Seth MacFarlane er en mand, der ved, hvordan man holder et show kørende i årtier. Family Guy har rullet over skærmen siden 1999, American Dad startede i 2005, og han ser gerne sit live-action komedieshow Ted fortsætte lige så længe - på én betingelse: De skal blive ved med at finansiere den dyre CGI-bjørn.
I et interview med Collider forklarede MacFarlane, hvorfor visse serier føles, som om de kan fortsætte i det uendelige, mens andre hurtigt rammer en naturlig afslutning. "There are certain series that are premise-based and other series that are character-based, which is how television operated for decades. You watch Friends, you watch The Office, those are character-based shows. If something is character-based, it can go indefinitely because it's whatever situation you choose to put these people into, because it's the people that your audience is showing up for," sagde han.
"Ted is a character-based show. The only thing that hinders us is the expense. To create the bear is a lot of money. But you have these fantastic actors, you have this fantastic writing crew. You can do as many as you want. I mean, you could do 20 seasons of this thing, and it would work, but you have the CGI element that makes it challenging. But story-wise, to answer your question, it can be indefinite. There's no limit to the number of stories you can tell with characters that people want to visit week after week."
MacFarlane beskrev processen med at skabe CGI-bjørnen i Ted som "doing a Marvel movie like once every half hour," så det er tydeligt, at det ikke er billigt at bringe den titulære bamse til live. Så længe Ted er succesfuld nok til at finansiere teknikken bag bjørnen, vil vi altså formentlig se meget mere til ham i fremtiden.