I am not a Family Guy fan myself, but I absolutely love The Orville. They are two very different shows. If you like Star Trek you will probably enjoy The Orville.
The show starts off as kind of a Star Trek homage with some comedic elements and light satire but by the second season it's very much grown into its own identity (the first season is still solid though). Then in the third season the show moved to Hulu and had the freedom to explore some very big topics and themes.
Yep pranks drinking and dating just culture in general will not change that much in the next 400-500 years look at Roman graffiti drawing dicks bragging about being good in bed getting blackout drunk and humor in general changed little in the last 1,000 years but somehow we will mature change and just not be ourselves as soon as we invent interstellar travel.
Yeah fucking right
Gene Roddenberry got that part wrong for sure
Eureka is really good. It does have that same issue that affects some sci-fi shows. Namely, it reinvents itself from season to season in a way that makes you feel like the writing team forgot what they had done in the previous season while they were in summer hiatus.
I think with season 1, Seth MacFarlane needed to sell The Orville as a comedy to Fox since that's what he's known for, they definitely marketed it that way in the trailers leading up to the release. But you're right, in the second season it becomes much more serious. Season 3 is by far the best season in my opinion, they build off of story points from the previous seasons that were fine and could be left alone but really enriched the story and lives of the crew members.
In the first season or two, Seth MacFarlane felt like the main character, it was about him being the captain, but in season 3, while there were parts that focused on him, he felt more like a supporting actor and really let the other characters shine.
Even in Season 1, once they’re a few episodes in it gets much more Trek than anything else. The characters can be kind of goofballs but in a way that makes them feel human more than in a “we must include jokes” way.
I agree with this wholeheartedly. It hit its stride in 2nd season. My buddy told me to stick w it and I’m glad I did. Some episodes are amazing. 🤞for more seasons
I didn't give the Orville a shot until last year, and I am so glad I did.
I initially passed on it because I thought it was just going to be __Family Guy in space__. The humor in the first couple of episodes was slightly juvenile, but overall, the show was just *good* Star Trek by another name.
I can't stand Family Guy either, but The Orville is an excellent series. The 3rd season is a particular standout. The episodes are longer. Because of the streaming platform, they don't have to break for commercials. 💯 percent reccomend!!!
I dislike Family Guy. I found Seth's humor in Family Guy to be juvenile and kinda... well, frankly, dumb. But a friend of mine who I respect told me to give The Orville a try, and I have to say... I'm amazed. The first season, you can SEE his trademark humor but it's smarter. He's clearly still Seth, but he's making smarter jokes, and after the first couple of episodes, the show stops being "a comedy show in a science fiction setting" and starts being "a science fiction show with some comedy." The comedy doesn't drive the plot. Most of season 1 and 2 feel like particularly good (but funny) episodes of TNG.
By season 3, the comedy is largely gone, and it's just a VERY high quality science fiction show. Episodes 8 and 9, combined, could have been a summer blockbuster sci-fi movie. It wouldn't have seemed out of place on the big screen.
In short, yes, The Orville is excellent, even if you actively dislike Seth's animated work and the humor you've seen from him prior to it. His love of Star Trek shines through in every episode. **The Orville isn't a parody of Star Trek, it's a love letter to Star Trek.**
You wrote out my exact thoughts, and better than I would have!
I cannot stand 10 minutes of Family Guy and was hesitant to try The Orville. The first episode, my thought was "it's pretty good" and by the third episode I was in love. The fact that they tackled topics similar to what we saw in the best episodes of Star Trek and accomplished the stories so well with gravity and still kept the humor (and I agree, smarter than Family Guy) was wonderful.
The Orville is one of my favorite shows of all time, top 10 along with Strange New Worlds and Deep Space 9.
OP, I hope you give it a try. If you are on the fence give it to episode 3 and you will see the themes the show will tackle as it gets better and better.
Family Guy’s humor put me off the idea of a Seth Trek too. But DAMN he knocked it outta the park!
Later I learned that he is also partly responsible for the remake of Cosmos! [He secured the funding](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/apr/08/cosmos-carl-sagan-seth-macfarlane-family-guy).
The dude deeply loves science & space exploration, and it’s clear he wants to ignite curiosity in younger generations the way his was by two spacey shows he loved as a kid.
I useta have little respect for him due to how crass & cruel the humor was on FG. But I have a ton of respect for him these days.
Edit: clunkiness
Reading that he apparently posted to socials recently that he's working to make sure S3 wasn't the last I think kind of proves how much he loves the show. I'd definitely love a S4.
Give it a try. There's humor for sure, but it's a sci-fi show first and foremost; and becomes even more so as the seasons progress. It's as good or better than anything ST has put out in years.
Agreed, it has the heart of classic star trek (TNG era) and *feels* more like star trek than it's contemporary at the time - Discovery. As you say, it gets less comedy star trek spoof and more like it's own sci fi show as the seasons go on. Still hoping for another season!
That said though, Star Trek Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks both have the heart of classic trek too. Even Prodigy too. But they all came out after the Orville had started.
The first season has some clunky moments as they're trying to iron out the comedy/drama balance. It's much more like what you probably think of as a Seth MacFarlane show early on, though it's also still very much a TNG-inspired Trek type show, at the same time.
Once those early growing pains get worked out, though, it's just, basically, a solid Star Trek show with maybe a bit more humor at times. It'll probably scratch that itch for you, and there's not nearly as much pain to wade through as early TNG.
Exactly this.
Star Trek has always had humour. It was usually 90% Sci fi. 10% humour depending on the episode.
Season one of Orville went for a comedy in star trek vibe and many episode had 40% Sci fi, 60% comedy approach.
By Season 2, (let's ignore the Bortus porn episode), it found the right balance into a 70% Sci fi, 30% comedy.
I would say Season 3 even went a little further.
It was all brilliant (again let's ignore bortus porn), but they definitely improved the balance after Season 1.
Okay. The Enterprise is all the A students, the Dean's list. The best and brightest.
The Orville are the Other Guys. The nutjobs, fuck ups, the people that none of the higher ups know what to do with.
If you ever read any of Peter David's Trek novels, that's a good reference point for the tone. It bounces wildly from laugh out loud absurd to "oh...shit..." to within the same chapter at many points.
I'm also a fan of Peter David's work, some of the best books I've ever read. (New Frontiers, especially.) He's not doing so well right now and could use help from any fans who can contribute. [https://www.gofundme.com/f/peter-david-fund](https://www.gofundme.com/f/peter-david-fund)
The first five episodes, I’d argue, are the weakest. But once you get past that, you will find a very solid science fiction show with some humor, one which doesn’t speak down to its audience in the way Star Trek sometimes could, which creates a consistent and interesting universe that evolves over time, and with characters that are far more fully fleshed out in many ways.
One thing I really appreciate about The Orville is that the writers can actually write dialogue—and real dialogue, between witty and smart people who know each other really well. (I often found the dialogue in the various Star Trek properties stilted and almost forced, as if the writers started with the need for exposition and back-filled with personal conversations, rather than dialogue that sounds more natural.)
I also appreciate that sometimes the most seemingly silliest episodes turn out to be the most influential in the overall story telling. >!Specifically the episode “A Happy Refrain” sets up a **major** arc in the storytelling—and yet it seems like a sweet, and silly standalone story.!<
Yes, I’d argue The Orville is actually quite good.
I went into The Orville expecting a shitty parody of Star Trek with dick jokes. What I actually got was *better* Star Trek.
It’s a love letter to Trek that I genuinely believe eclipses the source material. Get over whatever hangups you have regarding Family Guy, and just enjoy this absolute gem of a series.
I would recommend ignoring or enduring the first episode.
It very much feels like an episode Seth made, because the studio people probably demanded him to do Family Guy but different.
The second episode onwards is imho a total tone shift. It's far less irreverent and I always felt like the Orville captures a very good wholesome vibe of good and competent people propping each other up and occasionally there's a poop joke.
By the time you reach some episodes in the back half of S1 you're probably gonna encounter some episode concepts that make you feel like you're watching an old, unaired Original Series episode, because things are zany and weird in a good SciFi kind of way, haha
I second this. My partner and I initially watched a few episodes and weren't interested. A year or so later we gave it a second chance and well.. we've rewatched the series at least 3 times at this point.
You will 100% laugh your butt off at the cigarette episode
ETA: I really dislike FG humor. The humor on Orville is tempered and not rude, crude or cruel.
Peter Macon’s voice acting on FG is *chefs kiss* and his acting on Orville is stellar.
Seeing Macon’s delivery as Preston Lloyd on FG after seeing Macon on Orville just made Lloyd even funnier.
The Orville was marketed as a Parody of Star Trek.
Instead it is classic Star Trek with the trade mark filed off.
If you like Star Trek you should like the Orville.
Overall, it's very good. The first few episodes are a little shaky, but that's like most shows. It gets a good rhythm by halfway through the first season, and the sci fi situations are usually very interesting. It feels like a funnier TNG. Second season ratchets up the tension, and season 3 doesn't feel that jokey at all, especially compared to season 1. But I've enjoyed the entire thing.
It's quite a bit like Star Trek Shows in that it takes quite a while to find itself.
In the early phase (roughly season 1, +/- a few episodes) it mostly tries to be a Star Trek Parody and not much more - but there are some things that shine through and show that there could be much more, which also do become elements important to the later story.
However at some point it manages to establish itself as a credible somewhat unique world and starts taking itself more seriously (even though obviously there is still quite a bit of humour involved most of the time) - and that's when the show becomes truly great.
At some point it turns from Star Trek Parody into legitimate "Star Trek Alternative", so to speak and does start asking some heavy questions like Star Trek would, though naming examples would be dangerously close to spoiling significant parts of the show.
I would recommend watching it and simply being prepared for the fact that at least in the first few episodes you'll probably cringe at some of the humour. But in my opinion sitting through those is worth it.
Just repeating what everyone else said but as a huge fan, I want to say something to convince you to watch.
First episode, you'll find yourself saying "oh, it's THAT kind of show." But there is actually a pretty solid, high concept episode behind the Seth gags, and it sets up plot points that happen across all 3 seasons. (I have to give this show credit for having as strong a through line of story as the best Trek storylines)
The first few episodes, you'll see it become a homage and at times a blatant rip off of ST OS and TNG. And frankly, Seth's Cpt. Ed Mercer is probably the least interesting character in the show...not that he's badly written, but that everyone else is so interesting; yes, they stole many Trek tropes but added an interesting new twist in every case.
