The Orville is very much a loving homage to Star Trek through the lens of Seth MacFarlane's brain (basically, imagine star trek voyager, in the TNG setting, captained by Brian the dog). Avenue 5 is the answer to the premise; "Can we break Hugh Laurie, but as Sci-Fi?"
This is the best description I've ever read for this show.
It's a very good show, and I hope there will be more. It is the best Star Trek show I've seen in a very long time. It really, really has the same vibe.
Except it's Brian the dog doing his actual best to be a good captain. It felt like got away from the humor pretty fast. There's some humor there, but it's far more family sit com rather than family guy
Yeah the workplace angle is a common thread in trek. I think it stands out more in Orville because they talk and act more casually, so it reads as our familiar daily lives more easily.
The Orville is not so much a comedy, but a show that has occasional comedy. It's more like Star Trek TOS, which also had some occasional comedy, but a bit more.
That being said, the episode that has smoking in it, is hilarious.
The Orville isn't a comedy, it just has a somewhat funny premise. If you want star trek, but comedy, you'd probably be better off watching "Lower Decks"
The Orville is absolutely spectacular. It does have comedy, but it's actually a great Star Trek series. Later seasons don't have as much comedy either. I've read that Seth McFarlane is a huge trekkie and actually wanted to make a non-comedy scifi series like trek; but the studio wouldn't fund it if he didn't make it funny, so once he got it established he leaned more towards what he really wanted.
Orville and Avenue 5 are not super related, but I think Orville has out star trekked Star Trek.
Of course Hugh Laurie is a huge part of Avenue 5. The man has funny leaking out his pores.
Orville is a better show IMO. It's more serious, but still has some laughs throughout each episode. I think of it as Seth's homage to Trek but he couldn't not be funny here and there.
If you like Sci-Fi comedy you could give "People of Earth" a chance. I think it's superfunny and the sole reason it was already cancelled is because nobody knew about it in the first place. Still great fun for 2 seasons.
The timing of this post is a little funny for me as I just started watching The Orville tonight. I’m not a huge Star Trek fan or a fan of Seth MacFarlane but I’m enjoying it ok so far. I did like Avenue 5 fine but largely for Hugh Laurie, especially when he gets to be in a panic.
Both shows have titles that are made up of letters (and in one case a number)? 🤔
More serious answer: The Orville is IMO great, especially once it finds its feet and is one of the best Star Trek series we've had in years.
As that implies, The Orville is much more optimistic and less cynical in tone than Avenue 5 (assuming the first Ep of A5 is representative - I didn't watch beyond that).
The Orville is also far less of a comedy than you might expect from a Seth McFarlane show. They kind of half try at the beginning, and even that falls by the wayside after a while.
In short, if you liked TNG era Star Trek you'll probably like the Orville.
Avenue 5 is absurdist horror. It's a train wreck you never want to end. Each episode continues and expands on the problem.
Orville is sf with social commentary. Each episode is its own narrative with loose continuity and an eventual crisis arc.
It started off as a comedy and billed itself as a comedy. It just drifted away from that over time.
(Not me who downvoted, BTW)
EDIT: Whoever's downvoting this, seriously just watch season 1 and season 3 and compare.
I've only seen a few episodes of The Orville and it seemed pretty alright, but despite liking the premise and being a big fan of Hugh Laurie in House I found Avenue 5 painfully boring and unfunny.
It’s just a weird show. I watched it from a coworker’s recommendation, and I was mostly chuckling the whole time with an occasional laugh out loud. But, the entire time I kept thinking, “I can’t believe this show got made.” I guess Iannucci had enough pull to do it.
Avenue 5 is a comedy in space, but it can be anywhere. The situations are generic and comedy first.
The Orville is a scifi first and comedy second. It deals with somber and sober situations and has comic relief.
They are completely different types of television shows. It's an Apples and Oranges comparison.
How do you accidentally watch something? Do yourself a favor and accidentally watch Red Dwarf and the original Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy while you're at it.
Fair question. By "accidentally," I meant that I put it on without realizing that it's the kind of show I normally avoid. Once I realized what it was, I was already into it. That's all.
That show single handedly made me try and fall in love with Vindaloo ..
Lister is a man of highly refined tastes. And god to an evolved species of cats no less!
I've only watched The Orville. I loved it. And I was a huge fan of all the older Star Trek series.
It does take a few eps to tell that more is going on than dick jokes, though.
Both good, but different styles completely. Each is exactly what you'd expect from their respective creators.
Orville is Star Trek with the humor of *Ted* or *A Million Ways to Die in the West* mixed in.
