Science Fiction

When The Orville came out, I hadn't watched much Star Trek. Growing up, TNG was the one television show that my parents would break the "no TV at the dinner table" rule for, though it happened rarely enough that I really have no memory of it.

About 20 years ago I watched several episodes of TOS and liked it well enough.

I always wanted to like Star Trek, so ~10 years ago I tried season 1 of TNG, which I now realize is rather universally considered an error; and as a result, I didn't much care for TNG. But I still wanted to like it, and Star Trek in general! So when I saw The Orville, I decided to give it a shot. And while I agree that the early mix of comedy with more serious material was a bit off-putting, I thoroughly enjoyed the show. This was what TNG was trying to be (I mean, that's not really fair, but it was my initial sense).

Which then led me to season 3 of TNG, which I started watching last year. And I absolutely love it, and find it overall better than The Orville (which I still really like); but The Orville was basically my gateway to actually enjoying Star Trek.

So maybe I'm coming inside-out from most viewers, but I really like The Orville, and as a bonus, it got me "back" into Star Trek proper.

I was surprised by how good season one was. Season two was great fun. I hated season three.

I feel they tried too hard to make serious points and failed at telling good stories. They wanted to have big thoughts, but just weren't entertaining.

While I don't regret watching it—and I'd probably even throw on a new season if it gets one—I felt like it was missing any true classic episodes. I also kept having this strange sense of familiarity with episodes, as if it was just repurposing or rehashing older Star Trek plots.

I kept thinking, "Wasn't there a TNG/DS9/Whatever episode that explored this same general concept/idea, but better?". It felt like it was maybe borrowing just a bit too much from it's inspiration.

It had some jokes thrown it at the most inopportune times

That's Seth humor in a nutshell.

Perhaps the first half of the first season was actually a bit rough

Name a show that started off any other way though. Even SG1 is cringe in the first season. Lexx maybe, but even that one grew different after the first few episodes.

It took me a few episodes. But now I think it’s entertaining and wholesome!

It’s my utopia of what humans could become in the future

Cheesy but a different kind of cheesy than Star Trek.

I loved The Orville when it was coming out, it scratched an itch that nothing else at the time did, but while it's been on hiatus/canceled we have gotten Star Trek Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks. One does the firm sci-fi with a relatable crew better, and the other does the comedy Star Trek better. I wouldn't be opposed to more episodes of the Orville, but I don't think that it is as needed as it was when it was coming out.

Season 3 was not good; it was heavy-handed writing and wasn't all that good drama.

I loved it and it's definitely on the list of shows that I'll rewatch sometime sooner or later

I did it backwards and started watching Star Trek shows because I love The Orville so much! Hoping it gets renewed for another season soon.

Blatant self insert early TNG fanfic. If you liked (or even wrote) that kind of thing in the 90s, you'll like Orville.

I wished I could have gotten past the awkward comedy you mention. Couldn’t get into it because of that.

I like it, want more seasons to come out. Now that I finished the Orville, I need to go back and finish Farscape

Actually I think much like Strange New Worlds, I think that it showed me how much of the recent issues I have with Star Trek is that it takes itself too seriously. (In fact also as for Star Wars, as blasphemous it is to mention here)

I hated the pilot, never went back

Best modern Star Trek show.

By "modern Star Trek" I mean every show from Discovery to Strange New Worlds.

I liked that they weren't the most important ship... and then they became the most important ship. Near the end the fate of every species in the galaxy hinged on the love life of three couples on a minor starship.

It also felt like they had 2 or 3 seasons of stories and hulu said "you get one", so they rushed it.

I stopped after watching a few episodes. I guess it just wasn’t for me. Most people I know like it though.

I thought it would be a parody show at first but its good casual sci-fi entertainment. I liked the first two seasons better than S3.