By halfway through the first season you'll be hooked as it becomes its own thing. And then you'll start writing on message boards to convince.people to watch.
Season one and two had a "joke quota" because Fox and no risk allowed. So Seth McFarland funny man, dance.
Season 3 really drops this because they left Fox, and the transition to McFarland true vision is great.
Season 3 builds on the 1st two very well and tackles very interesting narratives.
My least favorite and most favorite episodes come from S3 though.
Least favorite is 3-6, where Gordon goes back in time. Feels like beating a dead horse. Just an excuse to bring Leighton Meester back.
Favorite was 3-2 The Shadow Realm. Really loved the horror side they brought to the table.
Tried to keep it spoiler free while being informative??? Idk
Loved season 3, season 1 and 2 are fun.
3 challenges you a bit more with deeper story
I'm a Star Trek fan. I've never watched Family Guy and I adore The Orville. Just know that it starts out a little heavy on the humor, then finds the perfect balance. It's Trek with levity. I love it.
imagine all the topics that star trek writers never discuss on any episode because the network thought it was to racy ( drug addiction, trans rights, homosexuality, poverty , ego death, divorce, slavery etc ) now put that on a star trek like show and add a couple spoonfuls of some rsally good adult humor/ themes and you get the orville .
I only recently watched the show. When it first came out I saw the ads that showed it as a farcical parody of Star Trek, and I didn’t think it was for me.
The ads were WRONG.
Orville is an homage to Star Trek. Its own universe but very much the optimistic ensemble exploring the universe.
Once I started, I had to binge. Watch. You will not regret it.
As a massive Star Trek fan I would describe The Orville like this:
Season One: Weak imitation of TNG/Voyager
Season Two: Decent imitation of TNG/Voyager
Season Three: Sometimes actually better than TNG/Voyager.
So good, so worth it, Mcfarlane deserves a shot at real Trek if this doesn't continue-- which i hope it does and with the entire cast.
I fully admit to being judgemental about the show when it came out, but it is a fantastic show.
I dislike Family Guy a whole lot and normally can’t stand Seth and his humor. I didn’t even know it was one of his shows until the end of the first season, that’s how good it was. I realized I didn’t actually know what Seth Macfarlane looked like until the first time I watched this show. By then I’d already developed a pretty big crush on Ed so you can imagine I was proper shook to find out who he actually was. Don’t let him deter you!
I feel the same way about Macfarlane and family guy. That’s why I resisted watching The Orville until the last season it came out. Discovered I LOVED it.
The first 2 episodes were made to satisfy "sitcom in Space" that Fox asked for, but by the 3rd, it becomes more, so much more, a spiritual successor to startrek with humor.
Try to ignore the first few episodes, they're not great. But then the show starts to take off and becomes a reasonably good show. Sadly, it's no longer in production, but you'll enjoy more than a few episodes.
Just like with Star Trek, the Orville takes a little while to get really good, though compared to Star Trek, the Orville is really quick. The more you watch the better it gets. The show really finds its stride in season 2, but there are many episodes in season 1 that are really good as well. So give it a go! I too love Star Trek. The Orville is great!
Yeah it’s awesome. Much better than I had anticipated and actually I kind of miss that McFarlane humor from the first season now.
Many episodes feel like they could’ve been on TNG to me.
It’s funny I couldn’t stand him either, especially family guy but he’s actually quite good in it. He obviously has a real love for Star Trek and seems to do his best to try to make something close to the original TNG.
Yes. I love all Star Trek. I didn’t hugely enjoy the first season of the Orville, it was too comedy focused and often felt like you were just watching an episode of Family Guy, but in the second they tone it down and in the third it’s barely there.
Yeah. Before Picard S3 it was the closest to classic trek we'd had in decades. The final season especially threw out a lot of the humour in favour of straight up trek style drama.
It’s fantastic. I’m not a family guy fan, at least not since season 4. But I am a huge Star Trek fan especially TNG. At its core, the Orville is TNG. The first season is a little jokey and that rubs people the wrong way. But it gets more serious in season 2. It’s a wonderful show.
I was never really into Star Trek but I didn't dislike it either. I just brushed it off. But I binged watched The Orville all 3 seasons in one month when I found out about it. Season 3 was one of my most favorite shows I watched in a while.
The reason The Orville is such a surprise success and got such a strong cult following is because you go in expecting it to be Family Guy Meets Star Trek and it’s actually just a very sincere fan film that Seth got to make for a major network. The humor dies down considerably after the first episode, though it never goes away completely—but even Star Trek has humor interwoven throughout.
Much of the first season is what I call "space farts" it is pretty typical McFarland hunor with glimmers of star trek. However, it evolves into a proper bootleg startrek with some very pogient topics being addressed and frankly the best explanation of why the "prime directive" must be adhered to.
The Orville is in spirit one of the best Star Trek shows out there.
If you like Berman's Star Trek, you will love The Orville!
(Please watch at least the first couple of episodes, before you make up your mind. Definitely do not judge it by watching the pilot only.)
Im a huge scifi guy, big star trek, star wars, expeditionary force, skyward and this show absolutely fits its place. Seth 100% sold fox on a star trek parody and within 2 episodes delivered a compliment to all of sci-fi. Fox would of been pissed if the ratings hadn't been there. The Oriville is a show then genuinely kept getting better. Seth has and hopefully will continue to make fantastic additions to the scifi category
The serious parts are closest to TNG of any Trek made since Enterprise got cancelled- they're incredibly good.
The humorous parts are probably not too dissimilar to something like that Lower Decks show. For the most part, if you really wanted to, you could skip the joke parts and the episodes would stand almost entirely on their own as serious Trek episodes.
As the series moved forward the balance between humor and serious shifted and the humor got more mature before ultimately being mostly removed by season 3 because Seth realized he liked doing the serious parts more than the comedy parts.
Oh no, the Orville is NOTHING like family guy, as someone who despised family guy and Seth, this show has made me appreciate him and his work so so much more, this show is his magnum opus can't tell me otherwise, it's amazing
Orville feels more Star Trek than the Star Trek shows that were made lately. PIC, PRO and LD are clearly diverting to explore other areas, DIS just feels like an average fanfiction and many fans use shortcup STD, only SNW seems to be the Star Trek fans are used to (except the second season seems running out of ideas and including musical, crossover and simulated reality/AU episodes already...).
That is the void Orville inhabits, of course Orville minus the humor. But the humor is gradually less and less important and already in the first season the series deals with Star Trek and classical you-can-only-say-this-aloud-in-sci-fi type issues.
It’s worlds away from MacFarlane’s animated stuff. The first season is a little more jokey than the other two, but it’s clearly a passion project and MacFarlane and the writers genuinely seem to care about producing good sci fi. The jokes also aren’t the same as a lot of what FG’s become infamous for. It’s mostly observational and character stuff, a tiiiiny bit of grossout but really not much.
The stories get seriously intense by some episodes in S2 and S3, it might surprise you.
I say this as someone who’s watched a fair amount of TNG, DS9, Voyager, SNW, Disco, Dr Who, X Files, Red Dwarf… Orville is really solid, really creative TV sci fi. I say give the first two or three episodes a shot.
I would say the best description is "Star Trek with real people and real emotions." Because most situations that take place seem like military shenanigans but filmed in the style of Star Trek.
Hey. Long time trek fan here. Imo, the Orville isn’t as smart as it thinks or wants to be, but it is still very good and worth giving a few episodes to make up your own mind.
Tl;dr: If I were to recommend 3 episodes to a curious trek fan, it would be S1’s Krill, Mad Idolatry, and S2’s Nothing Left on Earth Excepting Fishes (a sequel to “Krill”).
The thing to remember is Seth, despite being best known for Family Guy, contains multitudes. I’m not a big fan of Family Guy either, but I can admit that there’s more to the guy than just that one show (which he hasn’t actively written in like a decade or more). Not everything he does is steeped in Family Guy humor. He is a true fan of Star Trek, and he wanted to make something that captures the spirit of what he felt current trek is missing, just as all the fans were clamoring for pre-SNW.
Yes it’s a comedy. And it struggles at times to balance that comedy, but it never really stops tinkering with the formula (even removing it almost completely in season 3). Some of it is crude, especially in the beginning. Fox obviously wanted a comedy and wanted to market it as such. But never doubt the heart is there.
The best way I can think to describe it is “Blue Collar Star Trek”. It’s like Trek if the Enterprise was crewed by the cast of “the office”. Not perfect 1:1 of that specific cast, but ordinary, relatable Everyman(s), who would rather listen to Billy Joel and Dolly Parton over Mozart and Beethoven.
It's good but buckle up for the first few episodes if you're not into that kind of humor as they really lean into this style a lot early on. But, after a while it really comes into its own and find its own way to do Star Trek thing without being Star Trek mixed in with humor without being Family Guy.
Seth loves Star Trek and it’s an homage to that. First season is more funny but great stories and world building and doesn’t feel “Family Guy”. Def give it a shot.
I’m a lifelong Star Trek enjoyer who thinks Family Guy is intentionally-offensive trash, and The Orville made me fully reevaluate my opinion of Seth MacFarlane
It's obvious in the first episode that the writers intended for the McFarland brand of slap stick family guy humor, but somewhere in the process they changed it into something serious with light humor attached.
Seriously, I fell off the star trek ladder with voyager, and the others just kept getting... dark... I guess. The spirit of gene Roddenberry seemed lost after deep space nine. Well this... it's like that spirit found its way back through the orville. The episodes get better and better.
This is my new star trek.
Not a Family Guy fan, but I gave it a try. Season 1 was a funny in a childish humor kind of way, but by Season 3 it had me in tears. Character development was so great and, like TOS and TNG, it asked provocative questions about social norms without being in your face.
