The Orville

[Kaos Arcanna]

I'm surprised at how much I am enjoying this show. The humor is hit and miss-- sometimes they go WAY too overboard, but there's a kind of earnestness about it that makes me want to see this show succeed.

It's turning into a decent pastiche of Star Trek.

[Tenzhi]

As I posted in the Discovery thread, but which is more on topic here:

Yeah, The Orville has been surprisingly good.  I was expecting it to just be zany, irreverent nonsense, but it takes itself more seriously than I was expecting.  In fact, the humour is largely kinda flat, forced, and has a sort of contractually obligated feel to it.  But when it's not forcing the humour, it feels somewhere between TOS and TNG.

[Vee]

I couldn't get it off my watchlist fast enough, but then I hate Star Trek and was only looking for 'zany, irreverent nonsense'. Glad it appealed to ST fans. Wondering if it will last without NFL lead-ins. Seemed bigger budget than I expected and it's not as if Gotham is any kind of lead-in

[Tenzhi]

Wow.  Odd Liam Neeson cameo.

[MyriVerse]

I would expect Gotham to be a better lead-in than football. Almost the same fanbase. But sports is usually enough to keep me away from a channel.

[Vee]

I would expect Gotham to be a better lead-in than football. Almost the same fanbase. But sports is usually enough to keep me away from a channel.

Airing at 9 p.m., the new sci-fi series drew a 1.1 rating in adults 18-49 and 4 million total viewers. That is a drop of 50% in the key demo and 39% in total viewers compared to the episode that aired this past Sunday after NFL football (2.2, 6.6 million).

Earlier on Fox, the season premiere of "Gotham" (1.0, 3.1 million) was down in both measures compared to last season's premiere.

[Ohioknight]

Airing at 9 p.m., the new sci-fi series drew a 1.1 rating in adults 18-49 and 4 million total viewers. That is a drop of 50% in the key demo and 39% in total viewers compared to the episode that aired this past Sunday after NFL football (2.2, 6.6 million).

Earlier on Fox, the season premiere of "Gotham" (1.0, 3.1 million) was down in both measures compared to last season's premiere.

They have to know that the long-term return on this series is going to fantastic, it's beautiful and it's really good Start Trek -- with odd dashes of Seth McFarland esthetic.  I think this will fly long enough for several collectable seasons just for the direct sales.

[Tahquitz]

They have to know that the long-term return on this series is going to fantastic, it's beautiful and it's really good Start Trek -- with odd dashes of Seth McFarland esthetic.  I think this will fly long enough for several collectable seasons just for the direct sales.

And this is where I share a resource.

TV By The Numbers.  It's both informative and educational!  Their Renew/Cancel Index posts use the semi-public Nielsen Rating numbers sold to advertisers, media companies, and marketing agencies to try to guess at Nielsen's most elusive metric, the fabled "C30" ratings (viewership of ads per 30 minute segment of Television) that most of the broadcast networks in the United States use to either cancel or renew a show.  The C30 ratings are an industry secret and are NEVER shared with the public, as that Nielsen product goes directly to TV Executives.  The posts with the Cancellation Bear show programs that are considered "Dead Man Walking" to the advertisers with a small enough audience that the networks might pull the program from the air before it's over. 

The educational part involves articles such as The Third Season Rule, which explains that a show that is close to 100 episodes and middling ratings may get renewed for a fourth season anyway to try to package and sell the show to Syndication groups, or at the 88-episode mark for 'stripped' syndication conditional that another season is actively in production to make the 100 episodes before the deal is approved.  (For 'limited series' type of shows that make less than 22 episodes available in a TV Season.)  TV By The Numbers only tracks broadcast TV approvals: Cable works by a different metric which makes predictions impossible (On Cable, often critical response to a show may buck ratings and keep a show on the air.  For broadcast TV, it rarely works.)

Concerning shows you're a fan of, this site should be helpful in tracking programs like The Orville's progress through the first year.

[Tahquitz]

Oh, yeah, forgot my point...

When TV By The Numbers writes an article singling out a TV Show, it's either a horrendous moment, or in The Orville's case, pretty damn good.

[Mandu]

Nielson numbers are meaningless any more.  They have finally expanded to the week of in addition to the night of but that's still not enough.  There are just too many people including me who put off watching a show for weeks at a time.  Sometimes I'll watch a show every week but often I'll wait till I have two or three episodes backlogged and then watch them.  According to Nielson even if they are looking at the Hulu numbers that means I'm not counted as watching episodes 1 and 2.  I only watched 3.  This week I won't be watching any of the shows (except Gotham which I already watched) because I'll be watching GoT and Wonder Woman and possibly John Wick 2.  Which means that so far as ratings go that means I only watched episode 3 of The Orville and then gave up on the show.

Some day studios will realize that and count view numbers for the whole season plus purchase of the shows in digital and physical form.  And when that day comes Manuel will be right because pigs will be flying.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpQdqAKHDNc

[Tahquitz]

Like it or hate it, it's still what advertisers base their spending upon.  If an advertiser doesn't have a large enough audience to watch their ads, they pull their funding.  There is no way to get the public opinion on a show 100% right, whether through advertising audience analysis, or cash sales when a season is through, or both.  From 10 years ago when Nielsen cried fowl against DVR viewing and online watching, they have adapted to the changes in the industry. 

And there are more invasive viewing metrics being established other than Nielsen's "journaled TV" approach.  (Ever install DirecTV Now on your phone?  Your physical location has to be on and at High Accuracy mode to even watch TV on a mobile device.  Yes, that data is collected for analytics.)

But this is about The Orville, so I'll stop there.  My point was the show looks safe from cancellation at the moment.

[Night-Hawk07]

Ever install DirecTV Now on your phone?  Your physical location has to be on and at High Accuracy mode to even watch TV on a mobile device.  Yes, that data is collected for analytics.

It's never made me do that. All it requires is a "WiFi bridge" that connects your DVR to your internet. Maybe that's how they get their data. *shrug*

[Tenzhi]

The leg gag was funny, but it looked like there was more leg there than was actually severed.

[GamingGlen]

picky picky picky

Did you notice that Yaphit (the blob) extended his "hand" to Phia to shake "hands" from the same place he had extended his other "appendage" towards the doctor in a previous episode?

[Paragon Avenger]

That "Mr. Potato Head" gag was great.
Imagine Mr. Data in the same sort of situation.
"Commander, I fail to see the humor in these Mr. Potato Head pieces.  Are you trying to say that my head is potato-like?"

[eabrace]

Did you notice that Yaphit (the blob) extended his "hand" to Phia to shake "hands" from the same place he had extended his other "appendage" towards the doctor in a previous episode?

I wondered if that was the case, but didn't still have the other episode on the DVR to go back and check.

[GamingGlen]

I wondered if that was the case, but didn't still have the other episode on the DVR to go back and check.

I've read that Yaphit is expensive to do as CGI, so perhaps the initial extension from the previous episode was reused and they added to it for this episode.

[Paragon Avenger]

Or it could be a univerisal extention area, like R2D2's univeral interface port on Star Wars.

[Kaos Arcanna]

A good episode this week.

It's good they are fleshing the Krill out a little.

[Tenzhi]

It might've been a good episode if it wasn't so awkward and painful to watch...