The one hour, live action series (a first for MacFarlane) is a spoof of Star Trek. It's set four hundred years in the future, and follows the adventures of Planetary Union Captain Ed Mercer and the crew of the U.S.S. Orville.
There's nothing wrong with doing a show like this, despite the fact that it's already been done literally a thousand times before. The series certainly looks slick and polished, and I have to admit I was a bit intrigued by the trailer, despite its unoriginality.
Plus MacFarlane's a huge Star Trek fan, so it looks like the series will be gently poking fun at the concept and not laughing at it, which is definitely a step in the right direction.
But you can only milk a parody for so long before the jokes become stale or you run out of material, whichever comes first. That's why Galaxy Quest made a good standalone film instead of a series. Eventually such a concept has to stand on its own, and I worry The Orville may not be able to do that. This is the same guy who wrote and directed A Million Ways To Die In The West, after all.
On the other hand, MacFarlane was the executive producer of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey a few years ago, proving there's more to him than just fart and poop jokes. So who knows which way The Orville will go?
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The series was supposed to premiere in 2016, which was the 50th Anniversary of the original Star Trek series. Unfortunately there've been numerous problems and setbacks with the show, delaying it for well over and year, and there's STILL no firm premiere date in sight. I'm not gonna get into the various reasons for the delay here, as it would take fifty thousand words to adequately list them all. You can google it if you're really interested.
Trek fans (including myself) were less than impressed with the trailer. Discovery is yet another prequel series (like Enterprise), set just ten years before Kirk and Spock's era.
That means the new series takes place during Captain Pike's time.
It's patently obvious that CBS lied when they assured fans that this new show would be set in the Original Series timeline. It looks more like a prequel to the JJ Abrams' reboot films, which is gonna royally piss off the fans of the Original Series.
And to make matters worse (and even more confusing), some industry insiders claim that Discovery is set in a THIRD timeline that's independent from the Original Series and the Abramsverse!
It's sad, but this series is starting to make The Orville look better all the time!
There's something really, really wrong when a parody series like The Orville looks more like Star Trek than the new Star Trek series does!