I know it’s over, but I wish they had more seasons. The cast and crew had such good chemistry.
i never watched star trek so can't draw a comparison between the two. i know the two are somehow connected with some sort of insider jokes and references etc.
but, yes, the orville is actually that good! i don't know why but seth's joke alway gets me, always! and besides the show is more than jokes, it covers so many aspects of our mundane life under its skin of sci-fi.
i highly recommended the entire show and i've rewatched it twice. too bad it's unlikely there's a 4th season (but not completely dead yet)
I’ve never watched Star Trek so I initially dodged The Orville. Then I saw reels online showing scenes from The Orville, binge watched the whole series last year. I love it
It is pretty great. And it's certainly not family guy. It's earnest, and sincere; it fully commits to whatever it's doing that episode. The shifts in tone can knock you on your ass but it has some great moments. It can be alittle trite at times but I really enjoyed all three seasons.
There are some episodes in there that are really interesting and explore an idea well. Those feel like ST. Some of them even manage to push the very much still obnoxious McFarlane brand far enough into the background, that you can ignore it.
On the other hand the guys acting is horrible. Everyone on the crew seems to be an alcoholic and I found it very annoying how getting wasted was the only social interaction on the ship. Also it's 3 seasons of "wife/marriage bad" jokes. If you get tired of that don't watch it.
Then again everything about the alien robot race is just as illogical and contrieved as the Borg. So a ST fan might actually like that and go along with it.
Same with distances and the nuances of space travel. Speed and astronomical distances never exist in the show.
(Caution: Spoilers in the linked interview.)
In an [interview (August 2022)](https://decider.com/2022/08/15/seth-macfarlane-the-orville-season-4-interview/), MacFarlane said: "...the show was launched as a hard comedy" by Fox. "They really leaned into the jokes. And that *was* part of it, so that’s not all their fault, but they leaned into the jokes and the comedy to a disproportionate degree. And they really presented it as a sitcom in space, which it wasn’t. It was a show that was attempting to tell serious sci-fi stories while cracking jokes at the same time, and…that’s not really something that is sustainable hand in hand on a television series." ...
I have zero frame of reference since I have not seen a single episode of Family Guy.
There is humor in the first season and I don't know if that's "Family Guy Humor" but is what it is. I think one of the greatest B plots I've ever seen in a sci-fi series is Bortus and Klyden's Cigarette addiction.
The "worst" thing I consider about the Orville is some plots in S2-S3 feel a bit derivative of other Sci-Fi shows but maybe that's just the problem with shows in general having had 26x7 episode runs you've covered almost everything.
Yes. Yes it is.
You want more don't you? My dad loves star Trek, we're both massive nerds but star treks the one thing I never got into (there's too much of it i don't have time) the Orville is the perfect thing for us to both love
Give it a shot, the first season definitely has that family guy-esque humor in it, which I personally didn't like. But there was enough there to keep me engaged and interested long enough to reach season 2 where it really balances out and gets *really* good. Seasons 2 and 3 are really good with some exceptional stories, the MacFarlane humor is still there, but it's tempered and balanced out by some really engaging and thought provoking stories and characters!
It’s great! It’s not a dumb comedy show, though there is some comedy. It starts off a bit goofy, but grows to become more serious. Many episodes deal with philosophical problems in the same vein as the best of older Trek. In lots of ways, it’s more like *Star Trek: The Next Generation* than any of the newer shows that call themselves “Star Trek.”
It's like Star Trek TNG era for silly people. It does have the same pace and structure as TNG with humor. It's more cheesy but it's probably more science fiction than the nutrek stuff
If you like SNW, you’ll love the Orville. It doesn’t have the humor of Family Guy, it has humor in its own way. In S3, they find their groove and just focus on good Sci-Fi. You won’t regret watching it, only that it has ended.
As much as I love The Orville, I don't think you're likely to get the greatest answers from its own subreddit. Of course we think it's good. That's why we're here.
You might search up threads in other places, like sci fi subs. I've heard great praise for it from people who mostly watch things like The Expanse.
Orville still has some of Seth's type of flat humor and it's often light-hearted. It's supposed to be, but his love for Star Trek shines through all the time.
i think you'll really enjoy season 3
season 1 and season 2 are still solid but there's definitely more of that Family Guy style humor. it tapers off after the first few eps of season 2. Season 3 it's a lot more intelligently woven into the larger stories
I actually don't mind Seth playing the main character...i think b/c i personally find Ed Mercer to be a pretty grounded guy for a starship captain lol
I went into The Orville with zero knowledge of it prior to watching the first episode. It quickly moved up my list of favorite shows. I say give it a go. You'll know if it's for you pretty quickly.
Season One: Star Trek parody sitcom.
Season Two: Loving Star Trek homage comedy.
Season Three: Star Trek with some jokes.
The humour gets dialled way back in seasons 2 and 3, and the strong writing of the show really shines through.
It's way better than most nu-trek garbage.
I strongly believe that Strange New Worlds wouldn't be like it is without the influence of The Orville.
I was put off for the exact same reason. I can't stand his humor. The show doesn't lean on that kind of humor at all. it's actually really clever with a lot of heart. Ironically, when we get to season 3 the humor is all but gone and it lost me entirely. I can't recommend the first two seasons enough though.
Hubby and I are HUGE TREKKIES! I literally write Star Trek fanfiction. We LOVE oriville! It’s like Star Trek what really went on. The funny stuff, the drama, the ordinary. It’s awesome.
Yeah, that’s sadly the problem with The Orville: people see Seth’s name and immediately think “Oh, it’s Star Trek meets Family Guy.” No, it’s not. This isn’t so much Seth “Family Guy” MacFarlane as it is Seth “So Trekkie he got a bit part on Enterprise, and EPed the Cosmos Reboot” MacFarlane. The Orville is a Trek/TNG throwback, and as the others point out, it does have a bit of humor especially at first. But at least its humor is written by people who know their way around comedy, not “Have you noticed how your boobs have started to firm up” humor.
The Orville came out around the time the first season of Star Trek: Discovery hit and The Orville felt like the more Trek of the two. It had some classic Seth McFarlane humor moments but it’s mostly a very serious sci-fi show and Seth handles it perfectly.
It's definitely worth a try. Seth McFarlane is a huge scifi fan and it shows. The first season is heavier on the humor than later seasons but it's nothing like family guy. I would best describe it as tng humor but more not stilted and actually lands. Second and third seasons are my favorites and there's storylines that made me tear up the way good scifi is supposed to
It's actually good. You can tell McFarlane is a true fan of Star Trek, and unlike Abrahams, he worked hard to have his homage embody the aspects of Trek that make it so well loved for nearly 60 years. As others have said, it's the best Trek in years. SNW and LD are getting back to the heart of Trek too.
You need to get past the first two or three EPs, if you're not a typical Seth fan (which I am). It's a bit too much on the humour. However, after that, the storylines start to take over. And S2 and S3 are as good as any TV Sci-Fi, including a lot of the Star Trek franchise.
The characters are strong, aliens races interesting and the action just gets better and better. Stick it out for the first few, don't judge it too harshly on the first EPs, and I don't think you'd be be dissapointed
It’s actually good. Seth MacFarlane looooooves Star Trek and he does all the writing for The Orville himself (unlike Family Guy). Trust me, you will love The Orville for answering questions like “why does the prime directive exist?”
You need to get past the silliness of some of season 1 (I think I remember reading that FOX wanted a stupid sci-fi show so that’s what they got) it actually becomes more Star Trek than Discovery
I went in with mixed to low expectations, being more of a Star Trek fan than I ever was a Macfarlane fan, and was pleasantly surprised by how good The Orville was. The first season leans a bit more towards the kind of humor you may expect from a Macfarlane project, but not overly so and there's plenty of seriousness to it, which ramps up in the following seasons. Be warned there's some re treads of common Star Trek / sci-fi stories and elements, but they still manage to present their universe in a unique and well done enough manner to make the show an enjoyable investment to me. Not that I necessarily expect this to sway you, but I've had better luck hooking people in my life with this show than with anything Star Trek.
This is probably not going to add much to the conversation, but I am a fan of TNG, DS9, Voyager, & Enterprise.
Seth MacFarlane is a fan of Star Trek (he was cast as a crewman on Enterprise due to his huge fan status). The show basically his version of Star Trek, with a bit of a Get Smart, TV Series, feel to it at times, but not to the degree of silliness of that series.
Overall, it is basically what a more modern version of TNG would be, if they were making new episodes. It even has some parallels to it.
The humor, with a few exceptions, is similar to the humor of the ST shows that I've mentioned, sometimes even funnier, in a good way. There are a few moments of it being a bit juvenile, but that's only a smidgen of what the show has to offer.
Basically 99% of the show is a solid ST experience. You may not like every single episode, but you will most likely love quite a few of them.
You will care about the characters, some of which experience real growth. You will see a few familiar ST faces. You will experience some unique stories. You will mostly like be a fan if you really give it a chance.
I watched it through a couple of times before it moved over to Hulu and then worst thing that I can say about it is that the last episode saddened me, because they stopped making more. I just wanted to see this crew grow and have more episodes to enjoy.
I held off for a long time because of my pre-conceived notions about McFarlane, but I tried it in a similar situation as you, with no new shows to watch. First season is a bit rocky as they find their tone, but it just gets better and better. Most of the cast is great, and the show works best as an ensemble.
One of the showrunners is Brannon Braga, who is a legit high level ST alumni. Many of the characters are analogs of ST roles, which sounds derivative, but works as a shorthand to be able to get into the stories quickly. We learn more about them as the show continues.
I also felt the show held a good balance between episode-of-the-week stories and longer arcs.
The show does seem semi preoccupied with sex on occasion, but for the most part, it's usually not too weird or cringey.
There are definitely some stories that you wouldn't see explored on network television.
I am not a Seth McFarlane fan AT ALL. Even though at times I have enjoyed the humour in Family Guy, I always 100% assumed I would hate the ass hole coming up with the jokes. Then you look at pictures of him and he has an eminently punchable face and a smug dick eating grin all the time.
I thought I would hate Orville because of that and refused to listen to everyone telling me I would enjoy it. So finally this year I gave it a chance and I really enjoyed it.
The first season is a little rough with the jokes. I see that as the network wanting Seth to make a Seth McFarlane show when he didn’t really want to. But he wanted to share this so… the jokes.
The second and third seasons are much much better once the McFarlane jokes are dialed back. The show digs into the same issues as Ster Trek and in fact addresses a few things more head on than Ster Trek. (Mostly religion is a bit more takes about.)
Seth McFarlane as Ed is really good casting/writing. His character definitely makes the punchability of Seth’s face part of his character in a good way. Ed Mercer is a solid character.
