On December 12, 2023, Seth MacFarlane, Brad Walsh, and Paul Corrigan, showrunners of Peacock’s new series Ted, concluded a roundtable discussion with college reporters from across the country.
The new series, a prequel to the 2012 hit bawdy comedy of the same name starring Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis, is set in the ’90s and follows high school student John (Max Burkholder) as he grows up with the boys. It is drawn after many experiences. A lively teddy bear and a dysfunctional but loving family.
MacFarlane, who also executive produces, directs and writes the series, talked about how “Ted” will necessarily differ from the original film, allowing for new and exciting stories.
“The fact that it’s a TV series, because of the nature of its format, breathes fresh life into it. We don’t have to tell big, grand, life-changing stories. We don’t have to tell small, epic stories. “It’s better for comedy in the first place because you can tell a story,” he said.
Teenage John is a completely different person than his 35-year-old self, but much of his personality and dynamic is preserved on the small screen. MacFarlane explained that although John and Ted are at different stages in their lives, the characters remain largely unchanged.
“That wasn’t the case. [change] Just like how the characters on “Family Guy” remain the same every year. I was thinking of doing something different with Ted and his voice. There was a time when I thought it would be better to cast someone else. Pete Davidson’s name was denied. Should we hire someone else to voice this early point in the bear’s life? And we got the sense that people just wanted to see the Ted they saw in the movies. ”
The limited series marked the first time in television history that Ted was animated on screen in real time. Visual effects supervisor Brandon Fay and software developer Gene Reddick developed a series of tools that allowed the crew to see Ted live on screen during filming.
“We have a great cast of four very talented actors who actually saw him on set. If you look at the footage of him talking towards him, he’s really doing his part and he’s doing a lot of the heavy lifting as long as he really believes the bear is there,” McFarlane said. .
This new technology allowed MacFarlane to perform as Ted, and the cast could immediately watch takebacks and see the titular bear next to them.
“The fact that we’re doing everything live also makes a big difference. We’re not adding voices after the fact,” MacFarlane added.
Walsh and Corrigan, co-showrunners on “Ted,” also serve as executive producers and writers with MacFarlane, and are showrunners on “Modern Family,” an ABC comedy that ran for 11 seasons about a large, complex family. He is best known for his role in the military. He brought that experience to the families featured on “Ted.”
“[‘Modern Family’] For us, it was like graduate school learning how to tell a story. So we tried to bring that to ‘Ted,”’ Walsh said.
One of the challenges for the series was finding a cast that could allow the film to shine while also doing justice to the beloved film.
“I think we all breathed a sigh of relief when we thought, ‘Here’s someone who’s talented enough, funny enough, and could grow up to be Mark Wahlberg,'” Corrigan said. He talked about Burkholder, who stars in the series.
Given the series’ signature bold comedy, Walsh and Corrigan found it particularly gratifying to return to John’s senior year of high school.
“What I noticed right away on this shift was the innocence in the characters as you interacted with them as teenagers,” Walsh said.
As a limited series, the new “Ted” had to be different from the original film, but television giants Walsh and Corrigan very much liked it as an official change.
“When you make a movie, you change the character and drop him off in a different place than he started with, whereas with episodic television, it kind of comes full circle,” Walsh said.
—Staff writer Millie Mae Healy can be reached at [email protected].