This past March, Ted returned for a second season on Peacock and was once again met with solid reviews and big laughs. The first season became the most-watched original title on Universal’s streaming service, so fans were certainly eager for more. Now that season 2 has arrived, however, there’s certainly curiosity as to what is next for the series. An animated series was previously announced, but what about Season three? Series creator and star Seth MacFarlane has noted how costly it is to produce a season of Ted, but is that really what’s going on?
During this year’s WonderCon, the live-action cast of Ted was in town to discuss the new season and certainly had high hopes that this would not be their last chance to portray these characters. Learning about this and more, I was happy to speak with stars Alanna Ubach (Susan Bennett), Scott Grimes (Matty Bennett), Max Burkholder (John Bennett), and Giorgia Whigham (Blaire Bennett). Whether or not audiences eventually do get to see another season of Ted, they all had plenty of great things to share about making this latest season.
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Getting Back Into The Rhythm
Naturally, one of the main challenges is always going to be having a completely CG character integrated into the story, let alone one the size of a teddy bear. While this was covered in plenty of detail when the first season came out, there are always new challenges to consider. For Grimes, however, it was about keeping it the same. Rather than try to up the ante with more money or explore wild new limits, this show requires a more familiar approach. As he explained, “It’s a great testament to Seth in wanting to keep it exactly the same. Like ’80s sitcoms. I mean, I watch Who’s the Boss?, I don’t know which season you’re watching. So, I think it was really easy for people to either overdo the character now that they’re confident with it, but for our show—no, we kept it exactly the same. I’m really proud of it.”
Whigham had similar thoughts about the technical aspect. She notes, “I don’t say that lightly, you know, not in an ‘I knew everything’ way. I think we all—it’s a testament to the actors—we all really worked so hard on Season 1 learning how to navigate Ted and like his non-existence physically, that it only took like half a day to jump right back into it. And I think we just got so much experience in Season 1 with the groove of the way the set was run that, yeah, we just jumped in.”
More important was finding the characters’ voices again and being able to nail the spontaneous feelings of a given scene. As Burkholder states, “By the end of Season 1, I got used to the rhythm of working with the bear. So it really, it was like slipping back into that same old routine…Seth is just off-camera reading the bear’s lines, which I don’t know how well it would work if you weren’t doing that. That timing and his particular sense of humor are so fucking important to it.”
With Ubach, not only was the routine important to get back, but the specific voice she chose for Susan. As she explains, “I’m such a freaking acting geek. It was like, “Okay, what was that accent again?” It takes a while, all of a sudden, you know, when people have these like year-and-a-half hiatuses. I don’t know how Zendaya is like, ‘Oh yeah, yeah, I’ll see you in five years, Euphoria!’ And then first day of shooting, you have to be someone completely different from who you were, you know, in cahoots with, or whose costume you were wearing years ago. So that’s always the big challenge. The first three days of shooting, you’re like Bambi on ice.”
Bringing In The Drama
While not unheard of to find dramatic angles to lean on in sitcoms now and again, the raunchiness of Ted doesn’t always seem like it naturally fits for the series to take sudden, darker turns. Not that either season of Ted ever skews too far in a dramatic direction, but this is still a series that has chosen to take on deeper topics such as abortion, coming out to one’s family, and American politics. It’s particularly the case when it comes to the arguments between Matty and Blaire, which usually lead the two to an understanding despite their differences, making for one of the show’s more complex relationships. That said, this doesn’t rule out humor, let alone the challenges of doing both at the same time. One episode focuses on Matty suddenly developing a love for rom-coms.
As Grimes describes it, “I really love doing the drama scenes here because it weighs the show in something more than just comedy. And doing them with Blair—like I love that rom-com episode where we’re watching Steel Magnolias. Oh my God. And we—those were tough because Seth sat me down and he was like, ‘I need you to cry.’ And I don’t have a problem crying—I’ve been through a lot in life, so there’s a lot to pull from. But I love those drama scenes because also, they make people like, I think, like Matty more, seeing that kind of vulnerability.”
Whigham had similar things to say here. “I think after having done comedy on Ted, there’s no telling which way I want my career to go because I’m so happy doing comedy; it was really fun. But I got my start in drama, you know, in dramatic roles. So, I do kind of always want to come back to that a little bit. But yeah, I love taking on dramatic roles.”