The only thing the show suffers from in later seasons is Seth was sleeping with an actress and created a character for her on the show. And it’s weak. Both the character and the actress are sub-par.
Watch 4 episodes. In the first 2 seth really dominates and his humor really grated on me. Then he stepped back and let the rest of the cast shine, and it's honestly such a huge TNG feel it's great
I was like you. I do not care for Family Guy or most of Seth McFarlane's humor so I slept on The Orville. But I was not feeling Discovery so I gave Orville a try and I ended up LOVING it. The thing about McFarlane is that he's a HARDCORE Trekkie. He was even an extra on Enterprise. He did a Trek fan film when he was 16. So Orville feels like "yeah you've seen a show about the flagship of the federation. He's a show about, yknow, just, like, a ship in the federation." The humor humanizes it and in some cases, allows Trek to go to places normal Trek can't go. I stay give it a go and stick with it.
Give it a watch. If you make it through and are not sure if you like it watch it again. And again. And then name your child after characters from the show.
Orville is a love song to TOS and TNG, so if you like those, you'll likely love Orville, as long as you remember the challenge they had coming out the gate... To stay out of legal trouble, it had to be glaringly obvious but wasn't Trek, and they weren't trying to pass themselves off as Trek. As that became established fact, they had more latitude to write harder stories and to really dig deep on things, and in a way, I think Orville is the reason SNW became what it is, because there was that pressure of an alternative that forced Trek to act be Trek again.
Yes it is. The stories are shockingly Star Trek-esque and I was blown away! I thought it was going to be humour > sci-fi but it's really well balanced. I think of it as Star Trek with 20% more humour.
Then again it could just be me 🖖
I love it. The second season was a masterpiece. It's like Next Gen but with more humor, which in my mind makes it more realistic. Just because you're in the future doesn't mean that there's no humor, or office romances, or other things that humans enjoy.
I was in the exact same boat as you. The thing about The Orville is you have to watch the first couple episodes knowing full well they are going to be the worst of the series, but are absolutely essential, and that it’ll all be worth it once the show really takes off.
Going back to the first season after season 3, it's incredible how almost heavy the satire was. It was definitely a selling point to studio exec that this is Family Guy in space and the Next Generation links were happenstance.
But that's not entirely true. Yes, there are plenty of Family Guy humor moments, but the core of Trek exploring humanity's tendencies through the lens of exploration and seeing our foibles in other alien species is there. And it only gets better as you go to season 2 and *especially* season 3.
But even where there is humor, it's pretty relevant to the story. There's no [just like we do with the squid](https://youtu.be/aexKoCI9XK0?si=ncsH9EEHcxkl_cVL) level of insanity that's random for the sake of being random.
We need a new season already.. but considering Ted is out with some of the same actors I doubt it's coming back. Ted is hilarious and I'm excited for season 2
It's fantastic. Yes it does have the occasional Seth humor moment, but it's not really over the top like FG(Seth isn't even a writer on FG anymore, hasn't been for years)
I'd say it's a wonderful bit of sci-fi with the occasional absurd humourous situation.
Just like Trek, it delves into some very deep societal issues.
The humourous bits are some of my favourite visual gags from any show I've seen lately.
The Orville starts a little rough but really starts to shine the second half of season 1. Season 2 is really good pretty much the whole way through. The tone shifts to be a more lighthearted star trek than a parody. Season 3 is ok... Didn't like it as much, but worth a watch if you're a fan.
The show is 80% star trek 20% comedy the first 2 seasons. Then the pandemic hit. And by the time it came back on hulu. They were still trying to keep the cast down to a minimum for saftey reasons. And norm Mcdonald died early in the process so hes onlt in the first episode of season 3. So their funniest person wasnt there anymore, plus the fact since he was only doing VA they really could have used him more. So it became 95% serious. Which just lost its charm. Because the episodes got 15 min longer, and you feel how long it is while watching. And it took on a much serious topics ptsd and political troubles between waring nations.
So the first 2 seasons are good, but the third one you have to kinda really love the show to get through. Ive only made it like 4 episodes into the final season.
The show starts out trying to be mostly a comedy but they do lighten up on trying to pack jokes in there pretty quickly. It is a funny show but the humor generally feels natural to the situation. Nothing at all like family guy.
I never was particularly into trek but I love the Orville. To me the show is everything I wanted Trek to be. I learned also that this is not a show I can put on in the background while I do other things because I always get sucked in and can't pay attention to anything else.
The Orville has the sense of optimism & excitement for a better future that most recent Star Trek lacks. It takes on the big philosophical themes during the middle of the first season & continues from there. It's great.
There’s a tiny TINY bit of family guy humor there but other than that it’s WAY better than Family Guy.
They recycle a few jokes in the first season from family guy. Seth harping on men holding mugs with two hands although the joke was much funnier in The Orville.
Basically whatever humor or jokes they have pulled from family guy are far funnier and better executed in The Orville but it’s nothing like Family Guy.
I just count it as Trek honestly. The crew is a little more casual rather than military stiffs. They drink and play pranks on each other, joke around. But its actually a nice change of pace and none of that takes away from that "Trek" feeling. It has some damn good episodes that even rival my favorites from DS9 and VOY.
Give it a shot. At least get to season 2, that's where it really hits its stride.
Just out of curiosity regarding your dislike of family guy, how do you feel about classic absurdist sketch based comedies like Airplane or Wayne's World?
Lots of people have said The Orville is nothing like Family Guy which stylistically it isn't however I've found the writing style to be quite similar considering it is the same writer.
I was worried it'd be very Family Guyesque, and it isn't. There are comedic parts to it, but not in the same vein at all. It's very TNG, MacFarlane clearly loves that era.
Yes it really is good and I speak as someone who has been a huge Trekker for more than fifty years.
Yes there is some pretty low brow humour in the first season as Seth had to appease the network pinheads at FOX. However there was always some good underlying stories under the pee jokes. As the series goes on the more Trek like it gets.
I enjoy Family Guy but as a Trek fan I was afraid to watch The Orville. I was very presently surprised. This is some humor lol, but not as much as I was expecting. It's Seth who is clearly a Trek fan, doing good science fiction.
I can’t stand Seth McFarland either and I didn’t care for the first episode, but I grew to love the show. It starts off like a parody of Star Trek but ends up being a really good Star Trek show. The humor remains but whereas it was front and center in the first episodes, it gradually becomes a more serious show. I call it the best Star Trek show made in the last decade (other than lower decks)
I’m a huge Trek fan but not the biggest Macfarlane fan so I held off for years but my god, it is genuinely great and just another Trek series to me now, every season just gets better and better
I’ve been harassing my other Trek friends to watch it for a while and now almost all of them have and like me they think of it as another Trek series too
personally I haven’t been a big fan of the newer Star Trek series so having something so close to Next Gen, DS9 and Voyager has been amazing
Seth is a lot more than family guy. He's a very talented guy (see his singing career for example) who is a HUGE star trek fan by himself.
He had the money and pull to start his own star trek homage. It starts with a humoristic sway in season 1, but quickly becomes more like the good old star trek than the newer stuff that is carrying the name.
They also recognized Seth is not the main character, and he get's a more background role by the season.
It's his real passion project if you heard him talking about it. It's much more close to his hearth than family guy were he showcases his voicing talents.
I sound fanboyish, but am soo thankfull he delivered a modern, but classic star trek alternative, catered just to those fans.
It really deserves a try.
As a trekkie who hates most sitcom humor I geniuenly think most orville jokes are funny and I think orville does share the spirit of star trek which I would say is social commentary through allegories. I find orville more palatable than star trek discovery and I know some people will disagree but I think the humor is way better than whatever star trek lower decks is trying to do
I am not a Family Guy fan myself, but I absolutely love The Orville. They are two very different shows. If you like Star Trek you will probably enjoy The Orville. The show starts off as kind of a Star Trek homage with some comedic elements and light satire but by the second season it's very much grown into its own identity (the first season is still solid though). Then in the third season the show moved to Hulu and had the freedom to explore some very big topics and themes.
Yeah it's really good star trek Tbh.
It's better Star Trek than almost all the Star Trek currently being made, I think. Lower Decks excepted, because it's transcendently good.
Yep pranks drinking and dating just culture in general will not change that much in the next 400-500 years look at Roman graffiti drawing dicks bragging about being good in bed getting blackout drunk and humor in general changed little in the last 1,000 years but somehow we will mature change and just not be ourselves as soon as we invent interstellar travel. Yeah fucking right Gene Roddenberry got that part wrong for sure
Or excepting fishes.
Good to hear. I am starting it after the Orville and then eureka!
Eureka is really good. It does have that same issue that affects some sci-fi shows. Namely, it reinvents itself from season to season in a way that makes you feel like the writing team forgot what they had done in the previous season while they were in summer hiatus.
I dunno, I've also had a bit of a soft spot for strange new worlds, think they've done quite well so far.
I think with season 1, Seth MacFarlane needed to sell The Orville as a comedy to Fox since that's what he's known for, they definitely marketed it that way in the trailers leading up to the release. But you're right, in the second season it becomes much more serious. Season 3 is by far the best season in my opinion, they build off of story points from the previous seasons that were fine and could be left alone but really enriched the story and lives of the crew members. In the first season or two, Seth MacFarlane felt like the main character, it was about him being the captain, but in season 3, while there were parts that focused on him, he felt more like a supporting actor and really let the other characters shine.
That’s the true story. It came from seth wanting to make real star trek and getting shot down. But as any good American: Improvise, Adapt, Overcome.
Even in Season 1, once they’re a few episodes in it gets much more Trek than anything else. The characters can be kind of goofballs but in a way that makes them feel human more than in a “we must include jokes” way.
I agree with this wholeheartedly. It hit its stride in 2nd season. My buddy told me to stick w it and I’m glad I did. Some episodes are amazing. 🤞for more seasons
Thank you. I am starting the Orville this weekend. So excited! First timer here! 😀
I didn't give the Orville a shot until last year, and I am so glad I did. I initially passed on it because I thought it was just going to be __Family Guy in space__. The humor in the first couple of episodes was slightly juvenile, but overall, the show was just *good* Star Trek by another name.
Yeah, it's basically a lower-brow version of Star Trek.
