in Framingham, Massachusetts with his best friend, 16-year-old John Bennett (Max Burkholder), along with John's parents, Matty and Susan (Scott Grimes and Alanna Ubach) and cousin Blaire (Giorgia Whigham). Ted may be a lousy influence on John, but at the end of the day, he's a loyal pal who's always willing to go out on a limb for friendship
All seven episodes of "Ted" will debut on Peacock starting on January 11, 2024.