The Orville to engage Quantum Drive into a second season

[DiamondThief]

There is some early good news for fans of The Orville.

After just seven episodes, the series has been renewed for a second season, the Fox network announced on November 2, just hours prior to the show's eighth episode. The Orville, an homage to Star Trek, stars Seth McFarlane as Captain Ed Mercer. MacFarlane writes the episodes and is an executive producer.

The Orville combines suspense, drama, humor and strong character development as Mercer leads a crew of the ship through various missions and occurrences. The show also examines social issues, such as same-sex relationships (the second officer is from a single-gender species and recently had a child with his mate). A major plot point is that Mercer's first officer is his ex-wife, who Mercer walked in on while she was cheating on him with a blue alien in the first scene of the series. MacFarlane's keen writing includes several instances of banter between, and about. the former couple.

MacFarlane has a strong record with shows on the Fox network with Family Guy, American Dad and a revival of Cosmos which featured astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson as host.

In addition to Captain Mercer and his ex-wife/first officer Kelly Grayson (played by Adrianne Palicki); the main-credited crew is rounded out by second officer Commander Bortus (Peter Macon); the overqualified ships doctor Claire Finn (Star Trek: Deep Space 9 alum Penny Johnson-Jerald); Chief of Security Lt. Alara Kitan, whose strength is elevated due to heavy gravity on her home planet (Halston Sage); a cocky helmsman and Mercer's buddy Lt. Gordon Malloy (Scott Grimes); a soda-loving helm and tactical officer Lt. John LaMarr (J. Lee); and science officer Isaac (Mark Jackson), an artificial life form who believes he is superior to humans.

There are also three frequently recurring characters -- Bortus' mate Klyden (Chad L. Coleman); chief of engineering Steve Newton (Larry Joe Campbell) and the gelatinous life form Yaphit (voiced by comedian and former Salt Lake Screaming Eagles owner Norm McDonald).

Oscar winner Charlize Theron guest starred in the first season's fifth episode "Pria." A cameo was made in the previous episode "If the Stars Should Appear" by Oscar Nominee Liam Neeson, who played Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. More guest stars are rumored to appear.

Prior to the debut of the show, MacFarlane said he wanted the show to tell a story. It starts with his Mercer character, who he claimed was "nobody's go-to guy." He, and his crew, are resourceful, interesting and fascinating.

The Orville premiered on September 10 following Fox Sunday Football and moved to Thursdays at 9 p.m. (ET/PT) for its third episode. Per a report from Entertainment Weekly, the show is holing its own with 6.7 viewers weekly, and 2.1 in the coveted 18-49 age range in it's Thursday time slot. 

Per the publication, it is early in the TV season for a show to be renewed, though it noted that new shows in the 2017 fall TV season "have struggled." The Orville is the second-highest-rated hour-long show of the new season.

- ANM


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[DiamondThief]

Thought I would add Seth MacFarlane's tweet announcing the renewal.

[SurferGirl]

This a great show. Thank you for turning me on to it! Seth MacFarlane is amazingly unselfish in the way his writing puts the other crew members front and center. I hope to see this show continue for several years.

[DiamondThief]

Nov 7, 2017 18:51:02 GMT -8 SurferGirl said:

This a great show. Thank you for turning me on to it! Seth MacFarlane is amazingly unselfish in the way his writing puts the other crew members front and center. I hope to see this show continue for several years.

It's definitely one of my favorites. It's a strong show and the humor, while childish sometimes, is not vulgar and actually makes it even better than just a straight-forward show.

[SurferGirl]

When is Season 2 going to start?

[DiamondThief]

Dec. 30, after football!

[DiamondThief]

Season 2 is nearly here. 13 days away. I will start working on the thread for the season over the next week. A few details I can mention are that this season will feature 14 episodes. There were originally supposed to be 13 in season one, but that was adjusted to 12 for scheduling purposes. Supposedly, there is an written episode which will be used in season two. It's probably already been filmed. Another item is that Halston Sage's character of Lt. Alara Kitan, the security chief, will only appear occasionally, as Sage is working on production of another show. Jessica Szohr is set to replace her; at leas eventually, possibly as the same character or as a new character of the same race. It also should be of note that Seth McFarland and Halston Sage have been reported on several websites as having been dating for several months. I don't think that is the reason she may be leaving the show; I think it has more to do with the work she is doing on the other show.