THE ORVILLE - Seth MacFarlane Space Fantasy show

I just watched the pilot episode - it is not bad. I would describe it as having a "Star Trek-like" setup, but executed with "Hitchhiker's Guide-like" humor. I would not say it is great (not yet), but it is not terrible either. What shocks me is the writers pretty much made all the primary characters likeable, and unlike Mr. MacFarlane's other show all the characters are allowed to shine. Each character from the start is being allowed to be more than a punchline.

The show went for less gags than I thought it would, but I think it still might be trying too hard. If they lighten their foot on the pedal the show will find a niche. It could likely do just as well and still be funny without so many "quips" and "gags", but with only one show out it is hard to say what the show will really be like.

I liked it, it is ripe with potential. I'm not saying I will watch past the first few episodes unless it gets bit better; yet, I think it could shape up into something interesting. I believe its "Red Dwarf" crossed with "Hitchhikers Guide" feel can work for a show that spoofs more serious sci-fi shows, but it will have to work hard to consistently to live up to that.

Anyone else watch? Any thoughts good or bad? If you hated it, tell me, I have no horse in this race.

The trailer majorly put me off on it as it focused a lot on that "MacFarlane" comedy aesthetic that I've grown out of. I got enough A Million Ways to Die in the West vibes that I decided to pass. If it's more Red Dwarfy I might check it out as I'm always down for some scifi. It's not as if Stargate SG1 didn't get campy as shit sometimes, too.

It like Red Dwarf as in it is going for the laugh, not in terms of quality. I can understand not being a fan of "MacFarlane" comedy vehicles, but from the first episode at least this is less mean.

I was really not impressed with the first episode. It felt like they took a very bare-bones, sanitized version of what Star Trek is and added a few gags that kind of fell flat for me. They don't seem to be asking any questions that a space opera ought to - it feels like they're saying "you know what Star Trek is, here's more of it, but with goofs." Obviously I might be asking too much from a Seth MacFarlane joint, but he's a major Star Trek nerd so I guess I hoped he'd do better by that style. I'm going to give it a chance, because I love Star Trek's format, and they've got room to breathe.

The first ep was... not great. I'll keep watching because I'm a hopeless SciFi nerd and it might get better as the actors get into their characters, but I don't think it's going to matter much. Fox will definitely cancel this before the end of the season.

It has potential. I'd like there to be more / better humor, but maybe that will come a bit more naturally when they don't also have to establish characters, backstories, and such.

Seth MacFarlane can pretty much exit stage right anytime now. His humor is beyond tired.

This.

cant agree enough

Same here. Though going by the OP's impressions, Orville might be alright. But at the same time I feel like if there was a Please Stop award category from a website that specializes in television and film, Seth McFarlene would be up there judging from his past work alone.

Yep

I kinda thought MacFarlane would be chasing his dream of reviving the Big Band genre somewhere in Vegas by now.

Maybe I'll catch the pilot at some point, but it's not high on my "to watch" list right now.

lol I feel the same way about him, especially seeing him and his shtick (the old school, musicals, thinks he's super clever vibe he has). I have to admit it is irrational pretty much the degree to which I hate the man but I realize it.

I liked Family Guy before it got cancelled, and think it was pretty funny in an early Simpsons type of way. But that's it.

Add another to the list. Honestly I never even liked Family Guy when it was on the first time, or when it came back again later and was super popular. There is a "all I do is comment on society" aspect to his comedy that I just, I don't know I don't like it. It's odd because guys like GB very much do the same thing, but there is something earnest when you just get a people talking about life/culuture on the internet versus forced situations that try to point out how funny someone things something is, which to me feels like McFarlane.

Honestly South Park has always had a lot of social commentary but it still feels like it tries harder to make better points than Seth does. I really don't understand how MacFarlanes brand of humor got so popular. Then again Adam Sandlers did at one point in our history too, and I sadly am partly responsible for that as I laughed and ingested some of that stuff as a young youth, so what can you do. :P

It's all in execution. There's a whole lot of stuff out there that's good commentary. Most everything Family Guy ever has to say is "remember this?" and then making said thing into some of his brand of off color lame humor.

Aside from some of the humor, I really liked it. I'm shocked that most of the critics are so dead set against it. I could see 6/10s but personally I find the 2-4 range it's hovering around to be downright insanity. It seems they were all expecting a spoof, and because it's more of a straight homage they're labeling it a rip-off. Maybe I could see that if the genuine article were providing, but the way things are now I see it more as fans doing what the real thing refuses to.

