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Monday, January 1, 2018

TV Show Review - The Orville

So, I finally signed up for a free month of Hulu to check it out. Mostly because it had a show that Netflix didn't have that my husband really wanted to see. He'd heard good things about it. We gave up after episode four. It wasn't the Orville. But that show was there, too, so we decided to try it out.

I had high hopes going in. Friends had recommended it as much better than the new Star Trek. It looked like fun.

It was like watching a bunch of people eating ding dongs. Sometimes is was funny, sometimes it wasn't, but the whole show felt like a train wreck in slow motion. And not a good one.

First off, the characters were okay. New show, it takes a while for the actors to gel. That was happening. They had an interesting mix of aliens, humans, and whatever to play with.

The set was awesome. The costumes were great. The special effects were pretty good. Those things they got right.

The writing absolutely sucked. It was horrid. The plots were lame and completely predictable.

Every single episode had at least one, if not numerous, genital jokes. Ones that even a 9yo boy would be embarrassed to tell his friends because of the lameness.

Writing humor is tricky. Adding silly touches to a fairly serious story takes a light touch and timing. Orville lacks both. The humor was slapped in at inappropriate times, and completely ruined any momentum and emotional attachment to the story and characters. And it was heavy-handed, like yelling, "I told a joke! And it was funny! Laugh!"

The dialogue was utterly stupid. A transcription of a group of 13yo girls having lunch at the mall would be more entertaining and much more intelligent. They're supposed to be a military ship, similar to Next Gen ST, but the banter on the bridge would never be tolerated. The lack of respect between officers and the constant insertion of personal issues made the whole show unbelievable. There was no sense of decorum. Ever.

I could rip more holes in the writing and the stories, but I think you get the picture.

The show was a disappointment. Even when they had the chance to do something new and unexpected they took the easy way out and gave us more Hollywood PC crap. They treated the audience like idiots. They killed the characters with imbecilic dialogue and stupid jokes.

Rating - TURKEY, except for costumes and sets, they get four stars
Warning - Lots of crude inappropriate humor at awkward moments. Genital jokes in EVERY episode.

If you want to watch a GREAT sci-fi show, try Star Trek Continues. It recreates the best of the best of the original Star Trek with all new episodes. It's on YouTube -


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