Peacock’s Ted event series will premiere this Thursday, January 11 at 9 p.m. ET on Showcase in Canada.
The prequel to the Ted films is set in 1993 and Ted the bear’s (Seth MacFarlane) moment of fame has passed. He’s now living back home in Framingham, Massachusetts with his best friend, 16-year-old John Bennett (Parenthood’s Mark Burkholder) along with John’s parents, Matt and Susan (ER’s Scott Grimes and The Family Stone’s Alanna Ubach) and cousin Blair (The Punisher’s Giorgia Whigham). Ted may be a lousy influence on John, but at the end of the day, he’s a loyal pal who’s always willing to go out on a limb for friendship.
MacFarlane’s Ted film franchise starred Mark Wahlberg with the first film premiering in 2012 and the second in 2015.
MacFarlane and writers/co-showrunners had the following to say about the new series:
“Each generation develops its own unique artistic style, its own way of seeing the world. In the twenties, it was the subversive musical phrasings of jazz. In the fifties, it was the bold brushwork of the abstract expressionists. Our generation’s unique art is streaming content based on previously successful intellectual property. In that proud tradition, we humbly give you Ted.
Our series is a prequel to the Ted movies. It takes place in the nineties but is based on the timeless truth that being sixteen sucks. The only thing that makes it tolerable is going through it with a friend, even if that friend is a has-been magical teddy bear with a foul mouth and a proclivity for drug use.
The three of us were teenagers in the nineties and grew up in and around Boston, where the show takes place, so many of these stories are personal for us. We were able to put the characters through some of the same indignities and milestones we experienced back then. Also, we made stuff up (it’s a lot of pages to fill and real life is mostly boring).”
In Canada, Ted will air weekly following its 1-hour premiere on Jan. 11. on Showcase and will stream on STACKTV. In the U.S., all seven episodes will begin streaming on Jan. 11 on Peacock.
