Seriously? No. I did my stoned Trek watching with TOS, about five years after I first watched it on NBC. The Orville hits a lot of the things that have always appealed to me about Star Trek, and it's entertaining. Discovery manages neither; it's pretty weak sauce.
I felt the Blue Man episode was a lemon. I Missed the episode the week before. I kept thinking the show is on Friday nights. Mmmm, wonder why I keep thinking that? The Blue Man episode was just goofy.
I saw another comment here yesterday that said they'd only seen 1 or 2 episodes, and complaining that they couldn't find it on Netflix, Amazon, or Hulu. You can watch any orville episode for free on the FoxNow app, on your phone, tablet, or Apple TV, Smart Tv, etc. I usually watch it Thursday or Friday on a tablet, but found I could even watch it my old Apple TV 2nd gen, as the Fox App was already on it stock.
If Discovery is what "Star Trek is actually about," then Star Trek isn't about anything that's worth a spit. I think the business of trying to defend or assume the "mantle" of Star Trek is nonsense anyway. It's a given that Discovery "is Star Trek" and that The Orville is not, because Star Trek is a brand name. So that's a disagreement cast in fallacious terms to begin with.
Okay, that's so cute, 'your old apple TV' I have a TV with the big giant out the back tube in it. LOL. And my phone bill would be like $200.00 if I watch a TV show on it. Plus it's just to small to be enjoyable for me. Whoa is me- waa waa
"Discovery is what Star Trek is actually about." For me, at least. Other people obviously watched other Star Trek series for different reasons. Star Trek, the original, wasn't like anything else on TV. You wanted that fix, you watched that show. The Next Generation clearly drew on the original but it was still something new and different, it wasn't just more of the same. Deep Space Nine, even more so. Each new Star Trek series built on the original series but became its own thing. With the arguable exception of Voyager and Enterprise, which all too often fell back on warmed over TNGisms. Discovery does what TNG and DS9 did. The Orville feels more like Voyager and Enterprise. Characters and relationships. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. The family feel of Picard's crew. All the amazing relationships and connections between the characters of DS9 -- Garak/Bashir, Quark/Odo, Ben/Jake, and so many more. Again, for me, Voyager and Enterprise were a lot weaker there, but in Discovery, I bought the connection between Burnham and Georgiou right off. Burnham/Saru has been progressing very well, as has Burnham/Tyler and Tilly and anyone, Stamets/Culber... and Lorca is just plain fascinating to watch. He's certainly no good guy, but it's hard to tell which side of the line he'll ultimately fall on. And the Burnham/Sarek connection put a whole new meaning into the Spock/Sarek relationship established all the way back on TOS. The Orville has a sitcom level will they/won't they tension between the leads, two characters straight out of TNG, and some interchangeable wisecracking supporting characters. Values. TOS, TNG, and DS9 each tried to be more liberal than conservative, pro-diversity, pro-science, democracy, hope. Discovery's not talking the talk, it's walking the walk, with women of colour in key roles, gay characters, and characters who get so excited about scientific discoveries that they drop the f bomb. But YMMV. I'm still watching The Orville because it's so close to being something really good, and it has some good actors in its cast. If you said you think it's better than TNG was at this point, I wouldn't argue with you. I'm not convinced it can rival TNG's better years, though.
Lol, women of color in key roles! Like TOS from the 60's.? I can't really watch Discovery but for me the show needs to be more about the story than the color or sexual practices of the players.
You really think Nichelle Nichols had as important a part as Sonequa Martin-Green? Seriously? And I talked about more than "the color or sexual practices." But hey, if you think you made a meaningful point, have a gold star. ETA: Okay, that's a bit rude of me. But you apparently haven't seen the show and you're cherrypicking just one of several things I said about Discovery. Anyway, this is a discussion for people who love The Orville, so I'll shut up and go away.
I truly feel that STD gets by more on the hype of its diverse cast than its actual storytelling and acting. Orville has everything that STD has, as far as the makeup of the cast/characters goes (or more, IIRC), but it doesn't promote that fact. In 20 years when this sort of casting is going to be old hat most folks watching STD are not going to be impressed.
To me Disco feels very much very generic, just a normal 2017 scifi show with the usual lack of lighting, dark and gritty with unlikable characters. So I would not say that it's "it's own thing". As for Orville I love it. Not that I'me already busy to find all the bits of the old shows, when I watch it, the scripts are nice and it's not like a generic 2017 scifi show. Also the captain works for me. McFarlane is not really the most charismatic person but it fits nicely. I may have already mentioned that I loved the "Worf's husband watches muscials" scene. The last two episodes were okay, the one about the internet people was just fantastic. And the music is so much like Jerry Goldsmith.
I have to admit, I would totally buy an Orville soundtrack CD. Pure imitation but really good imitation.
I class it very much as a Trek show. Just wait by season three they'll add Star Trek to the title sequence. She was a woman of colour in a prominent place of a TV show in the 60s who was an equal to all others around her, a professional and an officer, who also wore a symbol of women's liberation and was involved in the first interracial kiss on American TV. If none of that is important then I don't know what is.
When someone says something isn't AS important as something else, it doesn't mean the first thing is not important. Nichols was important but she wasn't in every episode and wanted to quit because she rarely had anything to do beyond operating the switchboard. Not the same as being the main character.
Sonequa Martin-Green isn't the first woman of color to be the lead in a TV series. So, what is so important about her?