Even hearing for months on end that
The Orville as a TV show had a more serious tone than its heavily comedic ads would suggest didn't prepare me for what a tonally odd creation it is. It's trying to actually be a new straight-up science-fiction program that heavily homages Star Trek to a fault but it's also one with recurring comedic elements that just don't work at all. If the attempt here was to make something either as comedically strong as
Ted or as thoughtful & exciting as the best elements of
Star Trek, then the folks behind
The Orville have miscalculated greatly and wound up with a science-fiction equivalent to Seth MacFarlane's major movie misfire
A Million Ways To Die In The West.
