Interview: ‘Ted’ Cast on How Peacock’s Latest Comedy Packs a Punch

More than a decade ago, Seth MacFarlane amused the world by creating Ted, a teddy bear that came to life, but didn’t have the attituted that could be expected from a friendly toy. Ted and John (Mark Wahlberg) were the best friends in the world, with their relationship getting in the way of John’s romance with Lori (Mila Kunis).

So many years after that, a younger version of John (Max Burkholder) and Ted star in their own Peacock television series. Awards Radar had the opportunity of speaking with the cast of the show, including Alanna Ubach, Scott Grimes and Giorgia Whigham, as they share the spotlight with MacFarlane’s unpredictable bear in a new comedy that will bring back everything audiences loved about the two films featuring the character.

Max Burkholder was very happy about the possibility of improvising so much as the younger version of John: “It was so fun! The set was a well-oiled machine that allowed us to get for every single scene and every single shot, a take as was written that we liked. And then there was much room as we wanted to play around. If anybody had an idea, we could ask for another take and pitch it and talk to each other about it. In the second episode “My Two Dads”, there’s a bit I thought of on the spot that did make it in that I’m happy about.”

Alanna Ubach, who plays Susan Bennett in Ted, explained what it was like to work with the digital bear as a screen partner: “Seth MacFarlane directed every single episode, and while he was on set, they gave him these motion capture elements that were attached to his body, so we captured all of his gesticulations and emoting. And then they would super impose it behind the actual bear in post-production. While we were on set, it was a challenge to be hearing Seth’s voice from this way and the eyeline was that way. It was a challenge, but a really fun one.”

Paul Corrigan and Brad Walsh, the producers behind Ted who worked also on Modern Family, were excited to take on a project aimed at a very different audience than their previous project. Corrigan stated: “We’re still making family comedy. The process of coming up with those stories an exploring them is similar. You wind up exploring these relationships of best friend, brother, sister, father, mother and son. But yes, the challenge of bringing the tone of Ted to a situation comedy was something that was very challenging for us, but it also attracted us to the project”.

Walsh added: “Yeah, we had a great writing room. They went to town on pitching on these things. At the end of the day, we had the ability to pick and choose what we wanted to use and it made it a little bit easier.

All episodes of Ted are streaming exclusively Peacock.