With a brow that raises slowly over time, like a Vulcan listening to Jim Kirk talk
Yeah.. and there is very little Family Guy-esque humor in the Orville. The bits in it are very similar to those in Star Trek Next Gen and DS9 tbh.
I can't stand Family Guy either, but The Orville is an excellent series. The 3rd season is a particular standout. The episodes are longer. Because of the streaming platform, they don't have to break for commercials. 💯 percent reccomend!!!
I dislike Family Guy. I found Seth's humor in Family Guy to be juvenile and kinda... well, frankly, dumb. But a friend of mine who I respect told me to give The Orville a try, and I have to say... I'm amazed. The first season, you can SEE his trademark humor but it's smarter. He's clearly still Seth, but he's making smarter jokes, and after the first couple of episodes, the show stops being "a comedy show in a science fiction setting" and starts being "a science fiction show with some comedy." The comedy doesn't drive the plot. Most of season 1 and 2 feel like particularly good (but funny) episodes of TNG. By season 3, the comedy is largely gone, and it's just a VERY high quality science fiction show. Episodes 8 and 9, combined, could have been a summer blockbuster sci-fi movie. It wouldn't have seemed out of place on the big screen. In short, yes, The Orville is excellent, even if you actively dislike Seth's animated work and the humor you've seen from him prior to it. His love of Star Trek shines through in every episode. **The Orville isn't a parody of Star Trek, it's a love letter to Star Trek.**
This right here, all day long. I said the same thing after watching the first season. “This isn’t a parody, it’s a *love letter!*”
You wrote out my exact thoughts, and better than I would have! I cannot stand 10 minutes of Family Guy and was hesitant to try The Orville. The first episode, my thought was "it's pretty good" and by the third episode I was in love. The fact that they tackled topics similar to what we saw in the best episodes of Star Trek and accomplished the stories so well with gravity and still kept the humor (and I agree, smarter than Family Guy) was wonderful. The Orville is one of my favorite shows of all time, top 10 along with Strange New Worlds and Deep Space 9. OP, I hope you give it a try. If you are on the fence give it to episode 3 and you will see the themes the show will tackle as it gets better and better.
Family Guy’s humor put me off the idea of a Seth Trek too. But DAMN he knocked it outta the park! Later I learned that he is also partly responsible for the remake of Cosmos! [He secured the funding](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/apr/08/cosmos-carl-sagan-seth-macfarlane-family-guy). The dude deeply loves science & space exploration, and it’s clear he wants to ignite curiosity in younger generations the way his was by two spacey shows he loved as a kid. I useta have little respect for him due to how crass & cruel the humor was on FG. But I have a ton of respect for him these days. Edit: clunkiness
Reading that he apparently posted to socials recently that he's working to make sure S3 wasn't the last I think kind of proves how much he loves the show. I'd definitely love a S4.
Me too. More than oxygen. 😄
Give it a try. There's humor for sure, but it's a sci-fi show first and foremost; and becomes even more so as the seasons progress. It's as good or better than anything ST has put out in years.
Agreed, it has the heart of classic star trek (TNG era) and *feels* more like star trek than it's contemporary at the time - Discovery. As you say, it gets less comedy star trek spoof and more like it's own sci fi show as the seasons go on. Still hoping for another season! That said though, Star Trek Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks both have the heart of classic trek too. Even Prodigy too. But they all came out after the Orville had started.
"We will never again have to fear the banana" is peak comedy.
The first season has some clunky moments as they're trying to iron out the comedy/drama balance. It's much more like what you probably think of as a Seth MacFarlane show early on, though it's also still very much a TNG-inspired Trek type show, at the same time. Once those early growing pains get worked out, though, it's just, basically, a solid Star Trek show with maybe a bit more humor at times. It'll probably scratch that itch for you, and there's not nearly as much pain to wade through as early TNG.
Exactly this. Star Trek has always had humour. It was usually 90% Sci fi. 10% humour depending on the episode. Season one of Orville went for a comedy in star trek vibe and many episode had 40% Sci fi, 60% comedy approach. By Season 2, (let's ignore the Bortus porn episode), it found the right balance into a 70% Sci fi, 30% comedy. I would say Season 3 even went a little further. It was all brilliant (again let's ignore bortus porn), but they definitely improved the balance after Season 1.
Yeah that porn one is probably my least favorite episode of the series.
It happens. Not going to win them all.
what’s wrong with the bortus porn episode??
The Orville is absolutely nothing like Family Guy.
Okay. The Enterprise is all the A students, the Dean's list. The best and brightest. The Orville are the Other Guys. The nutjobs, fuck ups, the people that none of the higher ups know what to do with. If you ever read any of Peter David's Trek novels, that's a good reference point for the tone. It bounces wildly from laugh out loud absurd to "oh...shit..." to within the same chapter at many points.
I'm also a fan of Peter David's work, some of the best books I've ever read. (New Frontiers, especially.) He's not doing so well right now and could use help from any fans who can contribute. [https://www.gofundme.com/f/peter-david-fund](https://www.gofundme.com/f/peter-david-fund)
How heartwarming to see how much support he’s getting!
Haha, I read a LOT of Star Trek books back in the day and Peter David's were always the most fun.
The first five episodes, I’d argue, are the weakest. But once you get past that, you will find a very solid science fiction show with some humor, one which doesn’t speak down to its audience in the way Star Trek sometimes could, which creates a consistent and interesting universe that evolves over time, and with characters that are far more fully fleshed out in many ways. One thing I really appreciate about The Orville is that the writers can actually write dialogue—and real dialogue, between witty and smart people who know each other really well. (I often found the dialogue in the various Star Trek properties stilted and almost forced, as if the writers started with the need for exposition and back-filled with personal conversations, rather than dialogue that sounds more natural.) I also appreciate that sometimes the most seemingly silliest episodes turn out to be the most influential in the overall story telling. >!Specifically the episode “A Happy Refrain” sets up a **major** arc in the storytelling—and yet it seems like a sweet, and silly standalone story.!< Yes, I’d argue The Orville is actually quite good.
Imagine Next Generation where the bridge crew is a little bit funnier. That's about where the Orville sits. And I think it's very good.
I went into The Orville expecting a shitty parody of Star Trek with dick jokes. What I actually got was *better* Star Trek. It’s a love letter to Trek that I genuinely believe eclipses the source material. Get over whatever hangups you have regarding Family Guy, and just enjoy this absolute gem of a series.
I would recommend ignoring or enduring the first episode. It very much feels like an episode Seth made, because the studio people probably demanded him to do Family Guy but different. The second episode onwards is imho a total tone shift. It's far less irreverent and I always felt like the Orville captures a very good wholesome vibe of good and competent people propping each other up and occasionally there's a poop joke. By the time you reach some episodes in the back half of S1 you're probably gonna encounter some episode concepts that make you feel like you're watching an old, unaired Original Series episode, because things are zany and weird in a good SciFi kind of way, haha
I second this. My partner and I initially watched a few episodes and weren't interested. A year or so later we gave it a second chance and well.. we've rewatched the series at least 3 times at this point.
You will 100% laugh your butt off at the cigarette episode ETA: I really dislike FG humor. The humor on Orville is tempered and not rude, crude or cruel.
One of my favorite EPs. Love Bortus in general. A really great character.
Peter Macon’s voice acting on FG is *chefs kiss* and his acting on Orville is stellar. Seeing Macon’s delivery as Preston Lloyd on FG after seeing Macon on Orville just made Lloyd even funnier.
The Orville is my favorite Star Trek ;)
It’s wonderful! It’s what Star Trek wanted to be
Duuuude... Orville is a Star Trek fans wet dream. Watch it. Has absolutely nothing to do with Family guy.
The Orville was marketed as a Parody of Star Trek. Instead it is classic Star Trek with the trade mark filed off. If you like Star Trek you should like the Orville.
Overall, it's very good. The first few episodes are a little shaky, but that's like most shows. It gets a good rhythm by halfway through the first season, and the sci fi situations are usually very interesting. It feels like a funnier TNG. Second season ratchets up the tension, and season 3 doesn't feel that jokey at all, especially compared to season 1. But I've enjoyed the entire thing.
It feels like a more light hearted TNG
But only usually. Occasionally it's heavier than Trek ever dared, and it's brilliant.
It's quite a bit like Star Trek Shows in that it takes quite a while to find itself. In the early phase (roughly season 1, +/- a few episodes) it mostly tries to be a Star Trek Parody and not much more - but there are some things that shine through and show that there could be much more, which also do become elements important to the later story. However at some point it manages to establish itself as a credible somewhat unique world and starts taking itself more seriously (even though obviously there is still quite a bit of humour involved most of the time) - and that's when the show becomes truly great. At some point it turns from Star Trek Parody into legitimate "Star Trek Alternative", so to speak and does start asking some heavy questions like Star Trek would, though naming examples would be dangerously close to spoiling significant parts of the show. I would recommend watching it and simply being prepared for the fact that at least in the first few episodes you'll probably cringe at some of the humour. But in my opinion sitting through those is worth it.
Just repeating what everyone else said but as a huge fan, I want to say something to convince you to watch. First episode, you'll find yourself saying "oh, it's THAT kind of show." But there is actually a pretty solid, high concept episode behind the Seth gags, and it sets up plot points that happen across all 3 seasons. (I have to give this show credit for having as strong a through line of story as the best Trek storylines) The first few episodes, you'll see it become a homage and at times a blatant rip off of ST OS and TNG. And frankly, Seth's Cpt. Ed Mercer is probably the least interesting character in the show...not that he's badly written, but that everyone else is so interesting; yes, they stole many Trek tropes but added an interesting new twist in every case. By halfway through the first season you'll be hooked as it becomes its own thing. And then you'll start writing on message boards to convince.people to watch.
Season one and two had a "joke quota" because Fox and no risk allowed. So Seth McFarland funny man, dance. Season 3 really drops this because they left Fox, and the transition to McFarland true vision is great. Season 3 builds on the 1st two very well and tackles very interesting narratives. My least favorite and most favorite episodes come from S3 though. Least favorite is 3-6, where Gordon goes back in time. Feels like beating a dead horse. Just an excuse to bring Leighton Meester back. Favorite was 3-2 The Shadow Realm. Really loved the horror side they brought to the table. Tried to keep it spoiler free while being informative??? Idk Loved season 3, season 1 and 2 are fun. 3 challenges you a bit more with deeper story
I'm a Star Trek fan. I've never watched Family Guy and I adore The Orville. Just know that it starts out a little heavy on the humor, then finds the perfect balance. It's Trek with levity. I love it.
