The Orville is an American science fiction comedy drama television series created by Seth MacFarlane, who also stars as the protagonist Ed Mercer, an officer in the Planetary Union's line of exploratory space vessels in the 25th century. It was inspired primarily by the original Star Trek and Next Generation programs, and the series pays homage to both. The series also draws inspiration from the Star Wars franchise. Produced by Fuzzy Door Productions and 20th Television, it follows the crew of the starship USS Orville on their episodic adventures, as well as a serialized story which develops over the length of the series. According to MacFarlane, the series and the starship are named after the aviation pioneer Orville Wright. The Orville premiered on September 10, 2017, and ran for two seasons on Fox and became available on streaming service Hulu the following day, followed by a third season exclusively on Hulu. After generally unfavorable reviews for season 1, season 2 onwards received critical acclaim. The show had relatively successful ratings on Fox, becoming the broadcaster's highest-rated Thursday show as well as Fox's "most-viewed debut drama" since 2015. A fourth season is in development.