I thought the acting and the jokes were both pretty wooden. I would like to see it succeed though, it genuinely seems MacFarlane is passionate about it and Fox had to put a bucket of money into the CG for the pilot. I will give the next couple episodes a shot and see where they go. I am not the biggest MacFarlane fan but I do like Galaxy Quest/Space Balls spoofs of established scifi.

I misread Seth MacFarlane for Todd MacFarlane and got really, really confused for a moment.

I might check it considering what has been said here.

The bolded part is why MacFarlane gets under my skin. I wish I could remember where I read it to give the proper credit, but someone once said that his brand of comedy high-fives itself constantly, and that's spot-on to me. If I'm being honest, the guy actually is reasonably talented/funny/clever at times, but the problem is that it's readily apparent that he thinks he's fucking incredible, and that's pretty off-putting.

Family Guy had its moments, but so much of it felt like a vehicle for MacFarlane's egotism. The show constantly went out of its way to throw in somewhat obscure "big words" because Seth desperately wanted to convince you that he was intelligent/educated (or more likely, simply made use of a thesaurus). Also, there were so many forced "musical numbers" because he can sort-of sing, so therefore he must shove that down the audience's throat. (Admittedly, other shows/actors do this as well to put those theatre classes to use, but it's always pretty insufferable.)

The Stewie and Brian characters in Family Guy and the teddy bear in Ted are all virtually identical in that the lame gag is that "a dog/baby/stuffed animal shouldn't talk or be witty, so it's hilarious that they do and are!" I found them to basically serve as "MacFarlane avatars" in that they're brilliantly acerbic among a sea of dullards, which seems to be exactly how he views himself and the world from a psychological standpoint. The baseline humor arguably leans far too heavily on mere juxtaposition, and tonally it just comes off poorly to me.

Morever, his time in the sun has come and gone. It was fine and even somewhat enjoyable for a little bit there, but it really seems like we've seen everything MacFarlane has to offer and then some. The world really doesn't need a 2018 show/movie from him featuring a sarcastic gerbil or some shit, but we'll probably get one anyway after this show gets the axe. That, or The Quagmire Show, or Ted 3, or something else "original". (Fuck, there really is a Ted 3 coming out. I give up.)

Yup.

Looking at Family Guy now I totally feel that way with Brian and it's kind of pathetic lol. I just imagine how old Seth really feels put into that dog.

One thing I do admire about the show, is they use a lot of 'outside' location instead of just sound stage sets. Yes, the sets for the bridge, captains office, and the shuttle bay are "rough"; but they used that one outside location really well. [I also liked the start of the show was an homage to George Jetson, with Seth picking up his suitcase when arriving in his personal bubble canopy saucer.]

I watched up to the part where the evil alien dudes come in and they're running around because I got tired and felt like going to sleep. I like the sci-fi Star Trek element, but the comedy falls flat, and it's almost like the actors are bored too. While it's obviously a comedy, and it'd be a stretch to ask for something more akin to Star Trek in terms of drama, if they can still make good characters I think it could turn out to be good.

The real question in my mind is not how it compares to Star Trek, but rather how it holds up against Galaxy Quest.

I wasn't able to catch the pilot so maybe someone can enlighten me on it

@giantstalker: It's more of an homage than a parody, so they're not really comparible. The jokes it does have aren't that great, but it nails the feel of Trek.

Watched it with my dad and brother. All of us have watched a lot of Family Guy together over the years. I haven't kept up with more recent seasons of Family Guy, because what I've seen lately has made it seem like MacFarlane is out of ideas for humor. I felt the same thing after watching Ted 2 (which just straight up had an OLD Family Guy gag in it).

I think the humor in this show was sometimes a little forced, but it felt less...I dunno, pointlessly cruel than a lot of recent Family Guy jokes. Also, I was pretty surprised that at the end of the day, it was the captain's ex-wife who had the brilliant plan that saved everyone. I didn't expect that.

I think the show has potential.

Yeah the trailers for it did nothing for me.

I'll just keep watching Galaxy Quest on repeat.

Others tell me if I'm off, but the humor is not quite the same as Galaxy Quest's. I keep coming back to Hitchhikers Guide or Red Dwarf, it has a science fiction theme, but the show is primarily a character-driven comedy where the parody in not the focus of the comedy. For instance, if Galaxy Quest were to talk about bathrooms, maybe the gag would be nobody can find the bathroom in their cabin because on Start tek they are not shown...but there must be one, right? Where as The Orville or Hitchhiker Guide the joke would be every chair is a toilet. Or, rather on joke in the show is why do you need a bathroom if you only pee once a year? The humor is mostly, about how the mundane human interactions are still a problem in the future.

