"The Orville": The Show I Love to Hate.

[fncceo]

The brainchild of Seth McFarland and Kenneth Brannon Braga (also of "Star Trek" fame) ... "The Orville" began it's life as a comedy "Star Trek" clone.

As a concept, it's not such a bad idea ... the flash animation series "Starship Regulars" and the animated series, "Star Trek: Lower Decks" are both really funny shows, cutting and insightful into the genre.

"The Orville" however, wasn't funny.

McFarland is a funny guy and a HUGE "Star Trek" fan. He made so much money for Fox with "Family Guy" and other shows that when he came to them and pitched a comedy "Star Trek", the pretty much said, "Whatever, you can do what you want" and he did.

He created an homage to the original "Star Trek / Next Gen" shows that I'm surprised he wasn't sued for copyright infringement. He took everything good and bad about the shows and packed it in ... along with some fart/dick jokes and a lot of contemporary references.

The show had the same characters with different names, the stalwart Captain (played by McFarland himself), an emotional robot character (who, in this case, is actually a robot) that knows everything and has issues dealing emotionally and socially with the crew, a gruff doctor with a heart of gold, a big, deep-voiced warrior alien with a bad temper, and a regular cast of red shirts and crew members to round it out.

The jokes, as I said before, were terrible. Random, not related to the story line (classic McFarland comedy writing). Imagine if 1967 "Star Trek" tried to get laughs with Nixon and Liberace jokes?

However, because the effects were cool and it had a lot of the vibe from earlier "Star Trek" series, I continued to watch it.

In the second season, they started to make a transition away from comedy towards a more serious show. By the end of the 2nd Season and now into the 3rd season, the show has transformed itself into a dramatic "Star Trek-style" series with good plot lines which is, in some ways, better than the originals.

I guess I'm glad I continued to watch the show rather than giving up on it long ago.

 

[yidnar]

cant wait for season 2 ! the orbiting turds are hilarious !

 

[fncceo]

cant wait for season 2 ! the orbiting turds are hilarious !

That is "Avenue Five" ... not "The Orville".

I don't think "Avenue Five" is getting a second season. Rumor is that HBO has cancelled it. Proving that, very occasionally, HBO makes a good decision.

 

[yidnar]

That is "Avenue Five" ... not "The Orville".

I don't think "Avenue Five" is getting a second season. Rumor is that HBO has cancelled it. Proving that, very occasionally, HBO makes a good decision.

yeah thats right ! my mistake ... is the orville funnier ?

 

[fncceo]

yeah thats right ! my mistake ... is the orville funnier ?

"The Orville" was never funny. Not even unintentionally. Now that it has become a drama show, it's actually pretty good.

I can only imagine that the pitch meeting for "Avenue Five" included the words, "It's like 'The Office', but in space". Terrible show.

Not even a pretty good performance by Hugh Laurie could save it.

I did appreciate the inside joke in that show. Hugh Laurie has been a British actor known for playing really dumb characters since he first appeared next to John Cleese in the classic 1975 corporate training video, "Who Sold You This Then?". He has a very upper-crust Oxford accent.

He will however, always be remembered for playing a genius level American doctor.

On "Avenue Five", he plays the captain of the eponymous ship, with his normal British accent. However, on the show, it turns out his character is American actor (with no space training) and was using the British accent to sound like a more competent captain -- a dig a Patrick Stewart and his own acting career.

 

[Sunsettommy]

Frankly I have had enough of the Star Trek stuff when will they create a brand new science fiction show?

Really wished Serenity ran 10 years it was of to a great start and considered the best cancelled show in TV history.

Why can't they create a new TV series or just Movie Inherit the Stars the one James P. Hogan authored that so excited the old times of science fiction writers so much it was his first ever book and it is excellent and part of the famous Giants 3 book series.

I was an internet/e-mail friend with him but he sadly passed away from Cancer 12 years ago.

 

[fncceo]

Really wished Serenity ran 10 years it was of to a great start and considered the best cancelled show in TV history.

I think we have all wished "Firefly" had continued on at one point or another ("Serenity" is the movie).

"Firefly" was the perfect show. Not so strong on effects, but a great premise, strong writing and directing, a stellar cast, great dialogue!





All-in-all, one of the best sci fi shows ever on TV.

But ... I think we can be glad it pulled a James Dean (live fast, die young, leave a beautiful corpse).

I don't believe the show, any show, could have carried that magic into a fourth season or longer ... it's just not possible.

We will always have the beautiful 13 episodes of "Firefly" to cherish and love.

 

[Sunsettommy]

I think we have all wished "Firefly" had continued on at one point or another ("Serenity" is the movie).

"Firefly was the perfect show. Not so strong on effects, but a great premise, strong writing and directing, a stellar cast, great dialogue!





All-in-all, one of the best sci fi shows ever on TV.

But ... I think we can be glad it pulled a James Dean (live fast, die young, leave a beautiful corpse).

I don't believe the show, any show, could have carried that magic into a fourth season or longer ... it's just not possible.

We will always have the beautiful 13 episodes of "Firefly" to cherish and love.

Yeah I got the wrong title thanks for the nice correction.

I have the entire Firefly collection and drooled over the episodes that were unusually good for a first year and the fine Serenity movie.

This was ORIGINAL TV show using a westernized background that allowed for the Captain and his alter opposite in the show Adam Baldwin to work so well the empty suits made a gigantic blunder by never giving the show a good time slot and giving it up so fast when the quality of the show was sky high.

 

[fncceo]

Frankly I have had enough of the Star Trek stuff when will they create a brand new science fiction show?

If you're looking for a "new" type of sci-fi show ... you might want to try "For All Mankind" on Apple TV.

A show by Ronald Moore (of "Battlestar Galactica" fame), it's an alternate history about how the world, and space travel, might have been if the Space Race never died, but the competition between the US and Russia continued to drive us further and further into space.

Each season takes place in a different decade, first season '60s and '70s ... second season the '80s ... and the (just released) third season in the '90s.

The first season starts with Russia beating US to The Moon and the competition for the first moon base. The second season, both Russia and America fighting over moon resources and the increasing militarization of space.

The third season will be about the race between America and The Soviets to Mars.

For a show about space, less that half the action actually takes place in space. But, that doesn't make it boring.

I highly recommend it.

 

[AsherN]

If you're looking for a "new" type of sci-fi show ... you might want to try "For All Mankind" on Apple TV.

A show by Ronald Moore (of "Battlestar Galactica" fame), it's an alternate history about how the world, and space travel, might have been if the Space Race never died, but the competition between the US and Russia continued to drive us further and further into space.

Each season takes place in a different decade, first season '60s and '70s ... second season the '80s ... and the (just released) third season in the '90s.

The first season starts with Russia beating US to The Moon and the competition for the first moon base. The second season, both Russia and America fighting over moon resources and the increasing militarization of space.

The third season will be about the race between America and The Soviets to Mars.

For a show about space, less that half the action actually takes place in space. But, that doesn't make it boring.

I highly recommend it.

It's a great show. Also catch "The Expanse". Even Killjoys and Dark matter were pretty good.