How Seth MacFarlane Pivoted ‘Ted’ to “Outrageously Expensive” Peacock Series

After two feature films, the hedonistic talking teddy bear voiced by Seth MacFarlane is back and hitting the books for a Peacock prequel series.

Currently streaming, Ted is a seven-episode series created by MacFarlane that sees the Family Guy honcho reprising his voice role as the title anthropomorphic stuffed animal who originated in Universal’s 2012 theatrical release of the same name and returned in a 2015 movie sequel. The show is a family-focused comedy set in 1993 that features John (Max Burkholder), the younger version of the character Mark Wahlberg plays in the films, teaming up with Ted as they attempt to make it through high school. Rounding out the show’s cast as John’s kin are Scott Grimes, Alanna Ubach and Giorgia Whigham.

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During a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, MacFarlane discusses what made Burkholder the right fit for John, the feedback he got from Universal and Peacock about the series, and the latest updates on the Hulu sci-fi show The Orville and planned reboot of the Naked Gun franchise that has Liam Neeson attached.

Was there ever a script for a third Ted film, and why did a show become the best option for the franchise?

It was just different. Ted 2, I think, did very well. The story that had been told in the first one had such a clear beginning, middle and end that it felt like we are happily ever after from there, and so where do you really go? But the idea of doing a prequel was a different case. It wasn’t something that I came up with. Universal actually proposed the idea to me of doing a Ted series. I hadn’t really thought about going back to that character until they mentioned it, and I said, “Really? Isn’t that outrageously expensive?” They stayed true to their word and did not compromise the quality.

We’ve seen many motion pictures in which the main character is entirely computer-generated and done so at a feature-quality level, but we’ve never really seen that on television. Originally, the idea was to do Ted as a multicam because that really hasn’t been done, and is there a way that we can have a CGI character that we add in later, but the voice and the shooting is all done with a live audience, so it has the immediacy? And so there was a lot about doing it for television that just seemed like we were, by nature, treading into uncharted territory.

It’s great that this is a comedy series that is unabashedly a comedy. Did you get notes or concerns from anyone involved with the show about jokes going too far?

Not really. Ever since the era of Married… With Children, the family comedy as a wholesome thing has been a taste thing. Either it’s one way, or it’s another. So no, actually the reverse was true. They were very clear from the get-go that they wanted this to be true to the tone of the films. They wanted Ted to be Ted. On many occasions, you’ll hear that from executives, and then when it comes down to making the project, they’ll back away and say, “Well, we didn’t mean that raunchy.” But to their credit, on both the Universal and Peacock side, they stayed with it. They said, “We know what we bought, and we’re going to embrace it.”

The show features plenty of familiar Orville faces, including Max, who plays John. What made him the right fit, and were other actors considered for that part?

No. As a director, my favorite thing — and maybe this makes me lazy — is when an actor comes in already having done the work, and all I’ve got to do is set up the shots. Max is a perfect example of that. He came in, and his audition was so right on the money. Every joke was pitch-perfect. He evoked a little bit of the swagger of Wahlberg, but at the same time, really presented John as the pre-Wahlberg beta male that we established him to be in our backstory in the first movie. We saw a lot of terrific actors who auditioned for the part, but it was just a no-brainer.

What are you most excited for fans to experience with this new iteration of the franchise?

In every episode, there are a handful of scenes that are real set pieces that I think are standout moments. You don’t always know what those are going to be while you’re shooting, and then you put it all together, and you realize that sometimes you’re right, sometimes you’re wrong. What people are going to see is seven episodes that are, in each instance, hopefully as hilarious and as comedically fulfilling as the film was. We really tried to pack them in the same way that we did the films. You can’t send a car through a barn with a television budget like we did in Ted 2. But as far as the interaction of the characters and the situations, we really did try to keep this up to the level, certainly, of the first movie.

Given all of the Ted series’ castmembers who have appeared on The Orville, is this a sign that we haven’t seen the last of Orville? Any chance of a fourth season?

We have not officially seen the last of Orville, no. I would be digging a hole, the bottom of which I can’t see yet, to answer that question. (Laughs.) But all I can say is that the show is not officially ended.

Any there any updates on the planned Naked Gun film reboot that you are producing and is set to star Liam Neeson?

It’s still in development. It’s still moving forward. It’s got some good momentum. [Director] Akiva Schaffer and his team have written a script. They’re brilliant — they’re hysterically funny — and it is still very much alive. In fact, I had a meeting about it [in December]. As far as the exact timing of it as when it might be released, I can’t get specific at this point, but it is very much alive and moving forward.

Congrats on releasing your recent Christmas album, We Wish You the Merriest.

It is our eighth studio album, and it’s the first album that I’ve done with Liz Gillies. It’s crazy that it took us this long. We’ve been friends forever, and we used to travel around the country performing with various symphony orchestras. She’s just a very easy person to blend with harmonically. Her vocal sensibility is similar to mine. I’m glad that we’ve finally gotten around to recording together. I don’t think this will be the last time we record together.

Any talk yet of a Ted season two?

We will have to see how this does.

Ted is now streaming on Peacock.

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