TV: The Orville - Seth MacFarlane's Star Trek

[Jumptheshark]

Critics are being mean

 

[ucanthanzalthetruth]

American Dad is being underrated ITT it's improved in recent years. As people mentioned, he has no involvement in Family Guy anymore except as a voice actor.

 

[johnjm22]

Despite what Fox’s official site claims, The Orville — premiering this Sunday at 8/7c — is not a “hilarious comedy.†It’s not even a comedy. Yes, there are a few Family Guy-esque punchlines scattered throughout, but as bafflingly as this sounds, The Orville is mostly a straightforward drama… and not a very good one, at that.

The Orville is downright tedious, with painfully earnest dialogue and melodramatic act breaks that verge on self-parody. Scene after scene lands with a thud, like you’re waiting for a clever punchline that never comes. MacFarlane, and his show, take themselves so damn seriously that they suck all the fun out of space exploration.

http://tvline.com/2017/09/05/the-orville-review-fox-seth-macfarlane-sci-fi-outer-space/

The reviews are starting to come in and they're not good. No real surprise. The trailers for this looked terrible.

 

[Blender]

Wait, this isn't a comedy? I was expecting a This Is Spinal Tap type satirical take on Star Trek/sci-fi.

 

[Loosie]

It's Fox, I have no faith they will let it get past the baseball post-season.

 

[No Fun Shogun]

http://tvline.com/2017/09/05/the-orville-review-fox-seth-macfarlane-sci-fi-outer-space/

The reviews are starting to come in and they're not good. No real surprise. The trailers for this looked terrible.

That fits in with the thing I posted about a few days ago, so not too surprising, but definitely a huge disappointment if they missed on the drama side of things. Fox advertising it as a comedy when it isn't seems like an obvious set up for failure, though.

 

[discostu]

In terms of Star Trek spoof series, if this doesn't survive, there's still the Galaxy Quest series that Amazon is developing.

http://deadline.com/2017/08/galaxy-quest-tv-series-amazon-paul-scheer-1202151268/

 

[Behn Wilson]

I get why people would dislike McFarlane -- there's a frat-boy smugness in everything he does -- but I find him really clever. The first few seasons of Family Guy were hilarious. I even thought he did a great job hosting the Academy Awards a couple of years ago.

This trailer made me laugh. Definitely plan to check out the show...

I like him as a voice guy and he was phenomenal hosting those Comedy Central Award shows. But he just is not an actor. Has a very grating screen presence, very similar to the South Park guys in Basketball. I think he needs to check his ego and stick to what he is good at.

 

[Warden of the North]

http://tvline.com/2017/09/05/the-orville-review-fox-seth-macfarlane-sci-fi-outer-space/

The reviews are starting to come in and they're not good. No real surprise. The trailers for this looked terrible.

Shocking.

Maybe I was being generous with 5 episodes.

 

[NewtJorden]

It's Fox, I have no faith they will let it get past the baseball post-season.

Yeah, but Fox also really like Seth McFarlane.

 

[Acadmus]

Will probably end up being the best space opera show in the last 10 years...there's a low bar. Don't know about the new Trek, though, since CBS decided not to broadcast the series and keeps it behind a pay service that I'm simply not going to shell out money for.

 

[johnjm22]

Will probably end up being the best space opera show in the last 10 years...there's a low bar. Don't know about the new Trek, though, since CBS decided not to broadcast the series and keeps it behind a pay service that I'm simply not going to shell out money for.

The first episode is on regular CBS. Then you get a free trial on CBS All Access, so at least the first few episodes are free.

Personally, I like the idea of paying content creators directly for the content I want. IMO, it's better than the old model where you'd have to pay for 100+ channels most of them you didn't want.

 

[aleshemsky83]

Will probably end up being the best space opera show in the last 10 years...there's a low bar. Don't know about the new Trek, though, since CBS decided not to broadcast the series and keeps it behind a pay service that I'm simply not going to shell out money for.

Well there is the Expanse which is highly rated (though I haven't seen), so Im not sure about that.

But Im willing to give it a chance, lots of people seem ready to hate this. Im much more likely to watch this than the expanse (which I do intend on getting around to)

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

Personally, I like the idea of paying content creators directly for the content I want. IMO, it's better than the old model where you'd have to pay for 100+ channels most of them you didn't want.

