The Orville: 5 reasons why it needs to be renewed for season 3
We’re still waiting for word on whether or not The Orville will receive a third season. In the meantime, here are five reasons why Fox should go ahead and bring this show back for round three.
Numbers matter and the ratings for The Orville were down this year from their season one metrics. According to TV Series Finale, who tracks these things, The Orville averaged 3.16 million viewers per episode this season. They also saw a rating of .75 with the age 18-49 demographic.
Those numbers are down 27% and 40% respectively. TV Series Finale also shows, in comparison to Fox’s 15 other scripted shows, The Orville ranks 12th in demographic rating and 9th in viewers.
That’s not great.
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The good news is that, well, despite the numbers, The Orville is a great show with so much potential, should they be given a third season. Here are five reasons why Fox should go ahead and call up Seth MacFarlane for The Orville season 3:
1. It’s a big universe
Season two really went with big storylines, focussing on the Moclans and Kaylons and Krill. But the Orville team didn’t have a chance to do quite as much exploring.
One of the topics The Orville likes to examine is how the human race (or, in some cases, the Union) judges other races based on human/Earth standards. It leads to fascinating conflict like in dealing with Ed and Kelly being captured and put in a zoo or going to a planet that thinks your zodiac sign determines whether or not you should be put in an internment camp.
The best of these one-off episodes was in season one where Kelly had to deal with the ramifications of making contact with a primitive society that then began to worship her as a god.
These kinds of episodes allow the writers of The Orville to examine different moral conundrums through visiting different planets. This season, while doing well in their attempts to create an interwoven universe, they let those kinds of episodes fall away. A third season would let the writers continue working toward finding the balance between exploring/doing one-off episodes and giving viewers an intricate season long storyline.
(Hey, Doctor Who has been trying to figure out the balance for more than 50 years. Give The Orville a third.)
2. It’s actually great scifi
Along the same lines, The Orville has simply become great science fiction television. It consistently maintains its humor while giving appropriate weight to everyone on the show’s actions.
Plus, it does the one important thing all scifi shows must: it uses its episodes to examine subject matters affecting its viewers. In the past, The Orville has dealt with idolatry, mass hysteria, tolerance and more. It has a message and tries to teach without feeling like it’s shoving its message down the audience’s throat.
Then you have the fact that The Orville just ended its second season by nailing a time travel story? That’s very, very hard to do.
It’s no wonder, though, since the show draws inspiration from Star Trek and The Twilight Zone.
There have been some bumps along the way (as there were for The Orville’s predecessors), another season brings them closer to this show fulfilling its potential.
3. Ed and Kelly’s relationship
We really don’t see our Ed and Kelly in the final episode of season two. So, when we leave them, they’re coming off a crazy sequence of events that meant Ed went on dates with a past version of Kelly who had been zapped into the future. All while present day Kelly was around.
Ed clearly wants to be back with Kelly, but Kelly isn’t interested.
The Orville needs a third season to keep pursuing this track. It will be good to follow them as the two leaders of this ship become closer and closer friends.
4. John, Gordon and Talla
This is simple: they were underutilized in season two and we need more stories for them in season three.
No offense to Isaac, Bortus or Claire, but this season was very, very heavy on those three. We need a third season just so we can see these three (who, from what we’ve seen, are becoming fast friends) get up to.
Also, did we just drop the idea that Gordon is trying to find someone to love him? The man created a whole fake world so he could find someone to love. Give Gordon some happy storylines! Let him go on adventures! And let him bring John so John isn’t stuck in engineering so much.
5. A musical episode
Ok, this is here because on Gizmodo’s list of things they’d like to see from a season three, they listed a musical episode as a joke.
Like Gizmodo points out, Seth MacFarlane loves music and musicals. Logically, it’s probably only a matter of time before The Orville winds up on a planet where they have to communicate through song. Or they get pulled into a musical alternate universe (like the two dimensional universe, but for song). Or they encounter a species that emits a feramone that makes everyone around them sing (a la when Darulio came on board the ship and accidentally negotiated a peace treaty by making the two warring sides fall in love with each other).
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Look, there are a lot of possibilities. Bring on the music.
And bring on season three.
Why do you think The Orville should be brought back? Let us know in the comments!