Seth MacFarlane, Brad Walsh, Paul Corrigan explore origins of the Thunder Buddies in ‘Ted’ prequel series
On Dec. 12, The Panther attended two virtual roundtables with the creatives behind Peacock’s “Ted” to discuss the show’s innovative technological filmmaking, the series’ relationship to the source material and drawing upon real life for authenticity. Photos courtesy of Peacock
The quest to rent an adult movie. Talking to a crush. Taking a puff of weed for the first time. These universal tales of teenagers in 1993 may align with grounded, small-scope comedy series, but Peacock’s new show “Ted” features a historic technological achievement in the form of the show’s titular character. Canonically, the foul-mouthed teddy bear may have been brought to life by a wish, but in production, he’s a product of state-of-the-art visual effects.
A prequel to the films “Ted” and “Ted 2,” the series marks the first show in television history to film an animated character in real-time. Seth MacFarlane, the showrunner, executive producer, director and voice of Ted, spoke to The Panther about accomplishing this feat.
“It’s multifaceted to achieve something like this. It’s part technical, part creative,” MacFarlane told The Panther. “We used a system that we developed at Fuzzy Door (Productions) called ViewScreen that we perfected on ‘The Orville,’ and then it really came to fruition on ‘Ted’ — it allows the camera operator to see the bear when they’re shooting.
The prequel series, which airs on Jan. 11, 2024, focuses on Ted (pictured right, voiced by Seth MacFarlane) and the 16-year-old version of John Bennett, who is portrayed by Mark Wahlberg in the films. In the new series, Bennett is played by Max Burkholder (pictured left), who previously starred in the 2010 comedy drama series Parenthood.
MacFarlane continued: “That was a big step forward for us. You really have to know where this guy is in the frame. In addition, a lot of it is just the performance of the actors — the actors really believing the bear is there — and we have a great cast of four immensely talented actors who really saw him in the room.”
On Dec. 12, The Panther attended two virtual roundtables alongside several other college publications around the country to discuss the upcoming series “Ted,” which will premiere on Peacock on Jan. 11, 2024. Publications were granted the opportunity to watch the series’ first five episodes before chatting with MacFarlane, Brad Walsh and Paul Corrigan — all showrunners, executive producers and writers of the show.
After over a decade as producers and writers on “Modern Family,” Walsh and Corrigan were brought on as creatives thanks to their experience navigating dysfunctional family dynamics. The family-centric approach to the series spotlights 16-year-old John Bennett (Max Burkholder) — portrayed by Mark Wahlberg in the films — his mother Susan (Alanna Ubach), father Matty (Scott Grimes) and cousin Blaire (Giorgia Whigham).
As with all their creative endeavors, Walsh and Corrigan drew from their own experiences to fill the script pages. Walsh spoke about one of the show’s storylines inspired by his own life.
“There’s this story where Matty, the father character, is afraid to get a procedure — a colonoscopy — because he’s scared that when he’s under anesthesia, he’ll reveal ‘his secrets,’” Walsh told The Panther.
Walsh continued: “I’m somewhat embarrassed to admit to you that I had a minor surgery on my finger that I had to get, and I was petrified that I would say something while under anesthesia. What I was worried about, I don’t really know. I think it’s a relatable story. We’re all afraid that if our true selves come out, people won’t love us. The room responded to that, and we decided to build it out as a B-story for that episode.”
Corrigan added that his New England upbringing around the same period in the show helped deliver a layer of authenticity to their world.
The team's innovative filmmaking techniques contributed an additional layer of authenticity because of the real-time approach. MacFarlane could deliver lines as his physical movements were motion captured and the actors interacted with a stand-in teddy bear.
“One of my big complaints about films that have animated characters in them is that there’s always sort of antiseptic quality because usually, the celebrity is not there on set,” MacFarlane told The Panther. “They’re recording months later or months earlier. That energy between two actors doesn’t really exist, so we wanted to make that our hallmark. For the series, it was the same goal, and I think that turned out really well.”
The show’s producers were tasked with a myriad of decisions to tackle such as finding an actor who could plausibly grow up to be Wahlberg or whether MacFarlane should hand over the voice reins. One creative decision that needed little debate was changing the format of “Ted” to a television show as opposed to a third feature film.
MacFarlane spoke to the college publications about his preference for writing television because of the smaller scale of the stories. He didn’t have to focus on grand, life-changing moments and could instead hone in on the day-to-day life in the ‘90s for a family with a talking teddy bear.
“To do just another feature would be a little puzzling at this point. I think the fact that it is a television series, just by the nature of the format, injects some fresh life into it… I think for fans of the movie, we can promise them that what they’re going to see is absolutely, tonally true to the first movie. We have not toned it down or softened it or made it any less than what it was.”
While tonally true to the original films, the series includes a new layer of purity and naivety as young John Bennett explores the turbulence of adolescence alongside his “thunder buddy for life.”
“A shift I noted immediately was the innocence that is in the characters when you’re dealing with them as teenagers,” Walsh said. “(MacFarlane) wrote the pilot, and that was immediately evident in the pilot, that while it’s very tonally consistent and it’s very much still the Ted franchise… it’s fun to explore a younger version of both of them as they become young men.”
Corrigan added: “We like to explore the times of first dates and the first time they rented an adult movie. I think automatically, when you tell those stories, you begin to see a different aspect of their relationship and how they get to know each other.”
MacFarlane acknowledged the risk of releasing new Ted content so long after the original content and promised one thing to fans of the films.
“We poured our guts into the show, and I think we did the absolute best we could so if there is still an appetite for this character, it will be well-satiated by this series,” MacFarlane said.
All seven episodes “Ted” will be available to stream on Peacock on Jan. 11, 2024.
