Ted: Season One [Blu-Ray]

Cast: Seth MacFarlane, Max Burkholder, Alanna Ubach

Release Date: September 10, 2024

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Disc Rating: 7/10

Synopsis:

Based on the box office hit and sequel from “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane about a cherished teddy bear that comes to life as the result of a childhood wish, “TED” is an irreverent, side-splitting half hour comedy series about Bostonian teenager John Bennett and his best friend and forever “thunder buddy,” the foul-mouthed stuffed bear, Ted. Set in the ’90s after his moment of fame has passed, Ted is forced to enroll in high school with his best pal John, experiencing the highs and lows of teenage life…one bong hit at a time. While Ted may not be the best influence on John, when it comes down to it, he is always willing to go out on a limb to help his friend and his family.

Serving as a prequel to the hit comedy film and its sequel, the first season of ‘Ted’ explores the earlier days of John and Ted’s friendship in the 1990’s sometime after Ted is brought magically to life and returns from Hollywood after a film career dries up for the unexplainable phenomenon. Now living with John and his parents and spending his time doing, well… basically nothing, Ted is forced to enroll in High School with John after a dangerous accident causes John’s parents to no longer feel comfortable with him staying in their home alone all day. Helping John to deal with his bullying problems and occasionally taking things a bit too far, the duo soon try to help John find his way to being more popular at school, not to mention discover the wonder of smoking pot which changes everything; with their misadventures more often than not leading to hilarious consequences.

The series was created for television by Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy, American Dad) who also returns to reprise the voice of Ted. In addition to MacFarlane, the series additionally stars Max Burkholder (TV’s Parenthood), Alanna Ubach (Bombshell), Scott Grimes (TV’s The Orville), and Giorgia Whigham (TV’s The Punisher) who each do a solid job in their respective roles and help contribute to the fun and hilarity throughout.

Season 1 of ‘Ted’ delivers a wildly entertaining, hilarious and vulgar prequel to the comedy film and its sequel that does a fitting job of exploring the teenage years of John and his beloved living teddy bear and best friend. It never attempts to pull any punches and serves up a frequently offensive and chaotic look at the repeated trouble and mayhem that the two find themselves tangled up in, whether it might be trying to get fake ID’s to rent porn at the local video store or trying to score weed for the sole purpose of getting in trouble (at least initially) and bombing trick or treating children with eggs from the rooftop, and for the most part none of it ends overly well for the pair but in true teenager fashion that certainly never stops them.

‘Ted: Season One’ repeatedly takes on touchy and questionable subjects and even dares to question the reasoning for many touchy topics. Chances are that if you’re even the slightest bit easy to offend it will probably get to you repeatedly, yet at the same time it’s truly refreshing to see a comedy (series or film) so willing to go all out and offend, not to mention take things to a level of vulgarity and crudeness that has become a rarity in today’s world. I can’t even count just how many times it had me bursting out in laughter at one twisted scenario or unexpected comment and it’s quite likely the funniest new show I’ve had the pleasure of all year. If you’re a fan of the films that serve as its basis or simply tend to appreciate Seth MacFarlane’s twisted sense of humor absent of network television’s limitations, then ‘Ted’ is definitely well worth giving a chance and I would highly recommend giving it a whirl whenever possible.

VIDEO:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Ted: Season One’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation with the show’s original 1.78:1 Aspect Ratio on all of the debut season’s episodes. The video presentations look spectacular as a whole and provide clean, sharp and richly detailed presentations on every episode in the season; with the seven episodes even split between two discs for optimum quality. Detail is marvelous across the board with everything from character faces and clothing to the interior of the house and school and everything else looking sharp and pristine throughout. Coloring is rich and sharp, while the darker scenes see no issues with black levels and shadowing. Overall, these are wonderful high definition presentations that look great through and through and should easily excite fans of the series.

AUDIO:

The Blu-ray release features a 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on all 7 Season One episodes. These multichannel soundtracks do their job nicely and offer clean, crisp and occasionally quite immersive audio presentations for every episode on both discs. They take advantage of all five available channels on many occasions in order to send music, some crowd chatter and party noise, along with other tidbits moving throughout the various speakers whenever fitting, while never allowing any dialogue or other simultaneously occurring audio elements to become distorted or rendered problematic in the process. Overall, these are solid 5.1 DTS-HD MA soundtracks that may not be wildly aggressive but more than deliver in every way required of them.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Ted: Season One’ does not include any bonus content.

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

–

Disc Rating: 7/10

–

‘Ted: Season One’ is Now Available to Own on Blu-ray & DVD from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment

–

You can Purchase ‘Ted: Season 1’ on Blu-ray at Amazon HERE!

*Screen-Connections.com is an Amazon Associate that earns from qualifying purchases