Just watched it, and quite enjoyed it. Not used to having to wait any more, so not having more to watch disappointed me.
This was exactly my thought. A few dud jokes aside, these people act like people, not like idealized action heroes. Of course the bridge crew cracks jokes. Of course they talk smack about the captain behind his back. That’s what people do!
It had some weak spots, but overall I liked it.
Regarding the confusion some people are having over whether it’s a comedy or a drama; so-called dramadies have been around for a while now. Admittedly this takes it further, but I’m not going to reject something just because it goes against convention.
The bit where Lamarr cautiously asks Mercer if it’s still OK to have soda on the bridge struck me as one of the more human moments on the show, for sure.
Also, they have more than 3,000 ships to fill (how many ships were supposed to be in Starfleet) and The Orville isn’t an especially significant one. This isn’t a flagship crew, these are the leftovers.
**On Dramadies: **
Showing their age now but in their day MASH* **& All In the Family were 2 of the best shows ever. ***Scrubs ***was a very funny dramedy and Pushing Daisies was pure awesome. Even with Star Trek, two of their best episodes play heavy on humor. *Tribbles *and Piece of the Action were built around humor.
Some of McFarlane’s jokes were duds, IMO, but I did like the banana scene: The quick fire snark delivered double-barreled style by the Captain and his XO seemed, to me, to show that the pair did indeed have a familiarity with each other’s thought processes, and that they may be “on the same page” in some ways. Or am I reading too much into that interaction?
I think it’s entertaining that most of this crew (C.O. included) is not “the best of the best of the best, Sir!”. It could have been tempting to McFarlane to make himself an over the top action hero, Zap Brannigan style, but instead he seems more of an office dweeb who got promoted into a job that is slightly beyond his capabilities. He may grow into his job, with the help of his crew. 
It’s interesting. I think this might be the first time the Audience Stand-In Character* is actually the Captain of the ship.
*That’s the guy who is constantly being told, “As you know, the quirbling frangistat needs to be larbled at least once a quatloon…”, just so that the audience knows what’s going on.
They were married. So yeah, they are a tad familiar with each other.
McCartney has said in interviews that he had the American admiral in mind, but as it happens, there was a British one, too: Lionel Halsey - Wikipedia
Have you seen the current LED flashlight fetish webpages? An ordinary flashlight could burn someone’s face off nowadays 
Like “Joe” in Destination Moon: “Here on the Moon, night is two weeks long.”
My favorite example came in some Japanese flick when one astronaut was surprised to find himself floating around the cabin of his spaceship (nobody warned him about this before he volunteered for the mission :rolleyes: ): “You have to be careful! There’s no gravity up here!”
… And then everybody gets up and starts walking around. (Apparently, they’d all been issued magnetic boots, but we were never told about them. :smack: )
Didn’t they say that he had had a bright future ahead of him, had he not fallen into a bottle when his marriage started having problems?
Captaining the Orville isn’t beyond his capabilities, it’s where he would have been if his career hadn’t gotten derailed.
In fact I think they hinted that they were expecting him to be in charge of a cruiser by now.
Not to mention Gulliver’s Travels.
I just watched it tonight and enjoyed it. It’s a fun version of Trek. The characters did seem more human to me than TOS or TNG. I liked the jokes. I’ll keep watching.
If I were African-American would I be offended at the soda-drinking helmsman?
Dunno. Was it grape soda? :dubious:
Why? I must have missed something.
On Family Guy, Cleveland Brown subscribed to Grape Soda Today, along with Orange Soda Quarterly, The Fruit Punch Reader, and Mustache Aficionado.
*“Lois, black people are different than you and I. And me, I find that hilarious.”
Its a little weird. That character is going to develop, but how? The redhead helmsman is drinking beer to loosen up, and was showboating and lost some cargo, but his “riding the donkey” aka just looping the Orville around the Krill Destroyer, taking pot shots and not letting them just blast away at the shields saved the day. So that’s his thing. Along with rabid loyalty to Captain Mercer vs his bitch wife – Oops, did I say that on the bridge to the other officers, oopsie. I hope that doesn’t come back to bite me in the ass. Or alienate other women on the bridge who might see her point of view. Or actually respect an XO gener and personal life notwithstanding.
But the African helmsman? During inspection, the one thing he wants is to drink soda on the bridge? Why’s he asking permission to do that? If he can, he shouldn’t have to ask, if he can’t, he shouldn’t bring it up. And the Captain says, “Sure, just don’t spill any on the instruments.”
Does the helmsman have the future version of diabetes, hypoglycemia, is he actually a shape-shifting being that needs to stay super-hydrated to keep his form? Is there booze in his soda, or drugs, or a rare nutrient that gives him super powers?
Or is this just a “What?” moment thrown in to keep us talking about it?
It seemed cliche and stereotypical, approaching the boundary of offense. Since I’m not in that group, I can’t say whether the joke crosses to actual offense or not.
For MacFarlane to not cross the line, and not obviously cross it, is unusually restrained for him.
ETA: Arkcon makes better points that I do.
Oh geez, is that all? That is an actual conversation many of us have had or heard working in office environments. Some firms back in the dark ages of the 90s did not want people eating or drinking at their desks. Most commonly as the computer equipment was considered a major expense at the time and sensitive to spills and crumbs. Less commonly was just a general concern about people with poor house keeping skills and the resultant vermin they might attract.
Places seem to be far more lax about these concerns, but it was a thing.