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My critic on the episode Majority rule, from The Orville

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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The following presentation, provides a further insight to the show The Orville, and the episode, Majority rule.

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The following video shows just why an absolute democracy is a bad thing

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The Orville ("Majority Rule") on Absolute Democracy

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Seth MacFarlane is most commonly known as the creator-and, in many cases, the voices-of the animated comedy series "Family Guy," but he is also a lifelong science-fiction buff. He produced "Cosmos," the 2014 reboot of Carl Sagan's beloved series, and on Sunday will première a new live-action show, "The Orville," in which he plays the captain of a spaceship four hundred years in the future. Earlier this week, I spoke with MacFarlane about the role of science (and science fiction) in the modern world. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. Carl Sagan had a big effect on me as a kid. Would you say the same?
A lot of us feel that way about him. "Cosmos" was life-changing for me. I was hooked from a pretty young age. There are surprisingly few great science communicators, which is always strange to me. One could argue that there is nothing more interesting than science. It's the most interesting thing that's ever happened to the human race.
Did you ever consider studying science instead of art?
I never seriously considered it, only because I wasn't any good at math. I had a natural aptitude for English and for writing. So, I resigned myself to the fact that I could support others in their endeavors and maintain a vocal respect for science, even though I wasn't really cut out for it myself.
With a few exceptions, sci-fi seems to be pretty devoid of humor, unless the audience is laughing at campy set design or bad alien prosthetics. Why do you think that is?
Oftentimes in science fiction, you're dealing with life-and-death topics that are so grand and operatic in their size and scope that it's a hard thing to weave humor in there without it seeming out of place. "The Orville" tries to recapture a kind of science fiction that celebrates human advancement and achievement and intellectual evolution rather than going for the cheap thrills of the zombie hunt. The inclusion of humor in "The Orville" is like an experiment.
But what accounts for the grim tone of so much recent (and excellent) sci-fi-"District 9," "Battlestar Galactica," "The Expanse"? Does dystopia make for better drama?
I've been asking myself this question for a while. Dystopia is good for drama because you're starting with a conflict: your villain is the world. Writers on " Star Trek: The Next Generation " found it very difficult to work within the confines of a world where everything was going right. They objected to it. But I think that audiences loved it. They liked to see people who got along, and who lived in a world that was a blueprint for what we might achieve, rather than a warning of what might happen to us.
Did you draw on that utopian "Star Trek" vision at all in making "The Orville"?
It was important to take a cue from Gene Roddenberry that somehow we've gotten past money. Money can't be a factor. It's too primitive. I really love that, in "Star Trek," reputation becomes the main form of currency in the absence of money. When you think about it, it's not the warp drive, it's not the transporter, it's the replicator. We give a little nod to that in "The Orville."
Is making science fiction today a form of nostalgia for what could have been, or what could be, or what we were as kids when we were watching it?
There absolutely is nostalgia. "The Hunger Games" made hundreds of millions of dollars and was a huge success. I'm personally a little weary of that corner of science-fiction storytelling. I'm getting tired of seeing filthy people running around with guns, fighting for their own survival, rather than fighting for a cause, for values, for the advancement of the human race. There's nothing like that out there. Does optimism still have meaning for people? It could feel outdated, like a nineteen-thirties musical that's devoid of cynicism and is looking at the world through rose-colored glasses and is oblivious to what's going on.
The comparisons between "The Orville" and "Discovery," the new addition to the "Star Trek" franchise, were inevitable, especially because a number of "Star Trek" veterans-writers, actors, directors-are now working with you. Some Trekkies are angry. What's your response?
I've heard that, and yet I've also heard fans echo the desire for a "Star Trek" where they turn the lights on, where everybody's not sitting around in the dark. I don't know anything about "Discovery." It looks very dark and very serious, but that's the trailer-it could turn out to be very optimistic. There should be room for both. But it's been a blast to work with all these people, to watch Jonathan Frakes and Robert Duncan McNeill walking around the set. It's in their blood.
Speaking of economics, "The Orville" is a classic broadcast family show, whereas "Discovery" is streaming online. Different mediums, different audiences?
Yes. Typically, people would be able to watch "Star Trek" with their kids, and the goal of "The Orville" is to have the same kind of reach. The big difference is that "The Orville" is an episodic show. It adheres to the old style of storytelling-a brand-new story each week, with a beginning, middle, and end. The only place where there is still a market for episodic television is on the networks. At one point, I had conceived "The Orville" as a show that could be on Netflix or Amazon or Hulu. But they really wanted the entire series at once, you know, the chunk of ten or thirteen episodes that have a continuous arc. I didn't want to do that. I like the challenge of having to start fresh every week. Now, production-wise, this is a lot more daunting, because you can't reuse things-you have to build new aliens, new locations, new worlds every single week. But that's precisely what I always loved about sci-fi television series. I never knew what I was going to see.

