If you can’t make sense of the title of this thread, you probably don’t know the great new U.S. comedy “Better Off Ted” yet. It’s a so-called workplace comedy about Ted Crisp, played by Jay Harrington (”Private Practice”), a decent guy who works for a not-so-decent but rather morally questionable company called Veridian Dynamics. No achievement is too far-fetched and no invention too unorthodox for Veridian, and the company’s motto is “Money Before People”. Ted’s boss is the beautiful but steely Veronica, who is described as being “seemingly devoid of conscience and also emotion-free” and brilliantly played by Portia de Rossi. Completing the team are Linda (Andrea Anders), who Ted has a crush on, and the research scientists Lem and Phil (Malcolm Barrett and Jonathan Slavin), whose inventions don’t always work they way they were planned.

The “BOT” cast: Andrea Anders (”Linda”), Jay Harrington (”Ted”), Portia de Rossi (”Veronica”), Jonathan Slavin (”Phil”) and Malcolm Barrett (”Lem”)

Though all actors have very funny lines and scenes throughout the various episodes, it’s definitely Portia de Rossi who steals the show. Some might say that it’s easy for her to shine because she gets the best lines, but it’s also the way she delivers them that make them hilarious. Her comedic timing is spot-on, and she’s so convincing as the emotion-free ice queen Veronica that the viewer is tempted to wonder how she can be married to someone as likeable as talk show host Ellen DeGeneres. In fact, when Portia was on Ellen’s show to promote BOT, Ellen voiced the concern that people might think that Portia is like her character even though she “could not be further from that”.

Portia de Rossi as “Veronica Palmer”

After ABC aired seven episodes of the first season this spring, “Better Off Ted” returns tonight with new episodes. Luckily, ABC was also wise enough to renew the show for a second season, even if the ratings were only so-so.

Here’s the latest trailer for the new episodes:

And here’s a video of Portia de Rossi as Veronica Palmer.

There are more videos available on the ABC website and at VeridianDynamics.com. Unfortunately, the full episodes on the ABC website are not available for internet users outside of the U.S. There’s also a great Facebook site.