# The Orville-Seth McFarlane **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 17, 2017, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814 "2017-05-17T03:28:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 16
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/301 "2017-09-18T07:10:19Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > Actually, I’d prefer they dialed back the humour significantly, which would allow both more focus on the part that works better, and only using the best jokes. But that’s almost certainly not going to happen. Huh. I stand corrected. Less joking, higher percentage of jokes working. I’m shocked. (Sadly, the resolution rested on a weak joke, but…whatever. About 40 minutes of the episode worked well enough.) I’m shocked that the pot brownie didn’t end up being Chekhov’s Snack, though. ‘I’ll save this, just in case’…and then there’s no ‘case’. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/302 "2017-09-18T07:32:31Z")
Ulp. One last criticism I forgot. A general note for actors. Everyone is the hero of their own story. Play it that way. Ex:Malloy isn’t “The Captains old buddy.” Is that how you’d go around describing yourself?? “Hi! I’m the sidekick!” No, you’ve got your own life and your own agenda. If you’re going to be a jerk then be a jerk. But you have reasons. From McFarlane: > [@](#): > > “Look, if this were a half-hour show, it would be a no-brainer,” he tells me. “The tone is the tone. It’s a sitcom. With an hour, there’s an obligation to tell a real story with some surprising twists, and a lot of times that means servicing the drama.” > > “I mean the one show that I think really nailed it was “Mash” and that was so many years ago,” he says. (Spittake) I actually was tempted to ask, ‘Is this MASH in space, tone-wise’? But I thought it was a stretch. Funny he should say that. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/303 "2017-09-18T09:07:48Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Second episode ever and already preempted by football, thus guaranteeing that precisely zero people will watch it. > > Its been decades since people started buying DVRs and Fox still hasn’t seemed to figure out how to get their shit in order. It’s infuriating. Comcast, which is pretty much the only option out there in most of the country, had it on-demand right after it finished airing, which is how I caught it after the first showing got preempted by the Seahawks-49ers post show. Loved this episode even more than the first one. It takes two major clichés of classic Star Trek - the command team going on Away missions, and a junior officer being left in command, and it does stuff with them ST never did. I thought it was odd that the ship’s replicators can produce actual alcohol and THC - maybe that’s just a privilege senior officers are trusted with, since the rest of the crew seems to eat in a cafeteria (which _also_ has booze for some reason). I swear the unnamed Asian crewman in the shuttle bay looked familiar. I was really impressed with the opening credits sequence - very much an updated version of the TNG/Voyager intros, complete with the ship warping away at the end. The score was great as well, especially considering how rare it is for a TV show to have a full orchestra these days. I was a little put off by how many modern-day pop culture references got thrown around. I can see Kermit the Frog or Star Wars still being popular centuries from now, but Dora the Explorer? Shamu? Keeping Up with the Kardashians? I can’t imagine that ephemera being well-known enough that you could pop off a reference to it and expect other people to get it. I did like the reactions from the aliens not getting it, like Bortus thinking Kermit is a real person or Avara not understanding “a white guy can go to Compton if a black dude says it’s OK”. And speaking of Bortus - if it took Michael Dorn 2 hours to get his Klingon face makeup on, I don’t even want to _know_ how long it took to get him into full-body makeup for those gestation scenes. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/304 "2017-09-18T09:38:07Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Gotta say these repair crew guys are pretty awesome. Last week, we saw the ship get big ass chunks of the hull get blasted out, this week all shiny new…until they get big ass chunks of the hull blasted out, and again all shiny new by the end of the ep no less. They did the same thing time and again on \*\*\*Voyager \*\*\*and _ **Enterprise** _. I always wondered where the hell Archer got all of those steel plates we saw the crew welding each week; Janeway at least had replicators on board. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/305 "2017-09-18T09:40:17Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > Disobeying orders and risking the ship and the entire crew for one or two people was a common thing on TOS. This was shown as a virtue but of course they only got away with it because the writers let them and in reality it would be risky and unwise. Not to mention a court-martial offense. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/306 "2017-09-18T09:47:04Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Second episode ever and already preempted by football, thus guaranteeing that precisely zero people will watch it. I was able to watch it on City TV (cable) at precisely 20:00. I guess it’s a Canadian thing. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/307 "2017-09-18T10:31:21Z")