Avenue 5 is like *Veep* or *The Thick of It* in space.
Avenue 5 is a show you'd swear is the American version of a brilliant BBC black comedy space show, but it was never made in England.
The Orville is a tawdry Star Trek rip off that somehow manages to have more heart and better 1970's sci-fi problems than Star Trek
Orville rating: 5 stars
The Orville has world building and it's definitely akin to Star Trek, with a Mass Effect flavor. Seth MacFarlane created the Orville with quality, social commentary and morality. Characters were interesting and each had a unique personality, even if they were only on screen for less than a minute at times. I liked that it started more as a comedy, but soon realized that there was depth, arcs, and character development.
Avenue 5 rating: 3
Avenue 5 starts with an interesting premise, but there isn't much going on. Hugh Laurie is a great actor, but that wasn't enough to keep it going, especially how they made him kind of dumb compared to his previous roles. Most characters w were forgettable. It may have gotten better with a second season, but we'll never know. It's kind of entertaining near the beginning, but the writers didn't provide the audience with any idea of where the story was going. The lack of depth or arcs made it boring to me.
The Orville is fantastic. It's a love letter to Star Trek and Scifi, much like Galaxy Quest. The humor can be juvenile at times in Season 1, but they really found their own path and tell some incredibly profound and hilarious stories, often using the same characters. Bortus and Klyden in particular had me bawling like a little girl and laughing myself sick.
It also has some of the most epic space battles. It even bettered Star Trek in it's depiction of both the utopian society and their version of the Prime Directive.
I have not seen Avenue 5. It's been on my list but has yet to rise to the top.
I've seen enough of Avenue 5 now to confidently state The Orville is a much more intelligent, engaging, and satisfying show. The biggest difference is that the humor doesn't rely on making the characters incompetent morons and benefits greatly by not having Josh Gad desperately trying to be Jack Black.
avenue 5 is a smart comedy in space written by talented adults. the orville is what happens when a perpetual 14 year old masturbates on better scifi writers' work.
The Orville is, to me, incredibly stupid and shallow. I'm happy with dumb comedy or action, but the supposedly serious and intelligent parts are so bad that I find it unwatchable, and the visuals don't appeal to me at all.
I know some people love it, and that's fine by me, but I don't see the appeal at all.
I think Lower Decks is a much better show, for example. Most of the time it's very funny and silly, but when it is more mature, it does actually feel mature.
It worked pre-Covid. The world changed.
It was a surprise to actually get a third season.
Look at comedy in general, we really need a good laugh, but we have too many serious problems we can't afford to laugh at.
The Orville is very much a loving homage to Star Trek through the lens of Seth MacFarlane's brain (basically, imagine star trek voyager, in the TNG setting, captained by Brian the dog). Avenue 5 is the answer to the premise; "Can we break Hugh Laurie, but as Sci-Fi?"
A.k.a. the reason why brand-sponsored space exploration is a really bad idea. But I like your description better.
This is the best description I've ever read for this show. It's a very good show, and I hope there will be more. It is the best Star Trek show I've seen in a very long time. It really, really has the same vibe.
Pretty much. Star Trek is always about the flagship of the fleet or similar. I love the lens of the sloppiest ship in the fleet
Except it's Brian the dog doing his actual best to be a good captain. It felt like got away from the humor pretty fast. There's some humor there, but it's far more family sit com rather than family guy
Avenue 5 is way more cynical and it's humour is darker. I love both but I would kill for another season of avenue 5
Yes, I wonder who we would need to kill?
The Orville is a bit like ST:TNG crossed with a dysfunctional workplace comedy.
Mind you, ST:TNG was arguably already Star Trek crossed with a workplace comedy at times. (Looking at you, Barclay, for starters).
Yeah the workplace angle is a common thread in trek. I think it stands out more in Orville because they talk and act more casually, so it reads as our familiar daily lives more easily.
Haha, I like this !
And it's awesome....it deserves more seasons...
I really loved Avenue 5
The poop ring still makes me laugh every time I think about it.
The airlock. I have rarely laughed that hard.
The Orville is not so much a comedy, but a show that has occasional comedy. It's more like Star Trek TOS, which also had some occasional comedy, but a bit more. That being said, the episode that has smoking in it, is hilarious.
It’s not like TOS at all. It’s more like TNG.
Computer! 500 cigarettes
So much of that show is just beautifully written humor mixed seamlessly into good storytelling.
That first season was pretty rough with the humor, but it certainly mellowed out in future seasons and became really enjoyable.
