Review: The Orville (Thursdays 9pm on FOX)

Seth McFarlane takes us to the 25th Century in this space ‘comedy’.

Planetary Union officer Ed Mercer finally gets called up to command his own ship – dream come true – and jumps at the chance to prove himself whilst bringing his good pal Gordon,the best helmsman in the fleet, along for the ride! But of course things can’t go smoothly – enter Mercer’s ex wife who he divorced a year earlier for sleeping with some blue dude and well – start your funny engines….. yeah not so fast. Despite what FOX wants you to believe The Orville isn’t a comedy. In fact it’s not even a drama, or original, or worth the millions that the network as pumped into it.

If you’ve seen the promo images circulating you will immediately think “hey Star Trek spoof!” and yeah that’s what I thought too. But it isn’t. Instead The Orville is an out and out Star Trek RIP OFF.  Admittedly I’m not a Trekkie but I’ve seen enough of that show to connect the dots – look at the uniforms, look at the set, LOOK AT THE PEOPLE IN WEIRD MAKEUP! Please someone sit Seth down and explain to him the difference between rehashing and homaging because this is fucking ridiculous by any fanboying standard.

Putting the “similarities” aside, is The Orville watchable? Not really. McFalane’s go-to style of jokes may work in the animation world, but they translate poorly into live action – something you can attest to if you’ve seen any one of his films. And given the fact that this show is 44 minutes long, it becomes quite evident after the half way mark that Seth doesn’t know what to do with those extra minutes because characters end up having the same conversations over and over again.

To put is simply The Orville is just Seth and his pals being allowed to cosplay on FOX’s dime.

The Verdict: The Orville premiered in the cushy post NFL spot to pretty decent ratings, but once it settles into it’s normal Thursdays at 9pm time slot starting September 21st don’t expect it to stick around any longer than it’s 13 episode order.