Nov 17, 2023

Trailer and Release Date Set for Seth MacFarlane's "Ted" Spin-Off Series

Peacock has released a trailer for the upcoming "Ted" series based on the popular Seth MacFarlane feature film. All seven episodes of the series will be available on the platform on January 11, 2024.

In the trailer, the photo-realistically anthropomorphized plush protagonist looks as good or better than in "Ted" (2012) and "Ted 2" (2015). This is thanks to Melbourne-based Framestore, the company responsible for animating the protagonist in the series. Earlier this week, MacFarlane wrote on Instagram that Framestore "surpassed themselves with their elaborate VFX work on Peacock's 'Ted. Thanks to our Aussie friends!"

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Set as a prequel to these films, the "Ted" series unfolds in 1993, after Ted's time in the spotlight has faded. Forced to return home to Framingham, Massachusetts, with his best friend, 16-year-old John Bennett, Ted turns out to be a bad influence on the teenage boy.

The series is written, directed, showrun and executive produced by MacFarlane. Paul Corrigan and Brad Walsh are executive producers, writers, and co-writers. MacFarlane's Fuzzy Door Productions is producing along with UCP and MRC, a division of Universal Studios Group.

In a sarcastic statement accompanying the Peacock press release for the trailer, MacFarlane, Corrigan, and Walsh write:

Each generation develops its own artistic style, its own way of looking at the world: in the 20s there was the subversive musical expression of jazz. In the 1950s, there was the bold brushwork of the abstract expressionists. The unique art of our generation is streaming content based on the successful intellectual properties of the past. In honor of that proud tradition, we present Ted.

The series is a prequel to the film Ted. It takes place in the 1990s, but it is based on the eternal truth that "16-year-olds suck." Even if that friend is a magic teddy bear who has a bad mouth, a habit of using drugs, and is already past it.

The three of us were teenagers in the 90s and grew up in and around Boston, where the show is set. So many of these stories are personal to us. We were able to put our characters through the same humiliations and milestones that we experienced back then. We also made up a lot of stuff (because it's a lot of pages and real life is almost always boring).