None of the jokes feel very natural to me. It's like Seth's character and that pilot are forcing themselves to be assholish or quippy just for the sake of it with no natural build up. Some of them are okay, but that "intro to the crew" scene was rough to watch.

I like the actual sci-fi portion, though. The ship designs are pretty neat, if a bit safe.

I'm hoping the pilot was just establishing characters for better episodes down the line. I'm dying to give this a chance because there's just not enough sci-fi on public television and if there is it's not billing itself as a comedy which is more of a potential plus for me, but man I found this kinda dull. Like it's nice to see Seth show some range beyond doing some of those Family Guy jokes no one apparently likes, but I was expecting a lot more farce in this than I got. A lot of the jokes that would be on here were kinda, I dunno, weak? Didn't stick well? I don't mind dry but it just felt like it didn't really go anywhere. Was way more basic action/drama setup than I was hoping. I'm real curious to see where it goes though, and potentially I think it could be better and have more of a unique voice if they cut a little looser.

I think the problem was Seth making himself the lead, I appreciate his passion in making a Trek series that isn't really a spoof, but the guy is just a black hole of charisma and much better as a bit actor/voice actor. I can never fully hate him like people do because I still like American Dad (which has for the most part been better than Family Guy) and reviving Cosmos with NDT.

I just watched the next three episodes, and each one was great. In fact, all of the topics they brought up in the narrative and each storyline was far more meaty than I EVER would have expected.

These days you can never tell what will get an audiences or what won't - especially on network TV. On the other hand, I think when you can compare the first few episodes of Orville vs. Discovery, a lot more people might be enjoying Orville. Just my opinion, but I think the producers at Discovery played themselves. CBS made a less joyful and less human narrative than the people at FOX.

If you watched ST: Discovery go over to Fox's website and watch the first four episodes of Orville- it is free to do that. No matter what you thought of Discovery, I think The Orville is worth watching just to do an early comparison.

@monkeyking1969: I love this show!

The first episode did nothing for me. As it was sold as a show from the creator of Family Guy the odd non-jokes came off as confusing. It had potential, so I kept watching. Episode 2 was a big improvement. It had a fun and charming science fiction plot. The Kermit joke rang the right bells for me.

It was the third episode when I truly understood was this show was. It's doing what the original Star Trek series did by tackling socially relevant issues of today. Episode 4 continues this trend. It's also gotten much funnier than it was in the pilot.

It's rough, but getting better & better every episode. It took me awhile to realize the Chief Medical Officer also played Cassidy Yates in DS9. I'd agree that its doing exactly what original trek did, and way better than STD has been doing. Not saying Discovery is bad, I love it. its just not the trek we grew up with.

I will watch Discovery, and I will make every effort to give it a chance even into a second season if they get that far. Discovery is not the dumpster fire that some people are saying, in fact there are elements I like that I think are refreshing. But sadly I think the show's is saying more than showing to build the backstory too fast. That is a shaky base to build on; but to be fair TNG was a shaky base as well.

With that said, I think Orville is off its shaky base and on solid ground starting with ep 2. Fox has made a show worth watching in its own right. Who'd have thought that was possible six weeks ago? Not the best show ever, not even close, but enjoyable to watch is pretty damn good.

Watched every Orville episode so far, granted we're only four episodes in. I'm liking it, though yeah, the humor is the worst part. Some things make me briefly chuckle, but the majority of it falls flat. I kind of just wish they went full on Star Trek with good stories (albeit, not necessarily original), and good messages.

Scott Grimes and J. Lee give me the same feeling as the 2 old men in the balcony seats in The Muppets.

Is this series just a sick Seth McFarland fantasy funded by some idiotic tv station ? Cause everything about this makes me wanna drive a few fingers down my throat.

Seth McFarlane suffers from the same problem

And then it ran on so long the joke became about self-referential cutaways. And chicken fights that take up 12 minutes of a 25 minute episode. Then he went off and made two more cartoons that followed something of a similar family dynamic. And the fucking albums. He made three of those.

Season 1, Ep 5
This episode was backing to having a slightly more joke filled script, but I think the real emotional moments actually were reserved for the last four or five minutes. I would rate this ep as ahead of the pilot but behind ep 2-4.