The Orville is better Star Trek than Discovery, Lower Decks, or SNW.
imagine all the topics that star trek writers never discuss on any episode because the network thought it was to racy ( drug addiction, trans rights, homosexuality, poverty , ego death, divorce, slavery etc ) now put that on a star trek like show and add a couple spoonfuls of some rsally good adult humor/ themes and you get the orville .
I only recently watched the show. When it first came out I saw the ads that showed it as a farcical parody of Star Trek, and I didn’t think it was for me. The ads were WRONG. Orville is an homage to Star Trek. Its own universe but very much the optimistic ensemble exploring the universe. Once I started, I had to binge. Watch. You will not regret it.
I HAVE LAID AN EGG
As a massive Star Trek fan I would describe The Orville like this: Season One: Weak imitation of TNG/Voyager Season Two: Decent imitation of TNG/Voyager Season Three: Sometimes actually better than TNG/Voyager.
So good, so worth it, Mcfarlane deserves a shot at real Trek if this doesn't continue-- which i hope it does and with the entire cast. I fully admit to being judgemental about the show when it came out, but it is a fantastic show.
I dislike Family Guy a whole lot and normally can’t stand Seth and his humor. I didn’t even know it was one of his shows until the end of the first season, that’s how good it was. I realized I didn’t actually know what Seth Macfarlane looked like until the first time I watched this show. By then I’d already developed a pretty big crush on Ed so you can imagine I was proper shook to find out who he actually was. Don’t let him deter you!
I feel the same way about Macfarlane and family guy. That’s why I resisted watching The Orville until the last season it came out. Discovered I LOVED it.
Someone told me to watch it - it’s the best Star Trek since Star Trek.
it's not good. It's the friggin best. I miss it and long for another season... or ten.
The first 2 episodes were made to satisfy "sitcom in Space" that Fox asked for, but by the 3rd, it becomes more, so much more, a spiritual successor to startrek with humor.
Try to ignore the first few episodes, they're not great. But then the show starts to take off and becomes a reasonably good show. Sadly, it's no longer in production, but you'll enjoy more than a few episodes.
Just like with Star Trek, the Orville takes a little while to get really good, though compared to Star Trek, the Orville is really quick. The more you watch the better it gets. The show really finds its stride in season 2, but there are many episodes in season 1 that are really good as well. So give it a go! I too love Star Trek. The Orville is great!
Yeah it’s awesome. Much better than I had anticipated and actually I kind of miss that McFarlane humor from the first season now. Many episodes feel like they could’ve been on TNG to me.
It’s funny I couldn’t stand him either, especially family guy but he’s actually quite good in it. He obviously has a real love for Star Trek and seems to do his best to try to make something close to the original TNG.
Yes. I love all Star Trek. I didn’t hugely enjoy the first season of the Orville, it was too comedy focused and often felt like you were just watching an episode of Family Guy, but in the second they tone it down and in the third it’s barely there.
Yeah. Before Picard S3 it was the closest to classic trek we'd had in decades. The final season especially threw out a lot of the humour in favour of straight up trek style drama.
It’s fantastic. I’m not a family guy fan, at least not since season 4. But I am a huge Star Trek fan especially TNG. At its core, the Orville is TNG. The first season is a little jokey and that rubs people the wrong way. But it gets more serious in season 2. It’s a wonderful show.
Yes. It is great. Starts out with a little awkward family guy type humor, but turns into a really cool sci-fi show.
I love it and my husband described it as the best Star Trek show he’s watched.
I was never really into Star Trek but I didn't dislike it either. I just brushed it off. But I binged watched The Orville all 3 seasons in one month when I found out about it. Season 3 was one of my most favorite shows I watched in a while.
The reason The Orville is such a surprise success and got such a strong cult following is because you go in expecting it to be Family Guy Meets Star Trek and it’s actually just a very sincere fan film that Seth got to make for a major network. The humor dies down considerably after the first episode, though it never goes away completely—but even Star Trek has humor interwoven throughout.
I don’t watch Family Guy. The Orville is one of favorite TV series of any kind.
Much of the first season is what I call "space farts" it is pretty typical McFarland hunor with glimmers of star trek. However, it evolves into a proper bootleg startrek with some very pogient topics being addressed and frankly the best explanation of why the "prime directive" must be adhered to.
The Orville is in spirit one of the best Star Trek shows out there. If you like Berman's Star Trek, you will love The Orville! (Please watch at least the first couple of episodes, before you make up your mind. Definitely do not judge it by watching the pilot only.)
Think of The Orville as...if the lower decks crew got promoted and ran the ship.
I really hate family guy. Loved the orville honestly so I would recommend giving it a go!!
Im a huge scifi guy, big star trek, star wars, expeditionary force, skyward and this show absolutely fits its place. Seth 100% sold fox on a star trek parody and within 2 episodes delivered a compliment to all of sci-fi. Fox would of been pissed if the ratings hadn't been there. The Oriville is a show then genuinely kept getting better. Seth has and hopefully will continue to make fantastic additions to the scifi category
The serious parts are closest to TNG of any Trek made since Enterprise got cancelled- they're incredibly good. The humorous parts are probably not too dissimilar to something like that Lower Decks show. For the most part, if you really wanted to, you could skip the joke parts and the episodes would stand almost entirely on their own as serious Trek episodes. As the series moved forward the balance between humor and serious shifted and the humor got more mature before ultimately being mostly removed by season 3 because Seth realized he liked doing the serious parts more than the comedy parts.
Family guy doesn’t entertain me but I watched this twice.
Hate family guy, love Orville. Give it a shot.
Oh no, the Orville is NOTHING like family guy, as someone who despised family guy and Seth, this show has made me appreciate him and his work so so much more, this show is his magnum opus can't tell me otherwise, it's amazing
Orville feels more Star Trek than the Star Trek shows that were made lately. PIC, PRO and LD are clearly diverting to explore other areas, DIS just feels like an average fanfiction and many fans use shortcup STD, only SNW seems to be the Star Trek fans are used to (except the second season seems running out of ideas and including musical, crossover and simulated reality/AU episodes already...). That is the void Orville inhabits, of course Orville minus the humor. But the humor is gradually less and less important and already in the first season the series deals with Star Trek and classical you-can-only-say-this-aloud-in-sci-fi type issues.
It’s worlds away from MacFarlane’s animated stuff. The first season is a little more jokey than the other two, but it’s clearly a passion project and MacFarlane and the writers genuinely seem to care about producing good sci fi. The jokes also aren’t the same as a lot of what FG’s become infamous for. It’s mostly observational and character stuff, a tiiiiny bit of grossout but really not much. The stories get seriously intense by some episodes in S2 and S3, it might surprise you. I say this as someone who’s watched a fair amount of TNG, DS9, Voyager, SNW, Disco, Dr Who, X Files, Red Dwarf… Orville is really solid, really creative TV sci fi. I say give the first two or three episodes a shot.
If you don't like Seth, it might not be for you... but this show is what modern Trek should've been.
I would say the best description is "Star Trek with real people and real emotions." Because most situations that take place seem like military shenanigans but filmed in the style of Star Trek.
Hey. Long time trek fan here. Imo, the Orville isn’t as smart as it thinks or wants to be, but it is still very good and worth giving a few episodes to make up your own mind. Tl;dr: If I were to recommend 3 episodes to a curious trek fan, it would be S1’s Krill, Mad Idolatry, and S2’s Nothing Left on Earth Excepting Fishes (a sequel to “Krill”). The thing to remember is Seth, despite being best known for Family Guy, contains multitudes. I’m not a big fan of Family Guy either, but I can admit that there’s more to the guy than just that one show (which he hasn’t actively written in like a decade or more). Not everything he does is steeped in Family Guy humor. He is a true fan of Star Trek, and he wanted to make something that captures the spirit of what he felt current trek is missing, just as all the fans were clamoring for pre-SNW. Yes it’s a comedy. And it struggles at times to balance that comedy, but it never really stops tinkering with the formula (even removing it almost completely in season 3). Some of it is crude, especially in the beginning. Fox obviously wanted a comedy and wanted to market it as such. But never doubt the heart is there. The best way I can think to describe it is “Blue Collar Star Trek”. It’s like Trek if the Enterprise was crewed by the cast of “the office”. Not perfect 1:1 of that specific cast, but ordinary, relatable Everyman(s), who would rather listen to Billy Joel and Dolly Parton over Mozart and Beethoven.
It gets overly preachy at moments but can make you laugh.
It's good but buckle up for the first few episodes if you're not into that kind of humor as they really lean into this style a lot early on. But, after a while it really comes into its own and find its own way to do Star Trek thing without being Star Trek mixed in with humor without being Family Guy.
s1 can be clunky but overall the show is amazing s2 and 3 are masterclasses on sci fi writing
It’s incredible. Go watch and see for yourself!
Yes. Enjoy the humour in the first season, and the serious tone and awesome cinematography in the last one.
Seth loves Star Trek and it’s an homage to that. First season is more funny but great stories and world building and doesn’t feel “Family Guy”. Def give it a shot.
It's really really good. To be honest it's much more a sci-fi than it is a comedy
I truly believe you'll come to like it and see it as a homage to Star Trek.
Best Star Trek show in the last ten years
YES! It’s great.
I’m a lifelong Star Trek enjoyer who thinks Family Guy is intentionally-offensive trash, and The Orville made me fully reevaluate my opinion of Seth MacFarlane
It's obvious in the first episode that the writers intended for the McFarland brand of slap stick family guy humor, but somewhere in the process they changed it into something serious with light humor attached. Seriously, I fell off the star trek ladder with voyager, and the others just kept getting... dark... I guess. The spirit of gene Roddenberry seemed lost after deep space nine. Well this... it's like that spirit found its way back through the orville. The episodes get better and better. This is my new star trek.
The first season will be bumpy for you but season 2 onwards will be great
You should definitely try it. I don't like Family Guy either, but i love The Orville.
