The upcoming ABC comedy, Better off Ted, centers on the staff of the huge, intimidating, and morally questionable company Veridian Dynamics, through the eyes of Ted (Jay Harrington), who is starting to realize maybe his company isn't exactly doing things the right way.

The cast and creators were on hand at the Television Critics Association press your, and executive producer Victor Fresco (Andy Richter Controls the Universe) explained, "I relate to the environment of working for people who don't care about you. It's universal for people who've had jobs."

Playing Ted's tough boss is Arrested Development's Portia de Rossi. Asked what drew her to the role, de Rossi first began to say, "I'm really attracted to strong women." De Rossi, who of course is famously in a relationship with Ellen DeGeneres, then stopped herself and laughed, saying, "Let me rephrase that actually. I'm attracted to strong, female characters."

In the show, Veridian does some very bizarre things in their lab, and Fresco said many of those things are inspired by real science, noting that there's an upcoming episode where, "They're coming up with an idea of how to make beef in a lab. That's something technology is currently working to deliver for us." And as for a major plot point in the first episode, where one of the company's scientists, Phil (Jonathan Slavin), is frozen as part of a cryogenics experiment, Fresco noted, "We haven't frozen anyone [living] yet, but I don't think we're far from it."

The show clearly delves into some outrageous territory, but Fresco said he wanted to explore, "Human relationships and how people react when they're in a stressful environment," and that it was precisely that "they would so matter of factly accept that their company chose to freeze one of their employees" that appealed to him, as it reflected, "The acceptance that people have in a crazy environment."

Asked if there were similarities between her Ted character, Veronica, and Lindsay from Arrested Development, de Rossi said there were some, but it was her character from Ally McBeal that was more similar. She recalled meeting with Fresco, "and I was talking about Ally McBeal, assuming he had seen it… He hadn't." Said Fresco with a smile, "I'd heard of it!"

De Rossi laughed over the fact that since Fresco had not seen the character that she felt he could relate to Veronica, "I kind of had to throw myself at him. I told him I'd played this character who had similar qualities, very work driven, strong, insensitive, slightly chilly. I had to convince him I could play this character well and could play a character of this nature." With a "what can you do?" amused tone, she then added, "So he made me audition."

She added that she felt ultimately, Veronica, "is funnier than the character I played on Ally. There's a similarity, but the dialogue is crisper and funnier. I'm Australian. I grew up watching the BBC, and comedians like John Cleese. I get a sense of that kind of absurdist, hyper real [tone] to my character."

Harrington was asked if his character would ever fully rebel against the company he works for, but Harrington said that despite the things they do, "There's a trust factor. I think he likes the challenge to much to ever want to crack. He's pretty cool under the pressure, but we'll see." Fresco then noted that the cast hadn't seen the next script, and revealed, "Actually, in next week's episode, Ted does crack."



I've also added another exclusive new Better Off Ted promotional shot to PortiaPhotos. Click the link below to view.

Gallery Links:
Better Off Ted / Promotional Photoshoots - Season 01 x 05