What I’m Watching: Better Off Ted

Better Off Ted: Season 1, Episode 11 “Mess of a Salesman” (B+)

It was hard for me to imagine an actor who might work as Ted’s brother, but I’m very impressed with the casting choice, Eddie McClintock, star of sci-fi extravaganza “Warehouse 13” and the short-lived comedy series “Crumbs.” He has just the right vibe and immaturity to play Ted’s big bro who is far less accomplished and less serious. The best part about having him around is that he brings out the competitive kid in Ted, and though the actions don’t quite suit Ted, it’s fun to see him try and have such a good time doing it. It’s also refreshing to see that he’s not an abysmal failure and that he’s able to quickly recognize that he’s gone too far with Lem and Phil, whose ill-fated venture into “dealing with it” was quite humorous. It’s a pity that Billy only got the chance to interact with Rose rather than to meet either of the other women in Ted’s life, because that could have been very entertaining. Instead, those two were up to some pretty ridiculous shenanigans intimidating people into giving money to a charity and head-butting the president of the Veridian foundation. Unlike Lucy on this week’s episode of “Scrubs,” Linda is capable of channeling her inner crazy, and it was hilarious to see Veronica cheering her on so excitedly and ferociously. Casting Rick Hoffman of the late “Samantha Who” as the head of the foundation was brilliant, and I hope we see him again. I loved the way that Billy, Lem and Phil saved the day by putting a corpse in the trunk of his car and then documenting him dumping it. It was always as cool as Liz Lemon phoning in a bomb threat to Penn Station to delay someone’s train on “30 Rock” a few weeks ago.

Missing: the final two episodes of this show. Hopefully only the final episodes of the season, not the series, but in any case, it’s not clear that they’re ever airing. If anyone has any information on when or where they might be available, please post in the comments.