# 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:** 17
**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, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/321 "2017-09-18T19:42:05Z")
> [@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. True - but that’s why they created the postgame show (_The O.T._) in the first place. Before then, whatever was scheduled for 7:30 was usually joined in progress. Ever hear the story of the _King of the Hill_ Christmas episode where only the last five minutes aired? As for choosing between the NFL and anything else, the NFL gets **much** better ratings than anything else Fox airs, so what do you think Fox will do - especially when Nielsen has a policy where, if football runs to 7:30, it counts as a primetime show for ratings purposes? It’s not just Fox (or NBC), or football, either. A few decades ago, a golf tournament CBS was covering went into a playoff, and it lasted so long that it ran until when _60 Minutes_ was going to start, so they announced that they were cutting away from the golf - and not only was CBS flooded with complaints, but Sports Illustrated even joked about it in its next issue. CBS then announced it would never interrupt a live sporting event again - which led to another story; Dan Rather once walked off the set when he was told that CBS would not cut away from coverage of a U.S. Open tennis match that might run past the CBS Evening News start time. Most sports now have alternatives - each network now has a cable station to which it can shift a long-running sporting event (for example, Fox, to FS1; NBC, to NBCSN; CBS, to CBSSN; ABC, to ESPN2). However, football ratings are just too important to networks to do that with the NFL. BTW, Sunday on Fox is not “the Seth MacFarlane show”; he only has one show (_Family Guy_), now that _The Orville_ is moving to Thursdays following _Bat-Kid_ will you **stop calling it that**? oh, all right, _Gotham_. ---
**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, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/322 "2017-09-18T19:44:14Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > _The Orville_ is important. > > Football isn’t. Correct. ---
**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, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/323 "2017-09-18T19:50:15Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > _The Orville_ is important. > > Football isn’t. Not to the bottom line of FOX it isn’t. ---
**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, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/324 "2017-09-18T19:50:18Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > _The Orville_ is important. > > Football isn’t. We park our cars in the same garage. 🆒 ---
**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, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/325 "2017-09-18T19:51:44Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Correct. Important to you? Sure. To the FOX execs who actually have to worry about ratings, sponsers, and NFL TV contracts? Not so much. ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/326 "2017-09-18T20:06:24Z")
And still The Orville broadcast in its entirety. Fox even preempted the post game show. Because Football is important and The Orville was filler to introduce it to a large audience before it moves into its regular Thursday time slot, but Fox still loves us enough to give us both. ---
**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, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/327 "2017-09-18T20:12:57Z")
> [@Airbeck](#): > > Important to you? Sure. To the FOX execs who actually have to worry about ratings, sponsers, and NFL TV contracts? Not so much. But I’m the one who actually _matters_. My mommy told me so. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/328 "2017-09-18T20:17:25Z")
We have sports cable TV for a reason. ---
**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, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/329 "2017-09-18T20:22:25Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > We have sports cable TV for a reason. Sunday belongs to the NFL on broadcast TV. That’s just the way it is. Way too much money involved for that ever to change. I’m sorry this is unsatisfactory to you, but so it goes. I have really liked The Orville so far, but I’m realistic enough to understand this. Also it will be on Thursdays from now on, when the NFL game is on cable. So everyone should be happy from here on out. