the Orville: If you want to watch MacFarlane live out his childhood dream of cosplaying StarTrek TNG/Voyager, then this show is for you!
I kept hearing it was a comedy but besides a few laughs it really feels like a StarTrek clone only they swear and talk about pooping. It's like if Galaxy Quest was just the footage the captain had filmed with previous rich fans before he met real aliens. The sad thing is, while being a bit b-movie StarTrek all the other characters besides McFarlane, including budget Louis CK, are more interesting, life like and funnier than him.
Episode 1: Hmm, not bad, some obscure references to StarTrek, references aren't actually jokes though, but nothing bad, and bonus for the DS9 casting.
Episode 2: Oh so this is just a better Enterprise, but with an occasional jarring 80s-2010s pop cultural reference with no setup or lampshade hanging on it... ok.
Episode 3: What am I watching? All the science to this is wrong, the arguments are stupid, I thought this was supposed to be a comedy!! Boo.
It was amazing how fast it went down hill. Also their opening is stupid, it's a Voyager style ship in front of space stuff and while pretty I don't see the point. On Voyager the computer tech for that budget was new, using a 3D ship in front of 3D space scenes was new and exciting at the time (with Bab 5 paving the way and eventually even converting model hold out DS9). One of the reasons Enterprise went a different way with their opener was because between the start and end of Voyager, flying ships in front of planets was old hat... ...so why in the hell did you waste a couple minutes of your show showing me something that was old hat 16 years ago? And you can guess how my opinion has gone of this show based on the fact I'm annoyed by their opener.
Bonus Star Trek nerd points if you noticed the scientist guy was Dr Bashir's father who couldn't keep his mouth shut.