Ted (stylized in all lowercase) is an American fantasy comedy miniseries created by Seth MacFarlane for Peacock. The third installment in the Ted franchise, it serves as a prequel to the feature films. It stars MacFarlane reprising his role as the voice of the titular character, alongside Max Burkholder, Alanna Ubach, Scott Grimes, and Giorgia Whigham. It premiered on January 11, 2024, and received positive reviews from critics.

Set in 1993–94, in between the opening sequence and main plot of Ted (2012), the series depicts the early life of a sentient teddy bear toy named Ted, as he lives with 16-year-old John Bennett and his family in Framingham, Massachusetts.^[1] In addition to John and Ted, the Bennett household includes John's father Matty, his mother Susan, and his cousin, Blaire, who is living with them while attending a college nearby. In the pilot episode, Ted is soon forced to attend school with John because of all the trouble he causes while the rest of the family is at school or work.

It was announced in June 2021 that Peacock had given a straight-to-series order for a prequel series to the 2012 film. In addition to serving as executive producer for the series, Seth MacFarlane reprises his role as the titular character Ted. Due to the prequel nature of the series, film stars Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, and Amanda Seyfried were not expected to reprise their roles.^[3] In April 2022, Scott Grimes, Max Burkholder, and Giorgia Whigham joined the cast.^[4] In May 2022, Alanna Ubach rounded out the cast of the series.^[5]

MacFarlane stated that he was offered a chance to make a Ted television series by Universal, following the success of the films, and agreed to do it so long as the CGI on Ted was not "nickel-and-dimed." He ultimately decided on a prequel as opposed to a continuation from where Ted 2 left off, citing the greater story potential and Wahlberg's busy schedule.^[6] MacFarlane also noted the appeal of doing a streaming show in which the main character is CGI, something he had not really seen before.^[7] According to Burkholder, each of the main cast members had to walk around with a life-sized replica of Ted for three months to prepare for their roles before filming.^[8]

Filming began in August 2022 at the Universal Studios Lot.^[9][10] The show was produced with ViewScreen, a new program developed at Fuzzy Door Productions that allowed special effects to be viewed in real-time while filming instead of waiting to add them in post.^[11] The series consists of seven episodes. In November 2022, Seth MacFarlane confirmed that filming had wrapped.^[12]

The show's premiere took place on January 10, 2024, at the AMC Cinema at The Grove in Los Angeles.^[13]

All seven episodes of Ted were released on January 11, 2024.^[14] Within the first three days after its premiere, the series became the most-watched original title on Peacock.^[15] In the UK, the series was released on Sky as eight episodes, with episode one split into two parts, premiering on February 9, 2024.^[16]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 74% of 34 reviews are positive for the series, with an average rating of 7/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "The silly old bear isn't quite up to new tricks with this foul-mouthed sitcom, but fans of Seth MacFarlane's caustic comedy will get plenty of kick out of Ted's latest antics."^[17] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 51 out of 100 based on 18 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[18]

Nick Schager of The Daily Beast gave the season a positive review, praising its humor and handling of political themes, even stating that the series "earns quite a few more chuckles than its big-screen counterparts."^[19] Chris Vognar of Rolling Stone was similarly optimistic, describing the show as "silly" and "juvenile" but full of laughs nonetheless.^[20] Neal Justin of Star Tribune described Ted as "actually kind of sweet––and noble", praising its comedy and heart.^[21]

Variety's Allison Herman was far more critical, describing the franchise as "not the kind of story that requires expansion" and criticizing the show's similarity to the movies and lack of identity. She also criticized the series' 40-minute runtime and low episode count, describing seven episodes as "when an actual network sitcom would just be getting started."^[22] Angie Han of The Hollywood Reporter gave the show a mixed review, praising the casting and the chemistry between MacFarlane and Burkholder, but criticized the episodes' length and pacing. She stated that "for every element that clicks, there are a half dozen more that don't" and suggested that Seth MacFarlane might be getting in his own way.^[23] Anita Singh of the Telegraph awarded the series one star out of five, writing “Seth MacFarlane’s sweary Paddington has one joke… and it isn't big, it isn't clever and it's certainly not funny.”^[24]