Drama
Doctor Who
The good Doctor’s been flitting around time, space and the BBC since 1963. Now he’s also a fixture in the US, toting his curiously British brand of sci-fi in his highly mobile TARDIS. Just how safe is this contraption?
“The thing is, work’s not about right and wrong,” the title character tells us in Better Off Ted. “It’s about success or failure.” But, while Ted may say this, he doesn’t really believe it—and neither, apparently, does this ABC comedy. Ted is the head of research and development at Veridian Dynamics, a fictional business conglomerate that makes everything from itchy office chairs (uncomfortable employees work harder, researchers discover) to weaponized pumpkins. It’s a company without a moral compass, and glib, conflicted Ted—a single father—must often turn to his grade school daughter, Rose, to help him determine what’s right and wrong.
This series premiere episode opens with a fictional commercial for Veridian Dynamics, in which the silky-voiced narrator tells us all manner of things the company makes—from medicine to cosmetics to cows.
“No, we don’t make cows,” the announcer amends. “Although we have made a sheep.”
The insinuation is obvious: This is a company that asks only what it could do, never mind whether it should. Ted’s the guy in charge of making all these inventions happen. Now boss Veronica tells him they’re going to try to cryogenically freeze a hapless employee “just to see if it’s possible.”
Cold? Perhaps. But these sorts of outlandish dilemmas are what push viewers to drill down to the show’s core—finding morality in an ethics-free workplace.
I’m not sure I should admit this to my editor, but at first blush, I kinda liked this show—more than most reviewers, I think. It made me laugh a few times, and I appreciated the fact that the episode had the semblance of a moral. When Ted bounces the pros and cons of freezing a colleague off his patient, ever-so-wise daughter, she tells him that it’s wrong to ask someone to do something you’re not willing to do yourself.
“You’re right,” Ted says. “You’re always right. Because stupidly I taught you right and wrong.”
The premiere has its share of problems—ones that threaten to become bigger as (or if) the show wears on. Language won’t cause anyone’s ears to fall off, but characters do misuse God’s name and say words like “suck” and “crap.” Men are seen sitting on toilets. Sparks fly between Ted and cute researcher Linda, and we learn that Ted also once had an affair with Veronica. I fully expect to have to see much more of this love triangle in the near future.
Plus, Linda seems to steal an awful lot of coffee creamer.
But condiments and prognostications aside, the episode still gave me a warm, toasty feeling inside—more than I can say for the cryogenically frozen employee.
Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.
The good Doctor’s been flitting around time, space and the BBC since 1963. Now he’s also a fixture in the US, toting his curiously British brand of sci-fi in his highly mobile TARDIS. Just how safe is this contraption?
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