Electric Sheep (A Eulogy for The Orville?)

This past week, The Orville returned with new episodes after more than three years. I probably will keep watching? But I certainly doubt that I'm going to share weekly thoughts on the show as I once did. Still, I thought I'd at least write a post on this occasion because... poor Orville. It never had its time to shine.

The Orville was conceived in a world with no Star Trek on television. Star-creator Seth MacFarlane clearly, deeply loved the franchise and wanted to fill the niche. But just two weeks after The Orville premiered, Star Trek: Discovery made its debut, bringing official Star Trek television back into existence. And the show has only watched as its role has been chipped away at by the modern Star Trek industrial complex.

OK, so Discovery was "Star Trek," but The Orville was clearly striking the tone of "what if The Next Generation had gone into an eighth season?," serving us weekly throwback kinds of episodes. Well, then along came Star Trek: Picard to apply directly to our inflamed nostalgia. The Orville often had a welcome, lighter tone than either of those two shows... until Lower Decks came along to fully inhabit that role. And now, just as The Orville finally makes it back after long delays? Strange New Worlds is doing "weekly episode" Star Trek better than any longtime Trekker could have hoped for.

It's not like "there can be only one." There was room on television for several CSI variants, NCIS variants, Law and Order variants, and more similar shows besides -- for years on end. On the other hand, The Orville isn't just competing with five Star Trek series (!) currently juggling new episodes -- it's competing with Obi-Wan Kenobi, the new season of Stranger Things, For All Mankind returning for its third season, three shows on that streaming service where you're waiting for a fourth to justify subscribing, and twelve pressing recommendations from your friends.

What a "problem" to have. But for The Orville, unfortunately -- it's a problem. Because let's all be realistic about where it's going to fall in the pecking order. That's a shame, because even as "not actual Star Trek," it's still "pretty good Star Trek." The third season premiere, "Electric Sheep," was absolutely a solid episode, with reasonably deft takes on big issues including bigotry and suicide. It introduced a new cast member fairly well. It served up enough eyeball candy visual effects to make Star Trek: The Motion Picture jealous.

And that was... fine. A grade B? Totally enjoyable as I watched it, probably worth recommending. And a recommendation I doubt anyone would have time for.

It took so long for the third season of The Orville to make it to Hulu that all the cast had to be released from their contracts. Seth MacFarlane has moved on to announce a TV show spin-off of Ted. So The Orville would have to be an out-of-control hit for them to pull the band back together for any more episodes after this third season. We all know that's simply not going to happen.

Maybe in a few more weeks, when Strange New Worlds has run all of its (so far excellent) first season, and The Orville is still bringing new episodes for a while longer? Maybe then, there will be more space to enjoy it? Ah, but then we'll still be trying to keep up with more Stranger Things, the arrival of Andor and The Sandman, the return of What We Do in the Shadows, and more. We're not even going to care about Westworld season four then; how are we expected to make room for "proxy Star Trek?"

Sorry, The Orville. You were trying to do a noble thing. You did it pretty well. You got lost in the sea of "peak TV."