As a sci-fi and Star Trek fan, I love it.
Now here's this for a laugh. When you search "The Orville" on Google, it says "91% of Google users like this TV show".
Conversely, about 90% of the critics hate the show, with places like metacritic, avclub, i09, rotten tomatoes, etc. complaining about how the actors' performances are terrible, how it's failing to "boldly go where no one has gone before", how it's much worse than the spoof FOX originally advertised it as... well, you get the idea.
Why is it that when the critics hate a show, I usually end up liking it? I want to say that ever since Stargate Atlantis was cancelled in 2009, every space-based sci-fi TV show since then has been dark, depressing and like a dramatic soap opera, similar to the 2004 reboot of Battlestar Galactica. You look at even current space sci-fi shows and they still aren't as lighthearted as sci-fi used to be. Heck, shows like Killjoys, Dark Matter (recently cancelled), The Expanse -- even though they do have their funny moments at times, they're still way too serious, the use of heavy profanity makes them unsuitable for younger audiences... even the upcoming Star Trek Discovery is rated TV-MA... and who knows how R-rated Lost In Space will be in 2018.
Like Seth argued, not everything has to be "Hunger Games in Space". The Orville reminds me of the 1990s, when space sci-fi flourished. Big, brightly-lit sets. Colorful uniforms. Funny dialogue, but at the same time with serious dramatic elements as well. Even from the very beginning of The Orville's first episode, just showing the episode title on the screen itself... I mean, no one does that anymore, and I can never figure out why, especially when even non-sci-fi shows like The A-Team and Magnum PI used to do that all the time.
From displaying the episode titles on screen, to the smooth camera movements of the ships themselves (unlike the frantic "Rush Hour" camera panning that's used in the post-2009 Star Trek movies), to the way everything is designed, to the dialogue and the storylines... and even actually having aliens again with actors in real prosthetics (seriously, why does everyone in Killjoys and Dark Matter look like a regular human?)... add to the fact most "aliens" these days are rendered in CGI, which just isn't the same...
Everything Seth has done here is perfect. His passion and the amount of time and effort he's put into this series clearly shows. It's no wonder why veteran Trek producers like Brannon Braga are working on it... why previous Trek actors like Jonathan Frakes (Commander Riker) and Robert Duncan McNeill (Lt. Tom Paris) are directing episodes... why other Trek actors like Marina Sirtis (Counselor Deanna Troi) and Garrett Wang (Ensign Harry Kim) say that they would prefer to guest-star on The Orville rather than on Star Trek Discovery.
I mean, when Star Trek actors would rather make appearances on The Orville instead of on an actual new Star Trek series... doesn't that say something in and of itself?
In fact, I think I read a rumor that the pilot of The Orville cost around $17 million to produce. Regardless of whether or not this is true, I personally hope the ratings are high and that FOX gives it a renewal. Especially considering how Star Trek Discovery does have a much darker tone in nature, and the fact that only the first episode will be on television (except in Canada, where all Discovery episodes will air on TV every Sunday night on the SPACE Channel).
My prediction is that Discovery's first episode will be high in the viewership and 18-49 demos, and then it will tank from episodes 2-onward, because the only ratings that really matter are U.S.-ratings, and most people are not going to pay a monthly cost for CBS All Access just to watch 1 show. In fact, if I had to guess, most people are either going to download the episodes illegally for free... or they'll just wait until the very last month after all the episodes of the season have been uploaded, sign up for a free trial, binge-watch everything within a few days, and then cancel the trial before they get charged. All Access is a niche SVOD and it just can't compete with Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Prime. CBS and Moonves really dropped the ball on this one.