So the Zookeeper species has transporter technology–has it been established that PU doesn’t? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/308 "2017-09-18T10:40:54Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > So the Zookeeper species has transporter technology–has it been established that PU doesn’t? Avara seemed pretty impressed that the Calavon(?) had transporters, and we haven’t seen any evidence of PU ships having it yet, so I’d guess it’s either way beyond their capabilities or something that’s not cost-effective yet. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/309 "2017-09-18T10:53:23Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Everyone is the hero of their own story. Play it that way. What was the first “ensemble” show where every member of the regular cast had at least one episode that focused on them each year? _ **MTM** _? _ **DvD** _? 😕 It really took off in the late '70s–early '80s with _MAS_H\*\*\*, _ **Hill Street Blues** _, _ **Cheers!** _, _ **St Elsewhere** _, _ **LA Law** _… David Gerrold suggested it in _ **The World of Star Trek** _ way back in the early '70s, when any future iteration of _ **Trek** _ was still just a fan’s wet dream. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/310 "2017-09-18T11:01:17Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > I’m shocked that the pot brownie didn’t end up being Chekhov’s Snack, though. ‘I’ll save this, just in case’…and then there’s no ‘case’. Watch for similar canards in the future. This reminds me of the early episodes of _ **The Simpsons** _, where in the first few minutes the story could go in multiple directions and you could never guess which. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/311 "2017-09-18T11:09:53Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I did like the reactions from the aliens not getting it, like Bortus thinking Kermit is a real person or Avara not understanding **“a white guy can go to Compton if a black dude says it’s OK”**. Whoa! I had to Google this one: > **[Straight Outta Compton (2015) ⭐ 7.8 | Biography, Drama, History](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1398426/?ref_=ttqt_qt_tt)** > > 2h 27m | R > [@](#): > > And speaking of Bortus - if it took Michael Dorn 2 hours to get his Klingon face makeup on, I don’t even want to _know_ how long it took to get him into full-body makeup for those gestation scenes. Looks to me like it’s pretty much a full-body suit; they probably just zip him into it, for the most part. ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/312 "2017-09-18T13:25:12Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Anybody pick up on the “Ensign Parker” reference? Sweet! 🆒 Oh god I LOL’d at that! Husband: What’s so funny about Ensign Parker? Me: McHale’s Navy? Tim Conway’s part? Husband: ??? Um, thank you for reminding me just how ancient I am… ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/313 "2017-09-18T14:33:12Z")
When Alara announced they were going on a rescue mission, my husband (Andy L) said, “Hey gang, let’s put on a mutiny!” And there should be an upcoming episode in which she doesn’t bend to peer pressure, when they expect that she will. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/314 "2017-09-18T14:40:38Z")
> [@Reluctant\_A](#): > > How are you defining ‘early’ in this context? I know I wasn’t the _only_ person in the world who was watching _APB_? And then, there was also _Almost Human_… Fox has hardly kicked the habit. “Early” as in “pulled from the schedule before it could complete its first planned season.” _APB_ and _Almost Human_ aired all of its scheduled first-season episodes…as did _Minority Report_, _The Mob Doctor_, _Terra Nova_, _Red Band Society_, _Alcatraz_, and _Pitch_. A couple of those did have the luxury of being told in advance, “Don’t bother writing episode 14,” so the last episode had some form of closure. I am under the impression that The Orville has a 13-episode order, and I think it will get at least that, mainly because I don’t think Fox has anything to put in its place that would get better ratings. > [@friedo](#): > > Second episode ever and already preempted by football, thus guaranteeing that precisely zero people will watch it. > > Its been decades since people started buying DVRs and Fox still hasn’t seemed to figure out how to get their shit in order. It’s infuriating. Not pre-empted; it aired after the NFL coverage ended (and that ended before the game did; apparently, the NFL will not allow Fox or CBS coverage to continue once the NBC game begins). It also aired a second time in the Pacific time zone, at 8:00. The intent was to air the episode immediately following NFL coverage in order to get a bounce in the ratings, but nobody figured on Fox having to stick with a blowout game that was running really long. Also keep in mind the second episode aired at the same time as both the Sunday night NFL game and the Emmys. Besides, when you mention DVRs, what did you expect Fox to do? It can’t suddenly decide to move the episode to, say, midnight, and then expect every DVR to be able to know about the time change; this is based on the DVR’s schedule, which is provided by a third party that (a) wouldn’t be aware of the change in time, and (b) even if it was, probably wouldn’t be able to coordinate the schedule change with the DVRs themselves. Even if DVRs had the ability to detect when an episode of a show was actually airing (and I am under the impression that this may actually be available in parts of Europe), this doesn’t work with systems that only send a single channel at a time to each TV, like DirecTV, U-Verse, and any “traditional” cable system that uses Switchable Digital Video. