Someone finally takes a chance on Seth MacFarlane, produces his live-action film about a man and his teddy bear

We’ve long been wondering when notorious wallflower Seth MacFarlane would work up the courage to stop murmuring his ideas into his chest and share them with the rest of the world, and lo and behold it looks like today is the day: Universal has agreed to pony up $65 million to make MacFarlane’s live-action directorial debut, Ted, described as a “hard R” comedy about the relationship between a man and his teddy bear. Not much is known about Ted other than it’s a daring mix of live action and CGI (can they do that?), and the normally shy and retiring MacFarlane will write, produce, direct, and appear on screen in addition to voicing the CG-generated title character. Oh, and somebody, probably someone like Access Hollywood or OK! Magazine, will inevitably say something like, “But parents beware—he’s no Teddy Ruxpin!” when they talk about it. The film is expected to begin production later this year, by which point, according to our in-house projections, all entertainment will be vaguely MacFarlane-related.