Both comedy and drama have in common that you must excite viewers with surprise. You surprise them with a laugh or you surprise them with a story. To me-God, a new adventure every week! That's inherently surprising. People don't know whether they're going to see an adventure show, a social allegory, a love story, or a comedy.
Is "The Orville" a show about the present, or about the future?
It's a balancing act between wanting to explore conflicts that are relevant to today while at the same time saying to the viewer, This particular conflict has been resolved. The way you do that is by putting our people in other worlds. You go to that alien planet where they're still sucking oil out of the ground to power themselves while "we" know we moved beyond that. I always loved that sci-fi trope of the future person scratching their head in disbelief at something that we do every day in the twenty-first century. It's "Gulliver's Travels."
What do you think we can discover about ourselves through science fiction today?
Science fiction is the only genre that really allows you to explore issues with a point of view without seeming preachy. And, practically speaking, it is undeniable that shows like the original "Star Trek" begat a generation of scientists and engineers and astrophysicists. That spaceship looked like the crowning achievement of mankind. What kid is going to watch "The Hunger Games" and go, Man, I want to be a scientist? "The Orville" is part drama, part comedy, but we did go out of our way to make the ship real and to make it appealing and to make it look like a place you'd want to be. Even though there are jokes in the show, it was very important that the world of "The Orville" still be very real, that you could look at it and go, That seems like a fun future. I hope that's where we wind up. That, to me, is the power of science fiction.

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Seth MacFarlane Discusses "The Orville," "Star Trek," and the Struggle to Make Sci-Fi Funny

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Seth MacFarlane is most commonly known as the creator-and, in many cases, the voices-of the animated comedy series "Family Guy," but he is also a lifelong science-fiction buff. He produced "Cosmos," the 2014 reboot of Carl Sagan's beloved series, and on Sunday will première a new live-action show, "The Orville," in which he plays the captain of a spaceship four hundred years in the future.

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Seth MacFarlane thinks his new series is just the kind of " optimistic" sci-fi show viewers have been waiting for. In MacFarlane's first foray into live-action TV, the creator wanted to do a show that paid homage to some of the rich storytelling and positive messages he remembers from shows like Star Trek.

The Orville centers on a mid-level exploratory ship in Earth's interstellar Fleet. It's captain, Ed Mercer (MacFarlane), is pretty jazzed to be finally running his own ship, even if he finds out his ex-wife (Adrianne Palicki) has been assigned as his First Officer. No matter. Mercer and his motley crew of humans and aliens set out on the Orville to explore the wonders and dangers of space, while also dealing with their own life problems.

Speaking with Screen Rant at the SDCC 2017 a few months ago, MacFarlane and the rest of the cast were excited about viewers seeing the show, not only because of MacFarlane's hilarious pedigree, but also because The Orville really combines humor with heart. There will be some inherent drama as well, as the show delves into real-life problems, like divorce. Of course, there will also be some pretty outrageous shenanigans, so don't worry.

When talking about the show, you could see how much it means to MacFarlane, as he recalled his love for those old sci-fi shows. He said how relatable they were to current times, even if there were set in the future.

"Shows like Star Trek, The Twilight Zone - most shows of that type they sought to do a lot of the heavy lifting in their storytelling. They sought to tell allegorical stories, to be relevant in a way that sci-fi is able to, able to comment on things without directly going at them. Because it all seems so make believe."

The star added that's exactly what the The Orville strives to do, while also providing a ray of hope in the usually foreboding onscreen depictions of our future:

"At the same time, it's the aspirational, optimistic side of sci-fi that I was always drawn to. I don't think that's really existed for the past 20 years. There's been a wide open space that has yet to be filled. We are in the age of The Hunger Games, where it's very dark and dystopian. And I think it's time for another one of these shows that goes the opposite of the spectrum. Here's a blueprint for what we can do if we get things right."

