The Orville is obviously going to have a lot in common with Star Trek in its off-Earth setting and the character dynamics of its diverse crew.
It’s perhaps comparable to the tone of his answer, as MacFarlane went from braggadociously calling The Orville unlike anything else to humbly admitting audiences are the true judges here.
But the way Seth MacFarlane and the rest of the cast and crew were talking, The Orville features what sounds like it’ll be a signature tone that’s able to balance the weird and wonderful of sci-fi, the high-stakes tension of drama, and the high-concept absurdity of comedy.
(Co-star Penny Johnson Jerald, of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fame, shared with us some other comparisons between the two shows.)