Yet, this is really shaping up top a show that is worth watching and remembering to come back to watch. It is engaging and it is actually has more of science fiction flavor than I ever would have expected. It is providing enough science fiction story line to satiate some of my science fiction fix each week.

Speaking of it making an impression that reminds me to keep watching - I forgot "The Expanse" even existed - that is pretty bad. I was thinking about how good The Orville was and how ST: Discovery is still salvageable, which made me think "What on Syfy these days that can compete?" And low and behold I see "The Expanse" again. I won't dunk on the show to hard here, I only watched teh first five episode in got bored enough to forget it existed. And that my point, there is a small window to captures people's attention and The Orville has gone far enough and well enough to capture mine - but I will have to re-visit The Expanse to give it a fair shake.

I thought I would hate it, I actually kinda like it.

I actually still like Family Guy, but some of the jokes in the context of this show are so weird. Like making references to Beyoncé and other current/past references you wouldn't expect far future people to make. I really like everything else though.

@monkeyking1969: I dropped The Expanse twice while the first season was running, but was convinced by friends to binge it when it was added to Netflix. Now I'm hooked.
The fake cursing is still kinda dumb and that one earth government lady's acting is rough, but everything else gets really good. Also I'm a sucker for spaceships that fire physical projectiles instead of beams.

He's basically remixing TNG plots and probably other series. Its light, easy and fun to watch for any TNG fan.

Yes, that is a fair assessment - light, fun and easy.

So, lots of comparisons to Star Trek, but how does it compare to Andromeda, which is what I immediately thought of when I saw the ship design in the trailer?

S1 E7 Majority Rule

Wow, no lie, if this episode's was on TNG it would be in the top 20 episodes. They took a very topical subject for our modern age and did what a show like Star Trek USED to do - comment on our own society. Maybe, Star Trek does not have to do that anymore. Some might argue, trying to do a commentary seems quaint and trite, but it is nice this show feels free to seem old fashioned in that way. Sure, a show like Black Mirror would do a episodes like this with more gravity; yet The Orville did a nice job without going dark and heavy.

Viewers are seven shows into the first season, and what I see is a lot more people liking the show than a few weeks ago.

I guess we've been there since the scarlet letter, and long before that, but the internet just makes everything so immediate and so vicious these days. I was watching that episode and thinking "You know, I think if they did the death penalty like that in modern society, everyone judged would end up dead."

The Orville has already been renewed for a second season. I suppose once Star Trek declared, it was Fox's turn to keep going or imply weakness.

It also appears The Orville has gained a decent audience and that Fox sees it as their most successful new show this season. That's nice to know, I like the show.

I wasnt a fan of the latest episode (a little too derivative for my tastes) but i'm glad this show got renewed, hopefully it gets weirder as it goes on.

I've watched five or six episodes, I think? I got up to the one with Charlize Theron. I don't dislike the show, it's good to kill time when I have it to kill, but I don't think the concept holds together in a way that makes me feel any desire to keep watching when an episode ends. It's a scifi comedy, except the comedy makes me laugh once or twice an episode. It's a drama that makes serious political points, but the lack of production quality makes it hard to take seriously. It's a show set in the middle of an active war, and yet the war is treated as a minor inconvenience and the action is directed without any attempt at creating tension.

I dunno, Orville might be exactly what it wants to be, but it doesn't want to be very much, and I'd generally take Discovery trying and occasionally missing the mark by a wide margin over that.

I have to say that I really disliked where the last episode went.

Gruff guy saves the doctor's life, insists that it's too dangerous to go out and look for her kids who are probably dead, shares his very limited supply of food with her, never makes any advances towards her, and risks his own life when she needs medication. In return he gets manipulated, stabbed, and then shot all by the woman whose life he just saved. Do no harm? I guess not.

I get it that he was holding her against her will, but she was also the first human contact the guy had in YEARS, and he felt certain she would die if she left. There wasn't anywhere near enough attempts at diplomacy or explanation on her part, and he wasn't anywhere near enough of a bad guy to justify her actions. The whole "set weapons on stun because we care about taking another life" part really felt like a joke at that point.

He either needed to live, his death needed to be an unintended consequence of his actions, or the writers needed to make make him a lot worse. This just felt bad. I get that not everything needs to wrap up in a neat little happy package, but her actions just felt wrong after seeing her make so little effort. Not even a "if you let me out, I can contact my ship, and we can all leave together! You could have a life again!"

Unfortunately all of this happened in an otherwise fairly strong episode. It was really nice seeing more of the side characters explored.