Peacock has announced a straight-to-series order for Ted, from UCP, a division of Universal Studio Group, and MRC Television.
The series is based on Universal Pictures and MRC Film’s Ted, the highest-grossing original R-rated comedy of all time (not a sequel or based on other IP). Collectively Ted and Ted 2 grossed more than $750 million worldwide.
Seth MacFarlane is in negotiations to reprise the voice of the iconic and lovable foul-mouthed teddy bear.
The live-action series, based on MacFarlane’s feature films released by Universal Pictures with MRC Film, will be executive produced by MacFarlane and Erica Huggins for Fuzzy Door.
This is the second series order since MacFarlane and Fuzzy Door signed an overall development deal with UCP in 2020.
Earlier this year, Peacock announced a series order of The End is Nye hosted by Bill Nye. The series is produced by Universal Television Alternative Studio and UCP, divisions of Universal Studio Group, and Fuzzy Door.
Universal Content Productions is responsible for commercially-successful and critically-acclaimed scripted programming, including The Umbrella Academy, Battlestar Galactica, Mr. Robot, The Act, Monk, Homecoming, The Sinner, Suits, Dirty John and Psych.
Upcoming titles include Dr. Death, starring Joshua Jackson, Alec Baldwin and Christian Slater, and Gaslit, starring Julia Roberts and Sean Penn.
MRC Television’s series have been nominated for 94 Emmy Awards and 18 Golden Globe Awards. The current slate includes Ozark, from Chris Mundy and starring Jason Bateman, Laura Linney and Julia Garner, on Netflix; The Great, from Tony McNamara, starring Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult, on Hulu; and The Shrink Next Door, starring Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd and from director Michael Showalter and writer Georgia Pritchett for Apple TV+.
The company’s projects also include The Terminal List, for which Chris Pratt stars and executive produces alongside director Antoine Fuqua and writer David DiGilio, with Amazon Studios; Shining Girls, starring Elisabeth Moss and produced with Appian Way and Love & Squalor Pictures for Apple TV+; the Rian Johnson series Poker Face, with T-Street and starring Natasha Lyonne for Peacock; and Hello Tomorrrow! starring Billy Crudup, from creators Amit Bhalla and Lucas Jansen and director Jonathan Entwistle for Apple TV+.
Led by writer, director and producer Seth MacFarlane and President Erica Huggins, Fuzzy Door produces the Hulu space adventure series, The Orville, the beloved and Emmy award-winning animated series, Family Guy, and the fan-favorite series, American Dad!, the latter two having recently premiered its 350th and 300th milestone episodes, respectively.
The company strategically built on the success 1980’s Cosmos by producing the award-winning Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, which garnered 13 Emmy nominations and became a global event seen by more than 135 million people, and the most recent installment, Cosmos: Possible Worlds, available on Disney+.
Last year, MacFarlane and Fuzzy Door signed an impressive, multi-year television deal with Universal Studio Group. Under the pact, the company is developing The Winds of War limited series based on Pulitzer Prize winner Herman Wouk’s acclaimed American War novels; an Untitled Little Rock Nine series about Carlotta Walls LaNier, one of the first black students to attend Arkansas’ all-white Central High; and a TV revival of the classic 1977 adventure comedy film Smokey and the Bandit.
The company is also working on TV adaptations of the dystopian sci-fi short film Skywatch and Elan Mastai’s award-winning novel All Our Wrong Todays, both as original series for Peacock; and the unscripted series Micronations, the company’s first nonfiction effort under its new deal.
Additionally, Fuzzy Door is producing a new animated take on Norman Lear’s classic sitcom Good Times as a series for Netflix.
Fuzzy Door is currently developing Universal’s female ensemble comedy Fairy Tale Ending and a reimagined modern version of Revenge of the Nerds for 20th Century Studios.