I get this and agree but...

https://www.cbs.com/all-access/

Enjoy subscriber-only CBS All Access Originals like The Good Fight and Big Brother: Over the Top – with more exciting original shows on the way, including Star Trek: Discovery.

Subscribers also get access to CBSN, the 24/7 live-streaming news channel, featuring award-winning coverage from CBS News.

It's still not as alacarte or direct purchase as I'd like.

Caveat/disclaimer:
I don't know if this position is hypocritical or not. I've never had any kind of paid TV service, cable, dish or streaming. (whoops - except for hockey through NHL.com)

 

[Blender]

Well there is the Expanse which is highly rated (though I haven't seen), so Im not sure about that.

But Im willing to give it a chance, lots of people seem ready to hate this. Im much more likely to watch this than the expanse (which I do intend on getting around to)

The Expanse is an excellent show, but it's not a bright view of the future like Star Trek.

 

[Acadmus]

Well there is the Expanse which is highly rated (though I haven't seen), so Im not sure about that.

But Im willing to give it a chance, lots of people seem ready to hate this. Im much more likely to watch this than the expanse (which I do intend on getting around to)

I started watching The Expanse months ago...it just didn't hook me at all.

 

[Acadmus]

The first episode is on regular CBS. Then you get a free trial on CBS All Access, so at least the first few episodes are free.

Personally, I like the idea of paying content creators directly for the content I want. IMO, it's better than the old model where you'd have to pay for 100+ channels most of them you didn't want.

Whereas the cable TV model is ending, I much prefer paying ONE SERVICE PROVIDER for what I want than subscribing to a dozen of them that mostly have content I don't care about. I subscribe to Amazon and Netflix - I don't really want to have to also subscribe to Hulu, CBS (and other networks), YouTube premium, etc. and so on. Most of what CBS produces is crap, I'm not going to subscribe to them for the one show that I want to watch. Put it all in one place or put it on broadcast TV (which I also still pay for).

Going from subscribing to one provider who gives you a bunch of channels you don't want to a crapload of providers who give you a bunch of content you don't want ISN'T progress, end of discussion.

 

[Jumptheshark]

I am starting to think this is going to be 13 episode run as several cast members have signed to do arcs on other shows. Grimes is doing a comedy pilot, Palicki is rumoured to be back for a few episodes on Agents of Shields and two actors are booked for Broadway for shows in Jan

 

[KirkOut]

It wasn't bad. I'll probably keep watching. The bridge characters that aren't Seth Mcfarlane are likable enough

 

[NewtJorden]

It was ok. I'll give the second episode a try. I kinda like the Alara character.

 

[SJSharksfan39]

The first half hour was a bit rough but it actually got better in the second half hour. Loved the Arbor day gag and the repair guy outside the ship as Mercer and Grayson were having a conversation. I might watch a few more to see if I start to really like it.

 

[Led Zappa]

I liked it.

 

[Blackhawkswincup]

So your saying the reviews trashing it are likely more a result of people who don't like Seth McFarlane and not the actual quality of show?

 

[Leafsdude7]

I definitely enjoyed it. Had some trademark McFarlane fart jokes, but it actually managed to remain very classy for the most part anyway.

The visuals are absurdly amazing. The shot of the ship leaving dry-dock for the first time from inside what I guess was the dry-dock cargo-hold was about as great as anything I saw on any Star Trek media, including the first movie (I haven't seen the second one yet).

They also threw in a couple subtle references to past Star Trek plots (getting the best pilot in the fleet who has a less than favourable record ring any bells?) which was cool, IMO. I also liked a lot of the crew interactions, which, again, very much skirted the line between casual and professional very well.

I definitely think I could get into caring about these characters, if they're developed well. I agree completely that Alara especially has potential, as does the doctor.

I'll probably watch every episode of this for the foreseeable future, even if it struggles at points. I really want it to succeed, that's for sure.

 

[Rhett4]

The first episode was...mediocre. It's not a show that knows what it wants to be yet. The jokes were too stale and too far and few between to be a comedy. The drama didn't play out seriously enough to leap fully into that category. It was almost like satire that liked its subject matter too much to actually be satire. With that said, I'll watch the second episode and see if it finds its footing (on one side or another).