The Orville premieres Sunday, Sept. 10 on FOX.

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Why Now Is The Right Time For Seth MacFarlane's The Orville

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Seth MacFarlane thinks his new series is just the kind of " optimistic" sci-fi show viewers have been waiting for. In MacFarlane's first foray into live-action TV, the creator wanted to do a show that paid homage to some of the rich storytelling and positive messages he remembers from shows like Star Trek .

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When can you see new episodes of The Orville?
31 December

Settle in on the Monday afternoon after 1:01pm with the season 2 return streaming anytime at SBS On Demand.

04 January

The second episode will be streaming for you to watch anytime after 1:01pm at SBS On Demand. For those wanting to watch it on SBS VICELAND, episodes one and two of the second season will air back-to-back from 9pm on SBS VICELAND.

After that...

You'll be starting your weekends with brand new The Orville. New episodes of the show debut weekly at SBS ON DEMAND at 1:01pm every Friday afternoon, with the new episode also airing on SBS VICELAND Friday nights at 9pm.

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Brand new The Orville podcast ORVILLELAND blasts off 21 December 2018

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Join Dan, Shelley, and Sid every week to chat about the sci-fi comedy The Orville. Watch the show every Friday evening at 9pm on SBS VICELAND or anytime at SBS on Demand and then listen along to the ORVILLELAND podcast for a ridiculously fun chat about that week's episode.

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1. Season two debuts December 30th

The second season of The Orville arrives on Sunday, December 30th, on a special night following an NFL double-header (approximately 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT live to all time zones). The rest of the episodes will then air on Thursdays at 9:00 PM, starting on January 3rd. The main reason FOX moved the show to a mid-season position is due to their acquisition of Thursday Night Football, which debuted in September.

More recently, Fox announced it will premiere season two on January 10 for viewers in the UK.

2. Season two will be preceded by a DVD release of the first season

Season one of The Orville will be released on DVD on December 11th in the U.S. Fox Home Entertainment has not yet announced full details, but it is expected to include the same special features as the UK release. You can pre-order the 4-disk set on Amazon, discounted to $19.96. Sadly, it does not appear The Orville will be released on Blu-ray, as Fox Home Entertainment generally only releases Blu-rays of its feature films, not its television shows. If you do want the show in HD, you can purchase a digital version on iTunes or on Amazon for $24.99.

3. Season two will have 14 episodes

The second season of The Orville will be a bit longer than the first with a total of 14 episodes. This includes one originally produced for the first season, "Primal Urges," which was pulled due to scheduling changes. While The Orville structures its show for episodes to be standalone, some additional shots and edits were made to this episode to make it fit into the second season. It will now be one of the early episodes of the new season. We also know that there will be at least one two-part episode towards the middle of the season (with both counting towards the total of 14).

4. There is one change in the main cast

While there has been no official word about changes in the main cast, it has become apparent that Halston Sage's Alara Kitan will not be present for the entire second season. She will definitely appear in the early episodes, including one titled "Home" featuring a visit to her home planet of Xeleya and the return of Star Trek: Voyager alumnus Robert Picardo playing her father.

There will, however, be a new character: Talla Keyali played by Jessica Szohr, who (like Kitan) is also Xelayan and a security officer on board the USS Orville. Sage was in production on the Netflix film Last Summer during much of the time the second season of The Orville was being shot, and it isn't clear at this time if she will return to the show. Details on how they'll transition between Alara and Talla are unknown, but speaking to TrekMovie at SDCC executive producer David A. Goodman said, "I think you are going to be intrigued to see what we do with both of those characters. I don't want to spoil it, but it is unexpected."

5. More Trek veterans have come on board

The Orville is unabashedly an homage to Star Trek: The Next Generation and creator Seth MacFarlane went out of his way to bring in a number of Star Trek veterans to work on the show, including executive producers Brannon Braga and David A. Goodman, cinematographer Marvin Rush, science advisor and writer Andre Bormanis, and directors Robert Duncan McNeill and Jonathan Frakes, all of whom are back for the second season. Also joining the team is writer and producer Joe Menosky. And a number of Star Trek series stars will have guest roles, including Marina Sirtis, Tim Russ, John Billingsley, and the aforementioned Robert Picardo.

