The Orville - Renewed for a Second Season/ Season One released on DVD

[ctg]

I don't understand the popularity of this show it is way too derivative.

Man, there's a demand for classical SF and especially well done space-operas. People really liked the old school ST, even the Next Generation and it was taken out from the small screen for a very long time. This series hits marks on many accounts for the general public. It is the hard SF fans that cannot take the mistakes on hard science. With this series you have to turn off that side in you. It's the same thing as what you do, when you read Douglas Adams or Harry Harrison or new writers like Toby Frost or Peter W Ford AKA The Bloated One.

The Orville is not a series for serious minded people. Sorry.

 

[Al Jackson]

Man, there's a demand for classical SF and especially well done space-operas. People really liked the old school ST, even the Next Generation and it was taken out from the small screen for a very long time. This series hits marks on many accounts for the general public. It is the hard SF fans that cannot take the mistakes on hard science. With this series you have to turn off that side in you. It's the same thing as what you do, when you read Douglas Adams or Harry Harrison or new writers like Toby Frost or Peter W Ford AKA The Bloated One.

The Orville is not a series for serious minded people. Sorry.

The Expanse is show I have been waiting for. Dirt under the finger nails space opera with more verisimilitude than ST or SW. It is a gem.

 

[ctg]

It is a gem.

I agree, it's a gem, and originally not that many people watched, just because it was a SyFy show.

 

[Jeffbert]

S2, E1 should be airing before I finish this post, but, I will wait until enough is on my DVR so I can FFWD through the commercials.

A few thoughts on the previous season:

Spoiler

1. Talent itself replaces money!? How does that work? I am sure Seth MacFarlane wants his payment in dollars.
2. #8, Into the Fold. Woman has two kids, works full-time, etc. On a space ship, no less. Papa's only role was impregnating her. Isaac noted their lack of respect for their mom. Is this a pro-single parent statement or, con?
3. #9, Cupid's Dagger. I thought that the blue guy was going to be the 1st officer. It seemed to me, not as funny, when it turned out to be his ex. Anyway, the Orville at first, seemed like a near bottom of the barrel assignment for Mercer. Not as lowly as Quark's ship, but hardly a prestigious ship. Now, he is dealing with feuding races, each claiming possession of a certain planet. Quite an advancement!
4. #3, About a Girl. O.k., so this is an allegory; never mind that these two parents are both identified as males. And, as such, the very meaning of the word is lost when two males together can reproduce. They are not hermaphrodites, but males. Frederic Brown wrote about a 5 sexed race, took all 5 of them to make a kid. But, this is strange, indeed. The two males produce a female. Females are dirt; their race normally convert loathsome females to males. Amusing how Bortus was persuaded to leave her as is. Should have tried the same tactic on Klyden. So, they go to court to decide the matter. If this were Star Trek, they would have decided against the surgery. I was caught by surprise. Sad ending; unusual, indeed.
   

I saw only the 1st DVD in TNG, so I am lost when reading references to it. Never even had an interest in the other ST series. Maybe later.

8:50. I guess I will watch s2, #1 tomorrow.

 

[BAYLOR]

I really enjoyed S2E2. A tear-jerker ending!

Episode 1 was Meh.
But episode 2 ramped things up very nicely. Very good writing and acting and well balanced between comedy and drama.

 

[Dave]

Very good writing and acting and well balanced between comedy and drama.

Is it as funny as S1 though? Does that matter? Given, that I think the consensus here was that it would be better with less comedy and more drama.

 

[Cathbad]

Is it as funny as S1 though? Does that matter? Given, that I think the consensus here was that it would be better with less comedy and more drama.

But it's supposed to be a comedy right?

 

[BAYLOR]

Is it as funny as S1 though? Does that matter? Given, that I think the consensus here was that it would be better with less comedy and more drama.

If there is balance between the two , then that's fine.

 

[BAYLOR]

But it's supposed to be a comedy right?

That may have been the original intent. Maybe Seth Macfarlane took a second look and decided that the show was not sustainable as purely a comedy series.

 

[BAYLOR]

Well, I don't think it is as funny, and yes, it IS supposed to be comedy. Where it may have got it right IMHO is that there are fewer better jokes, rather than lots of poor jokes. However, that is a matter of opinion and I'm not saying that I know best.

Dave , im not being critical of your opinion.

 

[REBerg]

Maybe 20-30 minutes is the limit for a successful comedy show.
Correct me if memory fails, but I can't recall a comedy that made a go of the 40-60 minute format. Chuck comes to mind, but even that show included dramatic elements from time to time. I was always surprised when someone was killed in the series.
Conversely, I can think of many dramas that have successfully injected bits of comedy, including Star Trek: TOS. Humorous quips between characters can lighten the most serious of situations.
The opening season two episodes of The Orville indicate, to me, that MacFarlane is having some success at finding the right emotional mix.

 

[ctg]

Correct me if memory fails, but I can't recall a comedy that made a go of the 40-60 minute format.

Preacher. You definitely like that. Lethal Weapon, if I remember correctly. American Gods, certainly and you surely have liked this.

 

[REBerg]

Preacher is in a category all of its own. Drama-comedy-horror?
I do like it, but it's definitely an acquired taste. The show would never find a home on a mainstream broadcast network.
I've not watched the Lethal Weapon series or American Gods. Upon additional reflection, I think that The Librarians might be considered a comedy with dramatic overtones.
I guess that the bottom line is that successful dramedy is a tricky business. The Orville is making progress toward getting it right.

 

[ctg]

I just came across of this month old talk on the critics score. What he's saying is that the critics scores are in great clash with the audience likes. He goes saying that "The show feels like Star Trek Next Generation," without saying that it's classical SF, but the audience metascore is on bar with what we have talked about it since the beginning.

I have to note that last season feels very different as Seth has changed the current season a great deal as The Orville has focused on SF more than on the comedy. Occasionally I have felt that they should add a bit more humour, because at the end of the day The Orville can make those jokes real, while the ST cannot.

 

[Dave]

I agree that this season is different. I think it has to be better for the change. There are still jokes, but less of them, and they are funnier when they come. This week had plenty.