Discovery and "The Orville" Comparisons

[SJA]

One of the criticisms I do 'agree' with regarding Discovery- to a certain extent -is the lack of 'warmth' between the characters on the ship...I actually thought there was more of evidence of that on the brief scenes on the Shenzou...Willingly to cut the show some slack as it - in a sense - only two real 'Discovery' eps in -and they are at war after all- not much time for Vulcan Harp jams, Battle of Britain Holo games - Poker, or Water Polo dvds! My fav Trek- DS9 - didn't really get that feeling - that interaction for me

Spoiler

until the Kira leaving scene from 'The Circle'

- I loved modern Battlestar till about half way through season three - but I always hated Starbuck - not because she was a woman - but because she was so charmless - and got bored with the show because I found it hard - ultimately - to care about the characters - an issue I also have with some of GOT! Hopefully tonight's ep might see the beginning of a few beautiful friendships....

 

[Mudd]

Stole from FB:

 

[Prax]

Stole from FB:

View attachment 3170

Later, on the bridge...

Grayson- "United Federation of Planets?"
Mercer- "Yeah, more like United Federation of dickheads."

 

[JRoss]

Not a fan of Seth MacFarlane, except as a singer. Had such low hopes for the show, but gave it a try. Glad I did. It does a lot more than Discovery could ever hope to do, even with a far smaller budget. Discovery is pretty, but they can't tell a logical story and whoever makes it has no sense of pacing or how to write a likable main character.

Episodes 5 and 6 of the Orville have me hooked.

 

[Cake]

From 8 million to around 3.5 million

The first two episodes aired on Sunday after football games. Even the most optimistic of people expected a big drop after the move to Thursday.

Source? I read last week that it was doing very poorly.

http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/orville-ratings-fox-1202566264/

Very poorly is an exaggeration. There was the drop of course between episode 2 and 3, but it has stabilized since then:

https://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/the-orville-season-one-ratings/

The ratings are not great, but if they stay where they are right now a second season is probable. Fox has a bunch of worse shows and there is also the MacFarlane factor.

 

[SJA]

Stole from FB:

View attachment 3170

Surprised its not a message they are being sued for breach of copyright...

 

[Vger23]

Both shows continue to impress me. I haven't seen tonight's DSC yet, nor have I seen the last Orville, but we will remedy that soon enough.

 

[starmike]

The first two episodes aired on Sunday after football games. Even the most optimistic of people expected a big drop after the move to Thursday.


Very poorly is an exaggeration. There was the drop of course between episode 2 and 3, but it has stabilized since then:

https://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/the-orville-season-one-ratings/

The ratings are not great, but if they stay where they are right now a second season is probable. Fox has a bunch of worse shows and there is also the MacFarlane factor.

So you said that "poorly" was an exaggeration (a 50% drop is poorly, btw) ad then say "the ratings are not great".

So somehow you're...spinning this? I can't tell.

 

[Cake]

So you said that "poorly" was an exaggeration (a 50% drop is poorly, btw) ad then say "the ratings are not great".

So somehow you're...spinning this? I can't tell.

The drop was only so high, because of the different airing times. They got a nice boost because of the football games on Sunday at first. It was never expected that they would keep those ratings. A more extreme example would be a series aired directly after the Superbowl. Of course the episode after that would fall down a lot and no one would then doom it at once, because it lost millions of viewers.

Look at the average ratings of FOX's shows from last season:

https://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/fox-tv-show-2016-2017-season-ratings/

Do you see how many shows had a higher rating than a 2.0 like the Orville got on Sunday? Exactly 1 series. FOX series just don't perform so well generally.

While the ratings are not great anymore like they were on Sunday, if they stay the way they are they should still be good enough for another season.

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/re...-week-2-star-on-track-to-earn-a-third-season/

You know there is a big middle field between "great" and "very poorly". Great means it is a hit and very poorly that the series will for sure get cancelled. The Orville is between those points.

 

[Mudd]

Surprised its not a message they are being sued for breach of copyright...

Since they've violated no copyrights nor any trademarks that's not going to happen. It's like being surprised that Desilu wasn't sued by MGM for the original Star Trek.

So, on the subject of ratings and ratings drops - how many households are tuning in to Discovery in America every week?

