The Orville arrived on Fox in September 2017 with a famous name attached and a familiar ship under it. Seth MacFarlane created the series, stars as Captain Ed Mercer, and named both the show and its vessel after aviation pioneer Orville Wright. The premise is a mid-level exploratory craft, the USS Orville (ECV-197), working for the Planetary Union in the 25th century.
Trailer, via Rotten Tomatoes TV.
A Starship Named After Orville Wright
The series begins in the year 2418. Episodes follow the crew on planet exploration and visits across the galaxy, mixing standalone adventures with a serialized story that runs the length of the show. MacFarlane has said the original Star Trek and Next Generation inspired it, and that the series pays homage to both. Star Wars is in the mix too.
That lineage is the whole problem. The Orville borrows the look and the rhythms of better television without finding a reason of its own to exist.
Ed Mercer Gets a Command
Mercer was on the fast track to a heavy cruiser by 40. Then his marriage ended — his wife Kelly’s relationship with an alien — and he was cited for lax performance and for being hung over on duty. He got the Orville anyway.
Adrianne Palicki plays Commander Kelly Grayson, the first officer and Mercer’s ex-wife. They divorced after he caught her in bed with a Retepsian named Darulio. Unknown to him, Grayson appealed to Admiral Halsey to give her ex-husband a command, and asked that her involvement stay confidential.
The Crew
The bridge fills out with familiar types:
- Scott Grimes as Lieutenant Gordon Malloy, Mercer’s best friend, assigned to pilot
- Penny Johnson Jerald as Doctor Claire Finn, chief medical officer, who chose a mid-level ship over a heavy cruiser
- Peter Macon as Lieutenant Commander Bortus
- J. Lee as John LaMarr
- Mark Jackson as Isaac
- Jessica Szohr as Talla Keyali
- Anne Winters as Charly Burke
Finn tells Mercer she picked the Orville because she prefers to serve where she feels needed. He reads it as a lack of confidence in him. She denies it.
Three Seasons, Two Networks
The Orville ran two seasons on Fox, then a third exclusively on Hulu. Its last episode aired August 4, 2022, closing out 36 episodes across three seasons. A fourth season is in development. Ratings on Fox were solid: the broadcaster’s highest-rated Thursday show and its most-viewed debut drama since 2015.
Season 1 drew generally unfavorable reviews. The acclaim that followed for seasons 2 and 3 reads less like a turnaround than a correction of expectations.
What the Show Actually Is
Strip the Trek furniture and what remains is a comedy drama that never settles on a tone. The jokes undercut the stakes. The stakes make the jokes feel cheap. MacFarlane built a show about a not-so-functional crew and then gave them nothing broken enough to fix.
the Orville, a mid-level exploratory ship, needs a new commanding officer, and that he is the man for the job
That is the pitch, and it is thin. A captain who got his post hung over is a fine joke. It is not a character.
The Verdict
The Orville is watchable and forgettable. Its best asset is the cast, particularly Palicki, who plays the ex-wife with more weight than the scripts give her. Its worst is a premise that treats homage as a substitute for a point of view.
The show improved. That is real. But improvement from a weak start is not the same as arriving somewhere worth going, and three seasons is enough time to prove it.
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