While Seth MacFarlane’s Ted and its sequel might not be the most obvious candidates for a television adaptation, it seems that Peacock are keen to develop the property for streaming. Deadline are reporting today that the company have made a straight-to-series live-action order for the talking bear hit, with UCP and MRC Television producing via Fuzzy Door.
As part of the deal, it’s looking likely that MacFarlane will reprise his lead role and voice Ted, but also that there are no current plans for Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis to be joining him from the film franchise. Although things appear to be at a very early stage in terms of plot and casting, Deadline are indicating that the show will be a prequel to the initial 2012 picture, which presumably means we’ll get a new actor playing Wahlberg’s John Bennett at whatever age they choose to make the character.
For those not in the know, Ted sees a teddy bear come to life after Bennett’s childhood wish, and they remain close friends as he ages. Much of the story deals with John and girlfriend Lori (Kunis) trying to help the alcoholic, foul-mouthed Ted accept independence so they can progress to the next stage of their relationship. MacFarlane’s directorial debut became the highest-grossing R-rated original comedy of all time, and led to 2015’s similarly successful, if less critically praised, Ted 2.
Like MacFarlane’s Family Guy and American Dad!, Ted‘s scattershot style might work best in a series format and should be able to maintain its adult content on Peacock. Whether or not the production can deliver as well on its jokes without Wahlberg and Kunis is another question, though, and there’ll be pressure to not retread what we’ve already seen.
But tell us, what do you think of Ted on TV? As ever, let us know in the comments down below.