Not a Family Guy fan, but I gave it a try. Season 1 was a funny in a childish humor kind of way, but by Season 3 it had me in tears. Character development was so great and, like TOS and TNG, it asked provocative questions about social norms without being in your face. I know it’s over, but I wish they had more seasons. The cast and crew had such good chemistry.
No… ITS GREAT!
i never watched star trek so can't draw a comparison between the two. i know the two are somehow connected with some sort of insider jokes and references etc. but, yes, the orville is actually that good! i don't know why but seth's joke alway gets me, always! and besides the show is more than jokes, it covers so many aspects of our mundane life under its skin of sci-fi. i highly recommended the entire show and i've rewatched it twice. too bad it's unlikely there's a 4th season (but not completely dead yet)
I’ve never watched Star Trek so I initially dodged The Orville. Then I saw reels online showing scenes from The Orville, binge watched the whole series last year. I love it
It is pretty great. And it's certainly not family guy. It's earnest, and sincere; it fully commits to whatever it's doing that episode. The shifts in tone can knock you on your ass but it has some great moments. It can be alittle trite at times but I really enjoyed all three seasons.
Give it three episodes. Most star trek have rough first seasons. Once things. click the Orville is awesome.
There are some episodes in there that are really interesting and explore an idea well. Those feel like ST. Some of them even manage to push the very much still obnoxious McFarlane brand far enough into the background, that you can ignore it. On the other hand the guys acting is horrible. Everyone on the crew seems to be an alcoholic and I found it very annoying how getting wasted was the only social interaction on the ship. Also it's 3 seasons of "wife/marriage bad" jokes. If you get tired of that don't watch it. Then again everything about the alien robot race is just as illogical and contrieved as the Borg. So a ST fan might actually like that and go along with it. Same with distances and the nuances of space travel. Speed and astronomical distances never exist in the show.
(Caution: Spoilers in the linked interview.) In an [interview (August 2022)](https://decider.com/2022/08/15/seth-macfarlane-the-orville-season-4-interview/), MacFarlane said: "...the show was launched as a hard comedy" by Fox. "They really leaned into the jokes. And that *was* part of it, so that’s not all their fault, but they leaned into the jokes and the comedy to a disproportionate degree. And they really presented it as a sitcom in space, which it wasn’t. It was a show that was attempting to tell serious sci-fi stories while cracking jokes at the same time, and…that’s not really something that is sustainable hand in hand on a television series." ...
you will like MacFarlane as a federation starship captain 🫳🎤
It's less a syar trek spoof and more of a homage
I have zero frame of reference since I have not seen a single episode of Family Guy. There is humor in the first season and I don't know if that's "Family Guy Humor" but is what it is. I think one of the greatest B plots I've ever seen in a sci-fi series is Bortus and Klyden's Cigarette addiction. The "worst" thing I consider about the Orville is some plots in S2-S3 feel a bit derivative of other Sci-Fi shows but maybe that's just the problem with shows in general having had 26x7 episode runs you've covered almost everything.
Yes. Yes it is. You want more don't you? My dad loves star Trek, we're both massive nerds but star treks the one thing I never got into (there's too much of it i don't have time) the Orville is the perfect thing for us to both love
Give it a shot, the first season definitely has that family guy-esque humor in it, which I personally didn't like. But there was enough there to keep me engaged and interested long enough to reach season 2 where it really balances out and gets *really* good. Seasons 2 and 3 are really good with some exceptional stories, the MacFarlane humor is still there, but it's tempered and balanced out by some really engaging and thought provoking stories and characters!
It’s great! It’s not a dumb comedy show, though there is some comedy. It starts off a bit goofy, but grows to become more serious. Many episodes deal with philosophical problems in the same vein as the best of older Trek. In lots of ways, it’s more like *Star Trek: The Next Generation* than any of the newer shows that call themselves “Star Trek.”
It's like Star Trek TNG era for silly people. It does have the same pace and structure as TNG with humor. It's more cheesy but it's probably more science fiction than the nutrek stuff
Yeah, I like it. It's Star Trek with workplace humour. There are some genuinely touching moments in it too.
If you like SNW, you’ll love the Orville. It doesn’t have the humor of Family Guy, it has humor in its own way. In S3, they find their groove and just focus on good Sci-Fi. You won’t regret watching it, only that it has ended.
As much as I love The Orville, I don't think you're likely to get the greatest answers from its own subreddit. Of course we think it's good. That's why we're here. You might search up threads in other places, like sci fi subs. I've heard great praise for it from people who mostly watch things like The Expanse. Orville still has some of Seth's type of flat humor and it's often light-hearted. It's supposed to be, but his love for Star Trek shines through all the time.
If you like TNG you'll like season 3.
I loved it and I mostly hate comedy. It gets real in s2
i think you'll really enjoy season 3 season 1 and season 2 are still solid but there's definitely more of that Family Guy style humor. it tapers off after the first few eps of season 2. Season 3 it's a lot more intelligently woven into the larger stories I actually don't mind Seth playing the main character...i think b/c i personally find Ed Mercer to be a pretty grounded guy for a starship captain lol
I went into The Orville with zero knowledge of it prior to watching the first episode. It quickly moved up my list of favorite shows. I say give it a go. You'll know if it's for you pretty quickly.
Season One: Star Trek parody sitcom. Season Two: Loving Star Trek homage comedy. Season Three: Star Trek with some jokes. The humour gets dialled way back in seasons 2 and 3, and the strong writing of the show really shines through. It's way better than most nu-trek garbage. I strongly believe that Strange New Worlds wouldn't be like it is without the influence of The Orville.
Yes
Watch it and learn.
In my humble opinion, yes, definitely is.
I was put off for the exact same reason. I can't stand his humor. The show doesn't lean on that kind of humor at all. it's actually really clever with a lot of heart. Ironically, when we get to season 3 the humor is all but gone and it lost me entirely. I can't recommend the first two seasons enough though.
Hubby and I are HUGE TREKKIES! I literally write Star Trek fanfiction. We LOVE oriville! It’s like Star Trek what really went on. The funny stuff, the drama, the ordinary. It’s awesome.
Yeah, that’s sadly the problem with The Orville: people see Seth’s name and immediately think “Oh, it’s Star Trek meets Family Guy.” No, it’s not. This isn’t so much Seth “Family Guy” MacFarlane as it is Seth “So Trekkie he got a bit part on Enterprise, and EPed the Cosmos Reboot” MacFarlane. The Orville is a Trek/TNG throwback, and as the others point out, it does have a bit of humor especially at first. But at least its humor is written by people who know their way around comedy, not “Have you noticed how your boobs have started to firm up” humor.
The Orville came out around the time the first season of Star Trek: Discovery hit and The Orville felt like the more Trek of the two. It had some classic Seth McFarlane humor moments but it’s mostly a very serious sci-fi show and Seth handles it perfectly.
It's definitely worth a try. Seth McFarlane is a huge scifi fan and it shows. The first season is heavier on the humor than later seasons but it's nothing like family guy. I would best describe it as tng humor but more not stilted and actually lands. Second and third seasons are my favorites and there's storylines that made me tear up the way good scifi is supposed to
It's actually good. You can tell McFarlane is a true fan of Star Trek, and unlike Abrahams, he worked hard to have his homage embody the aspects of Trek that make it so well loved for nearly 60 years. As others have said, it's the best Trek in years. SNW and LD are getting back to the heart of Trek too.
I hate Family Guy and its humor style. The Orville is great.
You need to get past the first two or three EPs, if you're not a typical Seth fan (which I am). It's a bit too much on the humour. However, after that, the storylines start to take over. And S2 and S3 are as good as any TV Sci-Fi, including a lot of the Star Trek franchise. The characters are strong, aliens races interesting and the action just gets better and better. Stick it out for the first few, don't judge it too harshly on the first EPs, and I don't think you'd be be dissapointed
You can watch the episodes for free on iphone with basic Hulu. You will not be able to watch them for free on a tv though.
It’s actually good. Seth MacFarlane looooooves Star Trek and he does all the writing for The Orville himself (unlike Family Guy). Trust me, you will love The Orville for answering questions like “why does the prime directive exist?”
I’m a huge Trekkie. The Orville is peak TNG era Trek.
You need to get past the silliness of some of season 1 (I think I remember reading that FOX wanted a stupid sci-fi show so that’s what they got) it actually becomes more Star Trek than Discovery
I went in with mixed to low expectations, being more of a Star Trek fan than I ever was a Macfarlane fan, and was pleasantly surprised by how good The Orville was. The first season leans a bit more towards the kind of humor you may expect from a Macfarlane project, but not overly so and there's plenty of seriousness to it, which ramps up in the following seasons. Be warned there's some re treads of common Star Trek / sci-fi stories and elements, but they still manage to present their universe in a unique and well done enough manner to make the show an enjoyable investment to me. Not that I necessarily expect this to sway you, but I've had better luck hooking people in my life with this show than with anything Star Trek.
This is probably not going to add much to the conversation, but I am a fan of TNG, DS9, Voyager, & Enterprise. Seth MacFarlane is a fan of Star Trek (he was cast as a crewman on Enterprise due to his huge fan status). The show basically his version of Star Trek, with a bit of a Get Smart, TV Series, feel to it at times, but not to the degree of silliness of that series. Overall, it is basically what a more modern version of TNG would be, if they were making new episodes. It even has some parallels to it. The humor, with a few exceptions, is similar to the humor of the ST shows that I've mentioned, sometimes even funnier, in a good way. There are a few moments of it being a bit juvenile, but that's only a smidgen of what the show has to offer. Basically 99% of the show is a solid ST experience. You may not like every single episode, but you will most likely love quite a few of them. You will care about the characters, some of which experience real growth. You will see a few familiar ST faces. You will experience some unique stories. You will mostly like be a fan if you really give it a chance. I watched it through a couple of times before it moved over to Hulu and then worst thing that I can say about it is that the last episode saddened me, because they stopped making more. I just wanted to see this crew grow and have more episodes to enjoy.
I held off for a long time because of my pre-conceived notions about McFarlane, but I tried it in a similar situation as you, with no new shows to watch. First season is a bit rocky as they find their tone, but it just gets better and better. Most of the cast is great, and the show works best as an ensemble. One of the showrunners is Brannon Braga, who is a legit high level ST alumni. Many of the characters are analogs of ST roles, which sounds derivative, but works as a shorthand to be able to get into the stories quickly. We learn more about them as the show continues. I also felt the show held a good balance between episode-of-the-week stories and longer arcs. The show does seem semi preoccupied with sex on occasion, but for the most part, it's usually not too weird or cringey. There are definitely some stories that you wouldn't see explored on network television.