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/315 "2017-09-18T15:11:43Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I thought it was odd that the ship’s replicators can produce actual alcohol and THC - maybe that’s just a privilege senior officers are trusted with, since the rest of the crew seems to eat in a cafeteria (which _also_ has booze for some reason). I don’t recall seeing any evidence that the rest of the crew can’t get intoxicants from the replicators. In fact, the whole point is that THC is as widely accepted as alcohol in the future. See also Capt. Ed and Kelly joking about the joint she gave him before the opera…the ‘weapons-grade weed.’ ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/316 "2017-09-18T15:53:03Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Not to mention a court-martial offense. ☹ When did a court-martial ever stop anyone? > [@](#): > > **Captain James T. Kirk:** So that’s the way we do it now? Sweep it under the rug, and me along with it? Not on your life. I intend to fight! > **Portmaster Stone:** Then you draw a general court! > **Captain James T. Kirk:** [vehemently] Draw it? I demand it, and right now, Commodore Stone, right now! > [@](#): > > **Commodore Jose Mendez:** How do you plead to the charge of unlawfully taking command of this starship? > **Mr. Spock:** Guilty. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/317 "2017-09-18T15:58:52Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I thought it was odd that the ship’s replicators can produce actual alcohol and THC - maybe that’s just a privilege senior officers are trusted with, since the rest of the crew seems to eat in a cafeteria (which _also_ has booze for some reason). There was an episode of _Star Trek: The Next Generation_ where Worf tells a passenger (it was the episode where they picked up a group of what appeared to be Irish civilians) that the replicators were capable of making actual alcohol, “With all of the deleterious effects intact.” ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/318 "2017-09-18T19:11:15Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > Besides, when you mention DVRs, what did you expect Fox to do? It can’t suddenly decide to move the episode to, say, midnight, and then expect every DVR to be able to know about the time change; this is based on the DVR’s schedule, which is provided by a third party that (a) wouldn’t be aware of the change in time, and (b) even if it was, probably wouldn’t be able to coordinate the schedule change with the DVRs themselves. I expect them to air the episode _on time_. If that means you don’t get to see the end of your dumbass concussion festival, so be it. If you schedule shit for 8pm, you air it at 8pm. How hard is that? Fox has been fucking their Sunday schedule with football overruns for _years_. They did it to _Futurama_ back in 1999 and they’ve done it to everything else since. The only reason they continue to get away with it now is because Sunday night on Fox is basically the Seth MacFarlane show, and he doesn’t seem to give a shit. ---
**Author:** ![Airbeck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/airbeck/32/6574_2.png) [@Airbeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airbeck)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/319 "2017-09-18T19:21:15Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > I expect them to air the episode _on time_. If that means you don’t get to see the end of your dumbass concussion festival, so be it. If you schedule shit for 8pm, you air it at 8pm. How hard is that? > > Fox has been fucking their Sunday schedule with football overruns for _years_. They did it to _Futurama_ back in 1999 and they’ve done it to everything else since. The only reason they continue to get away with it now is because Sunday night on Fox is basically the Seth MacFarlane show, and he doesn’t seem to give a shit. NFL football is a live event. The Orville is a recorded program. Do you know how much FOX pays for NFL Sunday Football? Have you ever heard of the “Heidi game”? [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidi\_Game](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidi_Game) What about all of the Broncos and Cowboys fans? What if the game is tied with 2 minutes to go and its for a playoff spot. Do you seriously think FOX is going to just cut away to show a prerecorded program that they can easily just delay for a bit? It’s inconvenient sure, but I don’t expect it to change any time soon. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/320 "2017-09-18T19:24:13Z")
_The Orville_ is important. Football isn’t. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814.md?page=15) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814.md?page=17)