THE ORVILLE In space, can anyone hear you laugh?
SEASON 1 US BROADCAST: Fox from 10 September UK BROADCAST: TBC
Seth wanted to give people the kind of Show he grew up loving
It’S bEEN a lifE-lONg dream of funnyman (and confessed geek) Seth Macfarlane to create his own space exploration franchise... just with laughs. With The Orville, he gets his wish, playing Commanding Officer Ed Mercer, leading a diverse crew of humans and aliens 400 years in the future. Star Trek veterans brannon braga and David a goodman are executive producing/writing with Macfarlane.
“Seth wanted a writing staff that was half comedy writers and half drama writers,” goodman details. “brannon and i are the head of each of those categories. the writing staff is split down the middle and it’s been a really interesting experience working with that variety of writers.”
goodman warns us not to expect a weekly parody of Trek, or other sacred sci-fi shows. “Part of Seth’s vision was to give people the kind of show that he grew up loving, which is to turn it on one week and not know what you’re going to see. because of the science fiction world we’re in, you can have a trial episode one week, a flat-out space adventure the next week, and a full-on comedy the next week. it gives the audience a sense of variety and surprise and delight. it’s what he wanted, and what we hope we’re doing. We’re getting to build this crew and create stories that use these great actors and great characters that Seth created to do stories that tell a story, have an underlying meaning – because almost all of our episodes are saying something – and then writing jokes. it’s a great mix.”