Wow, big announcement this week: Seth MacFarlane has bailed on Fox/Disney and has bolted for Universal as of January 2010. The Orville will be airing only on Disney/Universal-owned Hulu later on this year... Seth MacFarlane Inks $200M Overall Deal With NBCUniversal
Did you read the part of the story that said the show is moving to Hulu? The Orville — on which MacFarlane also stars — will debut its third season and first on Hulu in 2020. Sources say no decisions have been made if The Orville will wrap with season three or continue on at the Disney-owned platform that is also the exclusive streaming home for both Family Guy and American Dad, with the former one of its most-watched acquired shows. What this means is that viewers will now have to pay to see new episodes. The good news is that I think the budget will remain the same (or even get a little higher), and I also think it will give them more leeway in terms of censorship.
This whole reportage is confusing. It assumes he's wrapping-up relationships with entities he's continuing to work with, while beginning relationships with entities that appear to no longer be connected with his current alliances. What am I missing. Coherency and clarity, methinks.
Especially many of the ones who were elevating this over the current Star Trek series, also on a paid streaming service. Many fanboy tears were shed. Tastes great, less filling!
And just to bring this thread up to date: The Orville season 3 will be back in March of 2022 on Hulu. Here's a teaser promo that just dropped this week... Seth MacFarlane's very loud and public criticisms of Fox and Disney managed to get him a better deal with Universal, so that's why the network change to Hulu. I just hope they kept the budget the (or even gave him more money). As many fans have said, "The Orville is the best Star Trek series on television." BTW, I hope they do a tribute to Norm MacDonald, who played the blobbesque alien creature "Yaphit" on the show for the first couple of seasons. They did some really risque episodes where Yaphit would take partial human form and have sex with humans, which was weird and crazy and also very, very funny. Eh, you figure interspecies sex is gonna happen on long space voyages...
I've Seth on TV in the very recent past and he was talking up other projects. He never mentioned The Orville.
I just started watching The Orville (first time through). People who say it's Star Trek but done with better CGI are 100% correct. This is fun, and yes it's campy and corny at times, which is the point of a soap opera in space.
I started rewatching this series again in preparation of Season 3 coming in March. I had forgotten how good it was, how well done it was, how diverse it was, and almost ahead of its time - even though it's only a few years old. It's very topical yet not the 'hit you in your face' topical. I find it much more accessible than Discovery at this point.
JEEZ, I'm just glad I didn't sign up for Hulu back in 2020 just for The Orville, then... ...I wonder if they'll bonus anybody who DID sign up a year-and-a-half ago just to watch it...
In fairness to Universal, Hulu, and MacFarlane, nobody anticipated Covid and that threw a monkey wrench into the works of a lot of shows and films.
I seems like every other show managed during the pandemic. Wasn't Discovery and Orville showing season one and two about the same time? And now Discovery is already airing S4. MacFarlane should have moved production out of California.
So, what you're saying is...I can get a refund from any of my streaming services because of COVID. M'kay...I'll get right on that...
Production problem. No refunds due to acts of god. It's amazing to me how hard studios and production teams have had to work to overcome the problem of COVID and still get TV shows and movies done. You look at end credits these days, and there's often a dozen people listed under "COVID Compliance," all testing people and making sure everybody is safe -- on-camera and behind the camera.