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/330 "2017-09-18T21:37:16Z")
> [@Arkcon](#): > > There’s another thread on this topic, involving Heidi, for some reason. > > Years ago, I used to warn people NOT to put a show on Fox, for just that reason. Well, tell people who would listen, mostly, I don’t actually know anyone who’d be in a position to pitch a TV show anyway. > > In those days I wanted to see _The Simpsons, Family Guy, Bob’s Burgers_ and other cartoons. I wanted that _Space: Above and Beyond_ would just end and let a Simpson episode appear, but it was often preempted by a game. I never watched _Firefly_ because I knew preempting would happen. > > Anyway, football on Fox is now under control. _The OT_ frequently mentioned that Seth MacFarlane’s new series was coming up. Fox has carefully worked game start time, and has _The OT_ under control. I definitely noticed that there was less commentary to save time. > > 'Course, that just flies out the window with Nascar. They weren’t under control at all last time I checked. Race is over, rambling interviews, and the, 15 minutes into the next time slot – is it time to wrap it up? Nope, time for another rambling interview. > > Still. If this works well enough. Fox can try to rein in this sort of thing just for this show. Apparently not, you were wrong and \*\*leftfield6 \*\*was correct. Half of the 2nd epi was overwritten by the game going over. I only saw the first half of epi 2, and it is not on Spectrum TW On Demand. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/331 "2017-09-18T21:40:50Z")
> [@Airbeck](#): > > 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) > n. That was fucking\*\* 1968. \*\* Things have changed. ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/332 "2017-09-18T22:11:27Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Apparently not, you were wrong and \*\*leftfield6 \*\*was correct. Half of the 2nd epi was overwritten by the game going over. I only saw the first half of epi 2, and it is not on Spectrum TW On Demand. Here on the west coast, we saw the entire episode following the end of the game, plus a replay at 8pm, just like last week. ---
**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, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/333 "2017-09-18T22:12:59Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > That was fucking\*\* 1968. \*\* Things have changed. Yes football is way more popular now, and there is way more money involved for the networks. Oh and there’s this thing called on demand now. Hell you can probably watch episode two in its entirety right on FOX’s website right now. So yes, things have indeed changed. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/334 "2017-09-18T22:24:28Z")
> [@standingwave](#): > > Here on the west coast, we saw the entire episode following the end of the game, plus a replay at 8pm, just like last week. Yes, but the DVR only recorded the first half. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/335 "2017-09-18T22:26:00Z")
> [@Airbeck](#): > > Oh and there’s this thing called on demand now. Hell you can probably watch episode two in its entirety right on FOX’s website right now. So yes, things have indeed changed. “…and it is not on Spectrum TW On Demand.” ---
**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, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/336 "2017-09-18T22:28:48Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > “…and it is not on Spectrum TW On Demand.” > **[FOX Broadcasting Company | Full Episodes, Shows, Schedule](https://www.fox.com/)** > > Full Episodes, Clips and the latest information about all of your favorite FOX shows. Its on there streaming for free right now ---
**Author:** ![Arkcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/337 "2017-09-18T22:51:12Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Apparently not, you were wrong and \*\*leftfield6 \*\*was correct. Half of the 2nd epi was overwritten by the game going over. I only saw the first half of epi 2, and it is not on Spectrum TW On Demand. Not on the East Coast. _The Orville_ started at some ridiculous time, like 9:20, but I saw Bortas ask for maternity leave, get introduced to Kermit, and then saw the opening credits. Fox Sports was weird on NYC Fox 5, after the third quarter, they showed highlights of other games, then finished the game, then went to _The Orville_. What I’m talking about is the game finishing 10 minutes past the start of the next show. Then _The OT_ speaking for 37 minutes, then _Family Guy_ starting … remember this kids … “already in progress.” Remember **those** days? ---
**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, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/338 "2017-09-18T22:57:17Z")
> [@Arkcon](#): > > Not on the East Coast. _The Orville_ started at some ridiculous time, like 9:20 Started at eight fifty-something. I know because I was switching back and forth between looking to see if it had started and trying to see the end of an episode of _Colombo_ that went off at 9:00. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/339 "2017-09-18T23:02:54Z")
I recorded the Simpsons & Family Guy to catch the show. It was spread across the 3 records. Despite Fox’s stupidity I enjoyed the show. Now it moves to Thursday night and should be safe from Football at least. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814/340 "2017-09-18T23:41:31Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > _The Orville_ is important. > > Football isn’t. No. Football trumps non-football programming. And chili is much better with beans. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814.md?page=16) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-orville-seth-mcfarlane/786814.md?page=18)