Although Family Guy is still riding high with viewers and has become a cultural phenomenon to rival the likes of South Park and The Simpsons, Seth MacFarlane's latest television venture isn't going over with critics.
The Orville, a live-action TV series written by MacFarlane, sees him play a starship captain who's forced to work with his ex-wife aboard a not-so-top-of-the-line ship with a crew of misfit aliens and rejects. If you think that sounds something like Galaxy Quest or Star Trek, that's what Fox wants you to think.
However, Vox's Caroline Franke says that "The Orville is not, as it turns out, the Galaxy Quest-style spoof Fox has been selling in its ads. In fact, The Orville isn’t particularly funny at all, both by design and accidental ineptitude. Instead, it’s a bizarrely straight-up homage to Star Trek that can’t seem to admit as much."
Collider wasn't much more positive either, arguing that "(by) playing it safe and showing a truly breathtaking lack of creativity, The Orville can’t even claim to be better than the myriad of Star Trek fan films that can currently be found on YouTube." Trade bible Variety, meanwhile, was pretty damning in its assessment, saying that "TV could always use more space-set shows, but The Orville just doesn’t boldly go anywhere worth following."
The Orville is currently only being show on the US version of FOX, with no plans for it to migrate overseas.