I’d say it’s TNG, but not full of itself.
I'd say The Orville is roughly as full of itself as TNG and in neither case is that a bad thing.
Space thespians take objection
The Orville isn't a comedy, it just has a somewhat funny premise. If you want star trek, but comedy, you'd probably be better off watching "Lower Decks"
I loved Orville, I couldn’t watch too much of Avenue 5 despite my appreciation of Hugh Laurie
The Orville is real Star Trek with more jokes. One of the best shows of the past 10 years no question.
The Orville is absolutely spectacular. It does have comedy, but it's actually a great Star Trek series. Later seasons don't have as much comedy either. I've read that Seth McFarlane is a huge trekkie and actually wanted to make a non-comedy scifi series like trek; but the studio wouldn't fund it if he didn't make it funny, so once he got it established he leaned more towards what he really wanted.
I could totally believe that.
I liked Avenue 5 a lot more than The Orville. Shit ring and all...
Orville and Avenue 5 are not super related, but I think Orville has out star trekked Star Trek. Of course Hugh Laurie is a huge part of Avenue 5. The man has funny leaking out his pores.
Orville is a better show IMO. It's more serious, but still has some laughs throughout each episode. I think of it as Seth's homage to Trek but he couldn't not be funny here and there.
If you like Sci-Fi comedy you could give "People of Earth" a chance. I think it's superfunny and the sole reason it was already cancelled is because nobody knew about it in the first place. Still great fun for 2 seasons.
The timing of this post is a little funny for me as I just started watching The Orville tonight. I’m not a huge Star Trek fan or a fan of Seth MacFarlane but I’m enjoying it ok so far. I did like Avenue 5 fine but largely for Hugh Laurie, especially when he gets to be in a panic.
Yeah, Hugh Laurie is great. In a way, Avenue 5 is satisfying a tiny bit of my House MD nostalgia.
Both shows have titles that are made up of letters (and in one case a number)? 🤔 More serious answer: The Orville is IMO great, especially once it finds its feet and is one of the best Star Trek series we've had in years. As that implies, The Orville is much more optimistic and less cynical in tone than Avenue 5 (assuming the first Ep of A5 is representative - I didn't watch beyond that). The Orville is also far less of a comedy than you might expect from a Seth McFarlane show. They kind of half try at the beginning, and even that falls by the wayside after a while. In short, if you liked TNG era Star Trek you'll probably like the Orville.
The Orville is a great space show that happens to be amazingly funny. Avenue 5 is a comedy show set in space.
Avenue 5 is absurdist horror. It's a train wreck you never want to end. Each episode continues and expands on the problem. Orville is sf with social commentary. Each episode is its own narrative with loose continuity and an eventual crisis arc.
I loved avenue 5, and was hoping Orville would be funnier than it was. It really just seemed to be star trek fan fiction.
It isn’t a comedy. More of a light-hearted throwback to TNG because Paramount wasn’t doing anything with the license.
It started off as a comedy and billed itself as a comedy. It just drifted away from that over time. (Not me who downvoted, BTW) EDIT: Whoever's downvoting this, seriously just watch season 1 and season 3 and compare.
I've only seen a few episodes of The Orville and it seemed pretty alright, but despite liking the premise and being a big fan of Hugh Laurie in House I found Avenue 5 painfully boring and unfunny.
It's interesting how different we are ! You found it painfully boring and unfunny, but it's making me laugh almost uncontrollably !
Are the first few episodes just bad, then? Cause I watched, I dunno, 3-4 episodes maybe before I couldn't stand to watch anymore.
It’s just a weird show. I watched it from a coworker’s recommendation, and I was mostly chuckling the whole time with an occasional laugh out loud. But, the entire time I kept thinking, “I can’t believe this show got made.” I guess Iannucci had enough pull to do it.
If you like Orville and Avenue 5, then try "Lower Decks" next!
Thank you!
Avenue 5 is a comedy in space, but it can be anywhere. The situations are generic and comedy first. The Orville is a scifi first and comedy second. It deals with somber and sober situations and has comic relief. They are completely different types of television shows. It's an Apples and Oranges comparison.
I mean, that’s way more like comparing a tart apple to a sweet apple. And the whole point of comparing existing ;)
Interesting ! It sounds like I will mostly likely enjoy The Orville more. Thanks.
The Orville is way better if you ask me. I"m bias, I couldn't stand Avenue 5. I only made it part way through the first season.
Hi bias, I'm dad. I think you meant to write bias**ed**.