6. Some big-name guest stars are stopping by

Season one had some big names pop up. Oscar winner Charlize Theron had a guest starring role as the titular " Pria," Rob Lowe made a brief appearance in the pilot and then came back as a full-fledged guest star late in the season as the blue skinned Derulio, and Liam Neeson even got in a quick appearance.

Season two looks to be on track to have quite a few big names as well, including Ted Danson ( Cheers, The Good Place), F. Murray Abraham ( Amadeus and Star Trek: Insurrection), Tony Todd (multiple Trek roles and Candyman), and Carlos Bernard ( 24). There may be even more well-known actors; back in the spring, actor J. Lee teased that a "legend" was under the alien makeup seen below.

7. Episodes will be longer

The Orville is one of the shows in which Fox is embracing the idea of reducing commercial time. This means shorter commercial breaks, and a projected 5 minutes more content than the first season episodes.

8. Season two will have more action

Recently MacFarlane told Australia's SBS:

It's more of an anthology show so if we get it right, you won't know what to expect. Also, there is more action as it continues because the early episodes were an experiment to get the response we wanted from the studio and they've given us more time and resources to film more complex scenes. We also brought in ( 24 producer) Jon Cassar, so there's nobody better at doing action than that guy.

Cassar was active on social media during the filming of Season 2, often posting behind-the-scenes photos.

9. There will be more of a focus on science fiction and more allegories

At San Diego Comic-Con, creator Seth MacFarlane said that this season The Orville can "really be a sci-fi show," with the comedy as "a garnish."

Writer/Producer David A. Goodman expanded on this idea:

We definitely have some episodes which are allegories. We go back to Moclus, which was obviously was an allegory last year, and we explore a little bit more of that. And there are new worlds as well, where we explore.

Writer/Producer Brannon Braga also weighed in:

If we find a topic that hasn't been explored in a particular way, it is a story idea. At the end of the day, we are looking for good stories. We knew we wanted at least a couple of the episodes to be new cultures, that were interesting in some way. Otherwise it is just people with funny makeup.

10. More Dann!

Lieutenant Dann (AKA the elevator alien) was a fan favorite last season, even though he only appeared in two episodes. On social media, we could see that Dann actor Mike Henry was on The Orville set fairly frequently, and TrekMovie has confirmed that we can expect to see quite a bit of him this season.

Mike Henry is best known as the voice of Cleveland Brown from Family Guy and The Cleveland Show, and voices a number of other characters on Seth MacFarlane's shows, so he's a natural fit for some latex-masked comic relief in The Orville.

Orville returns this month

The second season of The Orville debuts on Sunday, December 30th, in a special night following an NFL double-header.

Here's the latest promo:

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10 Things To Know About 'The Orville' Season 2

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1. Season two debuts December 30th The second season of The Orville arrives on Sunday, December 30th, on a special night following an NFL double-header (approximately 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT live to all time zones). The rest of the episodes will then air on Thursdays at 9:00 PM, starting on January 3rd.

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"The Orville" has scored its first ever Saturn Award.

The Seth MacFarlane-created series won the best science fiction television series category at the 44th annual Saturn Awards held on Wednesday at The Castaway in Burbank, California.

Other shows nominated in the category were The CW's "The 100," USA Network's "Colony," BBC America's "Doctor Who," Syfy's "The Expanse," CBS' "Salvation," and Fox's "The X-Files."

MacFarlane, who plays Captain Ed Mercer on the series, was also nominated in the best actor category, but was lost to Kyle MacLachlan of Showtime's "Twin Peaks: The Return."

MacFarlane's "The Orville" co-star Adrianne Palicki was also one of the nominees in the best actress category. But it was Sonequa Martin-Green of CBS All Access' "Star Trek: Discovery" who took home the award.

While plot details about Season 2 of "The Orville" are being kept under wraps, MacFarlane promised at the Television Critics Association winter press tour last January that the new season would lean more into the science fiction.

"The show was experimental in a lot of ways," MacFarlane said (via /FILM) at the time. "Tone was the biggest experimental part of it. What we found was that we can lean a little more, heavier into the science fiction and not have to worry so much about knocking out a joke every page. The show is an hour and really can and wants to service its storytelling in a way that makes it a priority. The jokes come as they come, the comedy comes as it comes."