Meanwhile, as John and Ted largely remain comic characters on the show, I did wonder if there was any interesting in moving more in that dramatic direction. As Burkholder explains, “I don’t know, man. Like, the closest we got there’s the abortion episode, which is very good. But I mean, like, let’s, let’s be real. Georgia does the heavy lifting there. But do I wish that there was more? I don’t know, yes and no. I mean, like, I feel like nothing that intense or serious can happen to John because, like, the first big test of his life comes in the first movie.”
Who Is Ted To You?
One of the larger questions that had always lingered in my mind surrounded each character’s connection to Ted and what he means to them. For Ubach, “Ted to me is just the most adorable, well-trained family dog in the world. It’s like having Lassie or Flipper. You can communicate, and I think he’s so adorable. He saved my son from loneliness, being the only child, and he shared all his dreams with us, which we couldn’t really understand. But now this person becomes like his little caretaker, and he’s the ultimate ‘manny’ and pet to me.
For Grimes, “See, I always thought Matty thought of Ted as his son. Because if you watch the show, he rarely complains about any bad influence that either Ted—they’re a bad influence on each other, or a good influence on each other. Just like brothers would be, so I always just treated Ted like a little bit of an older brother to John. So I—I think, because right, unless I’m mistaken, Matty never really complains about Ted being there or having to feed Ted or anything like that.”
Burkholder’s take is a bit simpler and in line with the film, “I feel like there’s a lot of, like, temptation to make John and Ted’s relationship anything other than it is. They’re just best friends. That’s really what it is. It’s not a brother’s relationship. Uh, you know, Susan and Matty don’t see Ted as a son, right? It’s, it’s not a brother’s relationship. It is, like, a best friend relationship.”
For Whigham, I actually noted that, despite their differences in intellect, they may be the two who tend to agree the most. She responded, “That’s so funny, I’ve never thought about that. You’re right! Yeah, the way we get along… I think you might be right. I’m definitely seeing it in a different light now.”
An Endless Supply of Ted and the Bennetts
I noted with each of them how much I hope the show returns and gives us more of these fun stories. Of course, they agreed, without hinting at what would be coming down the line. That said, I did ask them where they think their characters would be in the future. With Burkholder, it is simple enough since the two movies detail exactly what happens with John’s character. Still, the others had some fun ideas.
For Blaire, Whigham suggested, “I think Blaire, in my opinion, finishes college and gets some sort of degree in English or writing. I was always reading a book on poetry—if you noticed that big textbook, it was poetry. I was actually reading it! I was actually super into it because I love poetry and writing and stuff. It’s always like they’ll storm into the room, and I’d have this giant thing. I would be like highlighting actual things that I loved, and then I’d miss my line cue. But I think she’s living in the greater Boston area, in the city. I think she loves the city. I think she loves where she is, honestly. I just don’t know if she loves the exact living circumstances. But I could see her living in like a loft with a partner, whoever that may be.”
Grimes actually hinted at the upcoming animated series with his answer. “Well, you’ll see a little of that in the Ted cartoon. So, I’m in that as well, as his dad. So, you’ll see—I can’t give it away. But they just—you know, Matty and Susan are set in their ways. The couch never changes. Which is what, again, what I said—people like that kind of thing that doesn’t change. So Matty and Susan do not change. They are perpetually—I always said like they’re 55 years old all the time, whether it was in their 30s or in their 70s. So, you could do a spinoff, especially with this one, because Alanna [Ubach] is one of the best actors you’ll ever see in your life. I would die to do a spinoff of her and I—fuck, we don’t need Ted!“
Ubach, who gets a terrific episode that allows her to explore the outside world on her own, where she’s inadvertently incarcerated for a brief period, also had her own thoughts on the matter. “Oh my God, the possibilities are flipping endless to me because its character driven. These characters could go anywhere. You know, Ted could go back to college, and it’s all about me sending him the most ultimate care packages in the world. Or she opens maybe her own Bible store. I think that would be wonderful… Oh gosh, that empty nest year! When they’re gone, and they’re on their own, I’d probably stalk my son. I’m sure she’s right outside with the station wagon and binoculars across the street from him. She’s always watching.”
Given the positive reception of the series and its popularity on Peacock, I do hope this isn’t the last we’ll see of the series, let alone this cast who really love being together, working on this show.
Ted seasons one and two are now streaming on Peacock.