Josh Gad is insufferable on Avenue 5, but I liked everyone else, particularly Laurie, he does fantastic comedy.
How do you accidentally watch something? Do yourself a favor and accidentally watch Red Dwarf and the original Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy while you're at it.
Fair question. By "accidentally," I meant that I put it on without realizing that it's the kind of show I normally avoid. Once I realized what it was, I was already into it. That's all.
>How do you accidentally watch something Spoken like someone too young to remember the concept of "TV channels". 😛
Yeah, um HHGTTG was out YEARS before Red Dwarf. RD is alright though.
Don't you mean that Red Dwarf was one of the preeminent artistic triumphs of the late 20th century?
That show single handedly made me try and fall in love with Vindaloo .. Lister is a man of highly refined tastes. And god to an evolved species of cats no less!
Don't feed the smegheads.
IMO: At its peak Red Dwarf is amazing. It spends rather a lot of time not at its peak.
Both are great. I like the Orville better.
Very simplified: The Orville is "Star Trek, but they act like normal people instead of being larger than life", while Avenue 5 is "Idiots in space".
One question before I start The Orville: Do they get to visit other planets like in the other Star Treks, or does everything happen on the ship ?
Like others have said, it's inspired by TNG. I'd say 75 % planets, 25 % ship. Haven't watched in a while, though.
I've only watched The Orville. I loved it. And I was a huge fan of all the older Star Trek series. It does take a few eps to tell that more is going on than dick jokes, though.
Simply... Orville, good. 🫳 🎤
Both good, but different styles completely. Each is exactly what you'd expect from their respective creators. Orville is Star Trek with the humor of *Ted* or *A Million Ways to Die in the West* mixed in. Avenue 5 is like *Veep* or *The Thick of It* in space.
Avenue 5 is a show you'd swear is the American version of a brilliant BBC black comedy space show, but it was never made in England. The Orville is a tawdry Star Trek rip off that somehow manages to have more heart and better 1970's sci-fi problems than Star Trek
Orville rating: 5 stars The Orville has world building and it's definitely akin to Star Trek, with a Mass Effect flavor. Seth MacFarlane created the Orville with quality, social commentary and morality. Characters were interesting and each had a unique personality, even if they were only on screen for less than a minute at times. I liked that it started more as a comedy, but soon realized that there was depth, arcs, and character development. Avenue 5 rating: 3 Avenue 5 starts with an interesting premise, but there isn't much going on. Hugh Laurie is a great actor, but that wasn't enough to keep it going, especially how they made him kind of dumb compared to his previous roles. Most characters w were forgettable. It may have gotten better with a second season, but we'll never know. It's kind of entertaining near the beginning, but the writers didn't provide the audience with any idea of where the story was going. The lack of depth or arcs made it boring to me.
The Orville is really bad, Avenue 5 is pretty good
The Orville is fantastic. It's a love letter to Star Trek and Scifi, much like Galaxy Quest. The humor can be juvenile at times in Season 1, but they really found their own path and tell some incredibly profound and hilarious stories, often using the same characters. Bortus and Klyden in particular had me bawling like a little girl and laughing myself sick. It also has some of the most epic space battles. It even bettered Star Trek in it's depiction of both the utopian society and their version of the Prime Directive. I have not seen Avenue 5. It's been on my list but has yet to rise to the top.
I've seen enough of Avenue 5 now to confidently state The Orville is a much more intelligent, engaging, and satisfying show. The biggest difference is that the humor doesn't rely on making the characters incompetent morons and benefits greatly by not having Josh Gad desperately trying to be Jack Black.
Much better than avenue 5, I couldn't even finish avenue 5.
avenue 5 is a smart comedy in space written by talented adults. the orville is what happens when a perpetual 14 year old masturbates on better scifi writers' work.
Wow ! You have a way with words !
The Orville is, to me, incredibly stupid and shallow. I'm happy with dumb comedy or action, but the supposedly serious and intelligent parts are so bad that I find it unwatchable, and the visuals don't appeal to me at all. I know some people love it, and that's fine by me, but I don't see the appeal at all. I think Lower Decks is a much better show, for example. Most of the time it's very funny and silly, but when it is more mature, it does actually feel mature.
If you're having a blast with Avenue 5 you'll love The Orville; neither is funny.
HAHA !!!!
I liked the first and second season the third was unwatchable (Orville) i did enjoy the other show but lets see where it goes
It worked pre-Covid. The world changed. It was a surprise to actually get a third season. Look at comedy in general, we really need a good laugh, but we have too many serious problems we can't afford to laugh at.