More details about Season 2 are expected to be revealed during the show's panel at the San Diego Comic-Con 2018 on Saturday, July 21 at 4 p.m. EDT in Indigo Ballroom. MacFarlane and Palicki are confirmed to attend the panel together with their co-stars Penny Johnson Jerald and Scott Grimes. Other panelists include executive producers David A. Goodman, Brannon Braga and Jon Cassar.

"The Orville" Season 2 is set to premiere on Sunday, Dec. 30 following a Sunday Night Football double-header. The series will then resume in its regular Thursday time slot following the conclusion of the NFL season.
Are you excited for Season 2 of "The Orville"? Tell us in the comments section below!

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'The Orville' Wins At Saturn Awards 2018

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"The Orville" has scored its first ever Saturn Award. The Seth MacFarlane-created series won the best science fiction television series category at the 44th annual Saturn Awards held on Wednesday at The Castaway in Burbank, California. Other shows nominated in the category were The CW's "The 100," USA Network's "Colony," BBC America's "Doctor Who," Syfy's "The Expanse," CBS' "Salvation," and Fox's "The X-Files."

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By

On first read, the early descriptions of Fox's The Orville sounded like a great idea. A space comedy by Seth MacFarlane in the vein of Galaxy Quest was something that was missing from the glut of TV science-fiction (with apologies to Yahoo's belated Other Space), frequently dominated by straight-faced takes about the future or superheroes absorbed with an internal struggle of responsibility.

But in reality, The Orville was something different. It wasn't a parody of Star Trek: The Original Series, it was a loving homage to it by a fan. That fan just so happens to be a guy who has made millions for Fox with gross-out humor and who not-so-tastefully sang a song at the Oscars about actress' boobs. The Orville wasn't the show we thought it was going to be, and that came as big suprise since MacFarlane's reputation is one that includes horny teddy bears.

Critics were probably the most shocked. They got first crack at early episodes of The Orville, and the reaction was overwhelmingly negative. Actually, it wasn't just your typical bad review, it was worse. Critics were confused.

"[MacFarlane isn't] able to set the right tone for the show," Variety's Mo Ryan said in her review. "Of course, that would be difficult for anyone, given The Orville's inconsistency about what it wants to be. It tries to be light and comedic, except when it's a morality play or an action hour or a hangout comedy set in space."

Ryan's sentiments played like a broken record in negative reviews as MacFarlane's jokes about alien pee or synthesized pot brownies bookending life-or-death situations was the most common beef. The Orville wasn't a comedy and it wasn't a drama. It seemed The Orville had set a course for disaster.

But once the show actually premiered to tv audiences, and they immediately reminded us that what critics think doesn't mean much when it comes to a show's success. On the reviews aggregator Metacritic, The Orville has a critics' metascore of 36 out of 100. By contrast, Metacritic users have given the show a sturdy 8.2 out of 10, making it the highest-rated new fall broadcast show as considered by the populace at large. On Rotten Tomatoes, the disparity is even greater. Critics there have given The Orville a 21% fresh rating, better only than CBS' 9JKL (13%) and ABC's Marvel's Inhumans (8%) from the batch of new fall broadcast shows. Yet viewers have given it a 93% fresh rating, once again the highest user score of all the new broadcast shows. And that's not just the opinions of a few dozen viewers. That score is made from almost 6,000 reader reviews, which is almost 5,000 more than the new show with the next most user reviews. In short, viewers appear to love The Orville and can't wait to tell people about it, while critics appear to hate it.
The Orville Beams Its Way to a Second Season
"I kind of compare it to the popular vote and the electoral college," Peter Macon, who plays the alien Commander Bortus in The Orville, told TV Guide. "Critics have their own set of issues that they bring, but the fans ultimately are the ones who are going to decide - the fans are the ones that are watching, the fans give critics jobs, the fans give us jobs. I wasn't really bummed by what the critics had to say because I knew there was a lot more that was coming."

The truth is, The Orville was never going to win over critics because it's a throwback and goes against everything modern television is. As a critic, I know that a show's sense of identity can directly correlate to whether I think it's good or not; with so much TV out there, and typically, when show doesn't seem to know what it is, it's not going to get very far. But The Orville, seems to be a very different case. It's not that The Orville doesn't know what it wants it to be, as critics assume, it's that it wants to be a little bit of everything.