"Oh, we'll never know that! There's no way to guess! CBS won't tell!"

Come on...it's not hard to make educated guesses within a certain range.

Here's a clue: compared to Trek in its 1980s/1990s heyday, these shows are niche programming.

 

[SJA]

Since they've violated no copyrights nor any trademarks that's not going to happen. It's like being surprised that Desilu wasn't sued by MGM for the original Star Trek.
I was attempting to be humorous mate...British irony...I wasn't being serious! But it seems to have struck a nerve? You Orville fans give a lot out on this thread but then act affronted when somebody has the temerity to have a dig back?

 

[GeekUSACarl]

Both shows continue to impress me. I haven't seen tonight's DSC yet, nor have I seen the last Orville, but we will remedy that soon enough.

Both to me were great.

Orville's last offering was SM's style of humor to a T, and STD gave me what i'd consider a true sci-fi offering.

 

[Sir Stewart Wallace]

Both to me were great.

Orville's last offering was SM's style of humor to a T, and STD gave me what i'd consider a true sci-fi offering.

Antibiotics will clear that right up.

 

[GeekUSACarl]

Antibiotics will clear that right up.

If it feels this good I don't wanna CURE!

Don't tell my wife.

 

[Prax]

And the range between very good ratings and very poor ratings is actually very small and there are so many factors involved that no one has bothered to address anyway.

Ratings themselves are an estimate, inconclusive, and usually incomplete, and are supposed to be confidential, but they are very useful for advertisers. And ratings aren't just an average of viewers based on a sample who watched a given show, but an average of minutes that an average number of viewers based on a sample+various variables of that timeslot that the show aired on.

Let's take a walk through history. Below you'll find the ratings(actually, the estimated viewership) for each modern trek series' premiere, 2nd episode, and season 1 finale. These are supposedly first run ratings only, but there is no way to know for certain regarding all of them.

TNG:
(Fall 1987 Paramount TV/direct syndication)
Premiere- 14.1m(viewers)
2nd episode- 10.4m
Season 1 finale- 9.2m

DS9:
(Jan. 1993 Paramount TV/direct syndication)
Premiere- 17.7m
2nd ep- 12.6m
S1 finale- 8.3m

Voyager:
(Jan. 1995 Paramount TV & Network)
Prem- 12.4m
2nd ep- 9.2m
S1 finale- 5.8m

Enterprise:
(Fall 2001 Paramount TV & Network)
Premiere- 12.5m
2nd ep- 9.2m
S1 finale- 5.3m

The Orville:
(Fall 2017 20th Cent. Fox, Fuzzy Door Productions/ Fox Network)
Premiere- 8.6 million(10.6m L+3)
2nd episode- 6.6 million
3rd(after move to Thursday)-4 million

Discovery:
(Fall 2017 CBS TS, Secret Hideout, Roddenberry Entertainment, Living Dead Guy Productions/ CBS network, CBS All Access, Netflix International)
Premiere 1st half- 9.6m(10.6m L+3)

Both of these new shows have conflicting reports on ratings depending on the date and source of the article, but these seem to be the most accurate. Ep 2 and 3 of Orville are also live+3 I believe, but couldn't confirm.

 

[alex08060]

Discovery is using steaming instead of TV so we are unlikely going to get any more info for it. The only indication it is doing well is that CBS is happy with the subscription numbers and there is a high chance of a season 2.

 

[Cyrus]

There have been no fart jokes in Orville yet, much to my disappointment.

 

[SolarisOne]

You know, looking at a lot of the comments concerning DSC on YouTube has pissed me off so much, I think I am going to watch and like the show (instead of be indifferent about it), just to stick it to those disgusting assholes. Comments expressing distaste are fine by me--even if I loved the show, I'd be fine with them.

The comments I've been reading, however....

 

[alex08060]

The youtube comments are not happy Discovery is behind a paywall and some of the videos are just cheering for Orville while making fun of Discovery and admitting they will never watched discovey.

 

[GeekUSACarl]

The youtube comments are not happy Discovery is behind a paywall and some of the videos are just cheering for Orville while making fun of Discovery and admitting they will never watched discovey.

some people are just adversarial and reactionary.