• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, January 9, 2024

Seth MacFarlane ought to have his mouth washed out with soap, but if he did that, his TV shows would be unrecognizable.

A brand's a brand, right? The MacFarlane content brand is profane, intentionally immature and even daring, in that no-holds-barred comedy kind of way.

The brand has something else too: A very high standard of production quality, whether animated or live-action.

Plus, the man is one of the great voice artists of cartoon history. Just when I was about to type that his voice credits are incalculable, I saw online that they are calculable -- 187, according to behindthevoiceactors.com.

One of them is Ted, the talking Teddy Bear from two “Ted” movies, starring Mark Wahlberg as an adult who still pals around with his childhood plush toy, which just happens to possess the power of speech.

The movies have spawned a new “Ted” TV series premiering this week on Peacock. The show is styled as a prequel to the two movies, which took place in the present day of the years they were released, 2012 and 2015.

MacFarlane returns as the voice of Ted because, after all, what would the “Ted” universe be without him?

Yes, now there is a “Ted universe,” which makes the Ted brand fertile with possibilities. I wonder if there is a Ted toy that makes outrageous statements when you press his stomach, or pull a string in his back, as the old talking toys used to do.

The new “Ted” is hilarious and filthy -- two words that sum up the MacFarlane brand as well as any.

The show starts with a very brief explanation of how this talking teddy bear came to be. It happened in 1985 when a little boy named John Bennett felt lonely and made a wish that his beloved teddy bear would come to life -- which is just what happened.

The TV show picks up the story of their friendship in 1995 when John (Max Burkholder), 16, is a young high school student, while Ted spends his days on the Bennett family couch watching game shows on TV.

Like in the movies, Ted is a terrible influence on John, including participating in John s first pot-smoking experience in Episode One of the TV show.

Fans of the movies already know that the two will continue to share this bond -- and bong -- long into the Mark Wahlberg “Ted” era.

The first episode of “Ted” (of seven) has John's father ordering Ted to attend John's high school after it became evident that Ted cannot be left home alone all day.

The “Ted” movies and TV show successfully perform the trick of starting with a premise that is completely, 110% absurd, but then makes it real, as if all teddy bears talk and go around making profane, politically incorrect wisecracks.

Ted does all these things, yet illogically and perversely manages to remain endearing.

As for Seth MacFarlane's mouth being washed out with soap, the TV Blog was only kidding.

Besides, has anyone ever heard of anyone actually making good on this threat to put soap in a kid’s mouth and wash it out?

“Ted” starts streaming with all seven episodes on Thursday, January 11, on Peacock.