"Seth's plan was always - he didn't want anyone to know what the show was," showrunner David A. Goodman told TV Guide before the show's premiere. "So there are episodes that are very comedic, and there are episodes that are very dramatic. Because we're out in the universe and it takes place in the future, you've got a whole variety of stories you can tell and we're not going to limit ourselves into a cookie cutter idea of what the show is."

That's an ambitious (and dangerous) strategy, but fan reviews cite that as a reason they like the show. It's a mystery box that the same ragtag group of space adventurers opens each week. Before we had five times more channels and streaming options than just episodes of TOS, old-school television wasn't boxed into niche genres and a show like Star Trek could be about everything. The Orville just wants to emulate that.

"I was disappointed because I thought I was correct in what I liked about the show, which was that it was new," Scott Grimes, who plays MacFarlane's character's good pal Gordon, told TV Guide. "It was a smell, a feeling that I've never seen on television before, it was a throwback. But also it was paving new ground in television that only Seth MacFarlane understands."

For fans, that newness through it's ability to remix a little bit of everything may be exactly what they're looking for. With streaming services crowding the TV space with new series every week, new shows need to stick out in some way to survive, and The Orville is a show that defies trends, for better or worse. It's not another show about a murder investigation, it's not about a doctor who's outstanding in their field but whose personal life is a mess and it's not about a person with special powers.
The Orville's Season Will Be Cut Short
And because one scene of The Orville can feature a gag about aliens singing the Titanic soundtrack and U-turn to discussion of the destruction of entire planets and species, it also appeals to two groups of fans who can show up in droves, tone be damned - the growing number of proud self-professed sci-fi geeks and the reliable fans of low-brow comedy.

"It appeals to a wider interest level, we're appealing to people who like Family Guy and satire and subversive television, Macon explains. "And that person who loves straight science fiction and goes to Comic Con, so we're trying to hit that target audience and I think we have. We're bringing in a whole groups of people who would normally not be in the same boat watching the same shows."

It's just that those people aren't critics. Not that The Orville would want it any other way. Fox gave it the first in-season second-season order ( Will & Grace was given a second season before it premiered) of all the new shows, meaning that it's going to be around for a while, whether critics like it or not. And that will make fans happy.

The Orville airs Thursday nights at 9/8c on Fox. The Season 1 finale is scheduled for Dec. 7.

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The Curious Case of The Orville: Why Critics Hate It But Fans Love It | TV Guide

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By On first read, the early descriptions of Fox's The Orville sounded like a great idea. A space comedy by Seth MacFarlane in the vein of Galaxy Quest was something that was missing from the glut of TV science-fiction (with apologies to Yahoo's belated Other Space), frequently dominated by straight-faced takes about the future or superheroes absorbed with an internal struggle of responsibility.

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The badges that all people of Sargas 4 obtain from the age of 18. The green arrow is an upvote , and the red arrow is a down vote.

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The statue that John Lamar was recorded grinding to, and sent into the master feed where he was then detained, for this disgraceful act.

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Written by Seth MacFarlane this episode has more in common with Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror than anything else. Referencing 'Nosedive' from season three The Orville passes comment on our smartphone driven way of life, without lessening the impact with levity. Taking a cue from the feature film documentary Catfish MacFarlane grabs elements of these influences and expands on their initial premise.

Using a thinly plotted rescue mission as their jumping off point, most of 'Majority Rule' focuses on the consequences of a society shaped, ruled and led without any form of segregated government. Answering questions on religion, shopping habits and the ability of people to operate in a construct completely decided by public opinion. MacFarlane is quick to illustrate the double-edged sword of uploaded videos for entertainment, where their purpose is for something far more sinister. This is a satirist using storyline to forewarn those with self-awareness of our proximity to this final evolutionary step.

Touching on the intentional fabrication of image, history and what people choose to do with this form of media is not only relevant, topical and savage in its depiction but remains entertaining. Elements of American Idol and afternoon chat shows with an interactive element are all employed for his purposes. It lacks the darker endings of Brooker's Black Mirror but MacFarlane's expansion of the premise more than makes up for it.