I am not a Seth McFarlane fan AT ALL. Even though at times I have enjoyed the humour in Family Guy, I always 100% assumed I would hate the ass hole coming up with the jokes. Then you look at pictures of him and he has an eminently punchable face and a smug dick eating grin all the time. I thought I would hate Orville because of that and refused to listen to everyone telling me I would enjoy it. So finally this year I gave it a chance and I really enjoyed it. The first season is a little rough with the jokes. I see that as the network wanting Seth to make a Seth McFarlane show when he didn’t really want to. But he wanted to share this so… the jokes. The second and third seasons are much much better once the McFarlane jokes are dialed back. The show digs into the same issues as Ster Trek and in fact addresses a few things more head on than Ster Trek. (Mostly religion is a bit more takes about.) Seth McFarlane as Ed is really good casting/writing. His character definitely makes the punchability of Seth’s face part of his character in a good way. Ed Mercer is a solid character. The only thing the show suffers from in later seasons is Seth was sleeping with an actress and created a character for her on the show. And it’s weak. Both the character and the actress are sub-par.
Better than the recent Star Trek shows which have come out.
Watch 4 episodes. In the first 2 seth really dominates and his humor really grated on me. Then he stepped back and let the rest of the cast shine, and it's honestly such a huge TNG feel it's great
My family is a Star Trek family. None of us like Family Guy. All of us love the Orville.
I was like you. I do not care for Family Guy or most of Seth McFarlane's humor so I slept on The Orville. But I was not feeling Discovery so I gave Orville a try and I ended up LOVING it. The thing about McFarlane is that he's a HARDCORE Trekkie. He was even an extra on Enterprise. He did a Trek fan film when he was 16. So Orville feels like "yeah you've seen a show about the flagship of the federation. He's a show about, yknow, just, like, a ship in the federation." The humor humanizes it and in some cases, allows Trek to go to places normal Trek can't go. I stay give it a go and stick with it.
Give it a watch. If you make it through and are not sure if you like it watch it again. And again. And then name your child after characters from the show.
As a Trekkie myself, yes. Watch it. You’ll be glad you did. Edited to add: you’ll also enjoy the MANY Star Trek alums who guest star on the Orville
Orville is a love song to TOS and TNG, so if you like those, you'll likely love Orville, as long as you remember the challenge they had coming out the gate... To stay out of legal trouble, it had to be glaringly obvious but wasn't Trek, and they weren't trying to pass themselves off as Trek. As that became established fact, they had more latitude to write harder stories and to really dig deep on things, and in a way, I think Orville is the reason SNW became what it is, because there was that pressure of an alternative that forced Trek to act be Trek again.
It's ok. This is the wrong place to ask for an unbiased opinion though.
It’s great! Highly recommended! Naïvely, hoping for fourth season!
The Orville is smart and nuanced. It is not "Family Guy in Space".
Watch to the 3rd season. More than proves itself as a ST competitor.
Yes
Yes it is. The stories are shockingly Star Trek-esque and I was blown away! I thought it was going to be humour > sci-fi but it's really well balanced. I think of it as Star Trek with 20% more humour. Then again it could just be me 🖖
Give it a couple episodes. Yes. It’s very good.
I love it. The second season was a masterpiece. It's like Next Gen but with more humor, which in my mind makes it more realistic. Just because you're in the future doesn't mean that there's no humor, or office romances, or other things that humans enjoy.
It is very good, sure the "good" starts like 1/2 into season one, but it ha very good star trek feeling to it.
What a weird question to ask. Why ask other people for their subjective opinion rather than watching an episode to figure out your own opinion?
Yes. It's good
I was in the exact same boat as you. The thing about The Orville is you have to watch the first couple episodes knowing full well they are going to be the worst of the series, but are absolutely essential, and that it’ll all be worth it once the show really takes off.
Yes it's freaking hilarious, I was hoping I'd see it come back
Going back to the first season after season 3, it's incredible how almost heavy the satire was. It was definitely a selling point to studio exec that this is Family Guy in space and the Next Generation links were happenstance. But that's not entirely true. Yes, there are plenty of Family Guy humor moments, but the core of Trek exploring humanity's tendencies through the lens of exploration and seeing our foibles in other alien species is there. And it only gets better as you go to season 2 and *especially* season 3. But even where there is humor, it's pretty relevant to the story. There's no [just like we do with the squid](https://youtu.be/aexKoCI9XK0?si=ncsH9EEHcxkl_cVL) level of insanity that's random for the sake of being random.
We need a new season already.. but considering Ted is out with some of the same actors I doubt it's coming back. Ted is hilarious and I'm excited for season 2
In a word? YES!
Very good.
The Orville begins with Family guy humor out of the gate but quickly sharpens up into a really serious space show.
Yes, it is good, especially season 3. If it were Trek, most of those episodes would be considered all-time greats.
It's fantastic. Yes it does have the occasional Seth humor moment, but it's not really over the top like FG(Seth isn't even a writer on FG anymore, hasn't been for years) I'd say it's a wonderful bit of sci-fi with the occasional absurd humourous situation. Just like Trek, it delves into some very deep societal issues. The humourous bits are some of my favourite visual gags from any show I've seen lately.
The Orville starts a little rough but really starts to shine the second half of season 1. Season 2 is really good pretty much the whole way through. The tone shifts to be a more lighthearted star trek than a parody. Season 3 is ok... Didn't like it as much, but worth a watch if you're a fan.
The show is 80% star trek 20% comedy the first 2 seasons. Then the pandemic hit. And by the time it came back on hulu. They were still trying to keep the cast down to a minimum for saftey reasons. And norm Mcdonald died early in the process so hes onlt in the first episode of season 3. So their funniest person wasnt there anymore, plus the fact since he was only doing VA they really could have used him more. So it became 95% serious. Which just lost its charm. Because the episodes got 15 min longer, and you feel how long it is while watching. And it took on a much serious topics ptsd and political troubles between waring nations. So the first 2 seasons are good, but the third one you have to kinda really love the show to get through. Ive only made it like 4 episodes into the final season.
Before STW, and Lower Decks came out I frequently referred to it as the best new Star Trek show on tv.
The show starts out trying to be mostly a comedy but they do lighten up on trying to pack jokes in there pretty quickly. It is a funny show but the humor generally feels natural to the situation. Nothing at all like family guy. I never was particularly into trek but I love the Orville. To me the show is everything I wanted Trek to be. I learned also that this is not a show I can put on in the background while I do other things because I always get sucked in and can't pay attention to anything else.
The Orville has the sense of optimism & excitement for a better future that most recent Star Trek lacks. It takes on the big philosophical themes during the middle of the first season & continues from there. It's great.
There’s a tiny TINY bit of family guy humor there but other than that it’s WAY better than Family Guy. They recycle a few jokes in the first season from family guy. Seth harping on men holding mugs with two hands although the joke was much funnier in The Orville. Basically whatever humor or jokes they have pulled from family guy are far funnier and better executed in The Orville but it’s nothing like Family Guy.
Is breathing air good?
I just count it as Trek honestly. The crew is a little more casual rather than military stiffs. They drink and play pranks on each other, joke around. But its actually a nice change of pace and none of that takes away from that "Trek" feeling. It has some damn good episodes that even rival my favorites from DS9 and VOY. Give it a shot. At least get to season 2, that's where it really hits its stride.
My kids love it. I love that that love it. Modern and funny for adults, good morals for kids.
Just out of curiosity regarding your dislike of family guy, how do you feel about classic absurdist sketch based comedies like Airplane or Wayne's World? Lots of people have said The Orville is nothing like Family Guy which stylistically it isn't however I've found the writing style to be quite similar considering it is the same writer.
Yes
I was worried it'd be very Family Guyesque, and it isn't. There are comedic parts to it, but not in the same vein at all. It's very TNG, MacFarlane clearly loves that era.
Yes it really is good and I speak as someone who has been a huge Trekker for more than fifty years. Yes there is some pretty low brow humour in the first season as Seth had to appease the network pinheads at FOX. However there was always some good underlying stories under the pee jokes. As the series goes on the more Trek like it gets.
I enjoy Family Guy but as a Trek fan I was afraid to watch The Orville. I was very presently surprised. This is some humor lol, but not as much as I was expecting. It's Seth who is clearly a Trek fan, doing good science fiction.
I can’t stand Seth McFarland either and I didn’t care for the first episode, but I grew to love the show. It starts off like a parody of Star Trek but ends up being a really good Star Trek show. The humor remains but whereas it was front and center in the first episodes, it gradually becomes a more serious show. I call it the best Star Trek show made in the last decade (other than lower decks)
The humor isn’t really Family Guy, it’s much closer to 90s Star Trek in feel than anything else.
I’m a huge Trek fan but not the biggest Macfarlane fan so I held off for years but my god, it is genuinely great and just another Trek series to me now, every season just gets better and better I’ve been harassing my other Trek friends to watch it for a while and now almost all of them have and like me they think of it as another Trek series too personally I haven’t been a big fan of the newer Star Trek series so having something so close to Next Gen, DS9 and Voyager has been amazing
Seth is a lot more than family guy. He's a very talented guy (see his singing career for example) who is a HUGE star trek fan by himself. He had the money and pull to start his own star trek homage. It starts with a humoristic sway in season 1, but quickly becomes more like the good old star trek than the newer stuff that is carrying the name. They also recognized Seth is not the main character, and he get's a more background role by the season. It's his real passion project if you heard him talking about it. It's much more close to his hearth than family guy were he showcases his voicing talents. I sound fanboyish, but am soo thankfull he delivered a modern, but classic star trek alternative, catered just to those fans. It really deserves a try.
As a trekkie who hates most sitcom humor I geniuenly think most orville jokes are funny and I think orville does share the spirit of star trek which I would say is social commentary through allegories. I find orville more palatable than star trek discovery and I know some people will disagree but I think the humor is way better than whatever star trek lower decks is trying to do
It isn't necessarily bad, I didn't dislike it, and it had its moments.
Yes
The Orville is indeed good. IMO, it is absolutely marvelous!