I think Seth is a popular element of Hollywood that they all wish they could get rid of or neuter. I mean, they wouldn't tolerate Crank Yankers Kimmel these days, or regular ole' Seinfeld,
Discovery and "The Orville" Comparisons
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I think Seth is a popular element of Hollywood that they all wish they could get rid of or neuter. I mean, they wouldn't tolerate Crank Yankers Kimmel these days, or regular ole' Seinfeld,
I like Family Guy and love American Dad. But his humor can be abrasive and I understand that turns some people off.
If people are watching them, then they'll be tolerated.
This is the kind of problem that separates good writers from great ones.
You don't even HAVE to give people a full on back story, if you're good at writing characters, you can write just enough nuance not they come through with very small bits of information. But that nuance has to be the right bits at the right time portrayed by the right actor.
The only character I think they've done an above average job on that for me is Stamets.
These days, they wouldn't let it be watched.
The bottom line for any studio or network is PROFIT - period. If they could make money broadcasting old 1950ies style TV test patterns - and people watched - that's what we'd have on TV. As long as what Seth produces for them makes a good ROI, that's ALL they care about in the end.
Are we talking about personal behavior or content of shows? Because as far as I can tell, MacFarlane is a good citizen behind the scenes.
That, like, or dislike of an episode is purely subjective goes without saying, but whenever I see people make this type of comment about "About A Girl", I always think that maybe they're really referring to the episode's premise and not the actual execution of the episode.
The premise; what happens when a couple who are part of a planet full of nothing but same sex people, give birth to a child of opposite sex, is extremely interesting and potentially provacative. However, the script, written by McFarlane, misses nearly all of the premise's potential.
Without going into detail, the message of the episode seems to be that women who have some exceptionable ability are worth keeping around. To McFarlane, I guess, this was a profound revelation. The message should have been, that women are worthwhile simply because they are beings just like males, deserving of basic rights, etc.
This episode also contains one of the worst jokes of the first 6 episodes of Or. The helmsman, whose name is LLamar, and is black, drops a joke about Compton, Ca. These types of jokes, which do not flow out of science fiction, or the story, litter the first few episodes of Or. and are a big turn off.
Now, The Krill, which I just watched last night, was, I believe, the first episode that didn't have at least one big fat predictable generic verbal joke in it. Key word is generic. I'd like the show better if jokes flowed out of the show's science fiction and story, rather than generic jokes that could fit into any show, whether the show is a comedy or drama. Having a character fist pump and shout, "That's what I'm talking about!", is just plain cheap. We've all seen it dozens and dozens of times. Think about the way the jokes in Firefly were presented. All of the jokes seemed flowed out of the show's science fiction or the story, and none were generic.
I didn't check, but I would bet that The Krill wasn't written by Seth. To me, this is the show's key to evolving into something that might eventually become memorable. Maybe use his story ideas, but keep Seth's writing to a minimum.
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I don't think being good or bad has much to do with it.
I think Hollywood and mainstream television, as it's always been, is driven by perception being reality. Good or bad doesn't "quite" matter.
You can be rude ugly and crass, just as long as you do it like Colbert, Kimmel Classic? no that's the wrong way.
The perception will change and Hollywood and TV will always rotate it around, but guys like Mel Brooks couldn't be Mel Brooks these days. MacFarlane? I think he is a little on the lucky end. Well, can't say "lucky" but he is, I believe a bit of a leftover holdout.
I don't think FOX sees it that way, as they just signed a long-term development deal with him that keeps him in the fold for the next decade, IIRC.
There is still quite a bit of "crass" programming out there. I don't think it is going away anytime soon.
Who would have thought the host of THE MAN SHOW would host the Oscars one day, or even make touching political monologues?
Strange new world indeed.
I don't think it's necessarily strange, I doubt Kimmel wants to be classic Kimmel either,
But people LIKE Kimmel wouldn't make it one step. Adam Corolla? dude was insanely popular, didn't quite change, and kept being insanely popular, just somewhere else.
It isn't JUST about the money. Companies have to have control over their own perception. There is a degree of "safety" in that. You think anyone could tell the Soup Nazi joke these days? Don't care how funny it is or how much people liked it, wouldn't fly.
Never watched South Park?
Another bit of a hold out IMO.
Consider when it gained it's popularity.
I'm not saying this as an ultimate idea, but for the most part the male side of low brow comedy has been very very neutered or stamped out all together. A few here and there can still get away with it, like SM and South Park.
just an observation.
Seth MacFarlance is an equal opportunity offender.
Hence my original point, an element that I think TV and Hollywood ( more so television ) wishes they could do without. A gut feeling mostly.
Some of those early episodes of SOUTH PARK are something to behold in how absurd they were.
A little ratings update:
episode --- live + SD --- live + 3 --- live + 7
1 --- 2.71 / 8.558 mio --- 3.5 / 11.3 mio
2 --- 2.17 / 6.631 mio --- 2.8 / 8.415 mio --- 3.1 / 9.054 mio
3 --- 1.10 / 4.053 mio
4 --- 1.05 / 3.698 mio ------------- ? ------------- 2.1 / 6.811 mio
5 --- 0.91 / 3.431 mio ------------- ? ------------- 2.1 / 6.786 mio
6 --- 0.99 / 3.371 mio
TV by the Numbers says this about delayed viewing:
And here is the most recent renew/cancel index.
episode --- live + SD --- live + 3 --- live + 7
1 --- 2.71 / 8.558 mio --- 3.5 / 11.3 mio
2 --- 2.17 / 6.631 mio --- 2.8 / 8.415 mio --- 3.1 / 9.054 mio
3 --- 1.10 / 4.053 mio
4 --- 1.05 / 3.698 mio ------------- ? ------------- 2.1 / 6.811 mio
5 --- 0.91 / 3.431 mio ------------- ? ------------- 2.1 / 6.786 mio
6 --- 0.99 / 3.371 mio
TV by the Numbers says this about delayed viewing:
And here is the most recent renew/cancel index.
Lucifer and Ghosted too--excellent!
I love The Orville as I haven't loved anything on TV in ages, but I'm not getting attached - if we ever get a second order of 13 episodes, I'll be ecstatic.
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