There is minimal humour and the interactions between Mercer and his remaining crew are focused primarily on helping their stranded colleagues. As for Kelly, Alara, Clare and LeMarr this expedition gives them moments away from The Orville, but ultimately are employed as a means to further MacFarlane's agenda. However 'Majority Rule' is still solid on character interaction, familiarity and off-hand one liners so a balance is struck.

More than anything this episode illustrates social reliance on other people. MacFarlane suggests that individual opinion unsullied by peer pressure or social agenda is fast becoming obsolete. People are increasingly lead by their desire to keep up with the Joneses, use social media for frivolous things which they deem important or trivialise world issues. Everyone deserves a voice and by extension must be heard, but recognised methods of rule are imperative unless we want it to devolve into a technological mob rule. That the solution to the plotline is found through a direct contravention of this established rule completes the satirist circle that MacFarlane begins with. Sharply observed yet sold as entertainment with a satirical edge, The Orville proves once again how sci-fi can challenge conventional thinking and say something important.

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The Orville Season 1 Episode 7 Review - 'Majority Rule'

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Martin Carr reviews the seventh episode of The Orville... Written by Seth MacFarlane this episode has more in common with Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror than anything else. Referencing 'Nosedive' from season three The Orville passes comment on our smartphone driven way of life, without lessening the impact with levity.

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Seth MacFarlane made the jump into live-action television back in 2017 with The Orville, which was enough of a hit to score a second season from Fox. Well, Season 2 hasn't premiered yet, but there are already big reasons to be optimistic about The Orville scoring a renewal for Season 3 sooner rather than later. Here's why.

The Orville has been approved to receive a whopping $15.8 million tax credit for a third season, which definitely gives Fox an incentive to invest in the show for another season after the next. You have to spend money to make money, and a big California tax credit could certainly be what Fox wants in order to continue back the space dramedy. Given the bloodbath of the spring when Fox axed a bunch of popular (and admittedly, some not-so-popular) series, this should come as very good news for fans of The Orville.

Is a third season guaranteed at this point? Certainly not. Nevertheless, the tax credit is a very good sign that Fox might not want to cut The Orville short after just two seasons. The show already got a sizable tax credit for Season 2, according to Deadline, with the number hitting $14.5 million. Fox has been supportive of The Orville, which isn't all that surprising. The network has good reason to believe in Seth MacFarlane's comedic talents, and it's no coincidence that both the first and second season premieres scored prime slots behind big NFL games.

Of course, The Orville has more going for it than just Seth MacFarlane's success with primetime TV shows. The first season scored modest ratings in Live+Same day calculations, but it was a huge hit when it came to delayed viewership.

When delayed and on-demand viewers could be calculated, The Orville averaged 10.7 million viewers across multiple platforms. That represents a bump of 149% from the Live+Same day calculations and is a very big deal, especially now that TV is in an era when many people choose to consume their entertainment in non-traditional ways. If Season 2 follows the same pattern as Season 1 on top of the increased tax credit, I can't imagine that Fox would give it the Lucifer or Brooklyn Nine-Nine treatment.

The Orville isn't the only show to get some great news on the tax credit front. Freeform's Good Trouble received a hefty incentive to return for another season, and that show hasn't even premiered yet! Good Trouble will be a spinoff of The Fosters, which aired its final episode in the summer. It received a $4.2 million tax credit for the first season and has qualified for a $6.6 million tax credit for a second season. If Good Trouble performs even adequately at Freeform, I can see it scoring a second season early on.

We'll have to wait and see. Season 2 of The Orville kicks off after the December 30 NFL doubleheader on Fox, then moves to its regular time slot on Thursday, January 3 at 9 p.m. ET following Gotham. As for Good Trouble, you can find that in the midseason lineup on Freeform starting Tuesday, January 8 at 8 p.m. ET.

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Why Seth MacFarlane's The Orville May Get An Early Season 3 Renewal

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Seth MacFarlane made the jump into live-action television back in 2017 with The Orville, which was enough of a hit to score a second season from Fox. Well, Season 2 hasn't premiered yet, but there are already big reasons to be optimistic about The Orville scoring a renewal for Season 3 sooner rather than later.

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Lysella aboard The Orville where she is talking with Captain Mercer, on how their civilization, is putting behind opinion, and knowledge.