Though this post will be mostly about "Better Off Ted" (as pictured above), I do want to give "Scrubs (Med)" a mention as well. Last Tuesday was the final scheduled airing of both shows on ABC. Both were not expected to be back this year, but ABC chose to give them both 13 episodes and another shot, which was amazing for me. Unfortunately the shows continued to draw very low ratings, and not so amazing for me it seems that they are both done.
So first, "Scrubs" and its new format for season 9. The first couple of episodes weren't too great, featuring only a few funny moments. This did not last, as the most recent couple episodes have been, in my mind, very good. There are a couple reasons for why this happened. The first is that the show had a mostly new cast, and time was needed to introduce the new characters which took away from what the show could do.
This was met with the second thing that didn't work, and that was Zach Braff on the show as J.D.. He appeared in 6 episodes, and most of the ones he was in were the bad ones. This was largely due to the fact that they focused too much on him, and not enough of the new characters, who were the new stars. With that they also had him doing too much narration along with Lucy's narration. I think it would have worked if it was shifted either one way or the other, and I'd really prefer that Lucy had taken over.
But when those issues were not being presented, the show worked very well. Lucy wasn't the most enjoyable character in that I didn't care about her perspective as opposed to when the show first started and J.D.'s perspective is what made the show great. I guess this had a lot to do with not wanting to repeat the same things, but oh well. Drew was a great character who became much funnier as it went on. Dr. Cox wasn't as funny this time around, but still great as always. Turk was kind of annoying, but nice to have still. Denise was a nice choice to bring back from season 8, and provided a lot of great jokes.
Then there was Cole. Originally, I hated him. He was douchey, annoying, and a real turn off. Then....he grew on me. Suddenly his doucheyness wasn't a bad thing, but a great and hysterical thing. He quickly became the funniest thing on the show by far, and he is what I'll miss most afterwards.
A couple other quick thoughts:
- Nice to see plenty of Dr. Kelso, Elliot and The Todd
- Only one appearance by Jordan and The Janitor, but great none the less
- No Carla? I think Judy Reyes was pregnant so appearing on the show wasn't really too high on her to do list I imagine. Would have been nice to see her again though
Oh yeah...Better Off Ted
Well, this was one of the funniest shows in a long time, and if you didn't watch it you missed out. Pretty much it was "Andy Richter Controls the Universe" 2.0, and failed the same way. The show was outrageous in that it was clearly unbelievable, but that's what made it great.
Light sensors that can't see black people? Golden. Medieval fight club? Golden. Arguing over if you can harm a baby ("they're not indestructible")? Golden. Mordor the magician? Golden. An army general with a man crush? Golden. Putting children to work in the day care service? Golden.
I didn't even mention the pure genius that was Phil and Lem, the lab guys (pictured above long ago testing pepper spray). I'd watch them as a show (webisodes maybe?) any time, they did nothing but make me crack up. Some of the best things they created in the lab....
- Projected noise that can be targeted...and make people puke when used at full capacity (and not to be called "The Voice of God")
- Cleaning a coffee mug with hydrochloric acid (because soap leave a film)
- Buying a family of robots (but not the grandparents)
- Perfect bagels (that don't expand in your throat to kill the person eating them)
- An energy patch that looks exactly like a Band-Aid
- Throwing needles into the ceiling to see whose sticks the longest ("it's gotta stay in for at least a minutes, same rules as losing your virginity")
- A half organic computer that leaks acid-goo, or "ass-goo" for short, but can be fixed with an acid interface, or "ass-face" for short.
All in all, I hope they air the final two episodes at some point. The first season is on DVD, so when the second season comes out I'll get to see them then. The show was hilarious, and is online, so check it out. Even though it's too little, too late, it's worth enjoying while you can.
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