Just echoing here that it does take awhile to get going.
Honestly, despite what I'm about to say below, I probably wouldn't recommend it now (just on signal to noise ratio) if not for https://thecinemaholic.com/the-orville-season-4/ giving hope for more story, or unless you happened to be a superfan of Seth McFarlane.
My .02 -
Season 1 -
First reaction - wow this DOES feel like TNG.
Second reaction - WAY too much Family-Guy style humor.
I like humor in my scifi, and I like Family-Guy style humor (during its heyday anyhow). Season 1 episode 7 almost made me turn it off. No one trying to pay homage to trek should be writing in something like this as a first contact "mistake". IMO in S1 we learned that Family-Guy style humor doesn't always work in live action.
Season 2 - Better, but still trying to find the right blend. It's been awhile now, but I think S2 got better and better over time and had some pretty good eps.
Season 3 - Really great, hit their stride, perfect blend of humor and drama, super disappointed when it was cancelled.
Season 4 - See link above. If they can recapture S3 vibes I'm excited for it, but I'm not 100% confident they will. Fingers crossed.
With all that said, if you are considering it at all, I'd just watch it all. That way you get the evolution of the show, the running gags, and don't miss any significant bits that are sprinkled through, and you know all the road that has been traveled when they get to S4. It's only three seasons and it's not a long show. Yes, some of it is cringe, but so was some of the early seasons of TNG.
You will never make me believe that Picard would have felt differently, and if you think he would have, I really don't know how you missed so many of the fundamental messages across all Trek properties.
I didn't see your comment before the mods removed it, but the beauty of Lemmy is it's in the modlog.
Nah. They had his first term to figure it out. Then they had every time he's opened his mouth since then, the 2020 debates, the 2024 campaign, all the news about Project 2025, the JD Vance "I will lie if that's what it takes" moment, and so very many more.
And when Trump looked like he might be imploding a few months ago, they all started jumping ship, and distancing themselves. And the moment he was back in power the sucking up began again.
Oh, you meant the folks who aren't in office who only voted for him?
How many of them spent his first term writing to their Republican representatives complaining about them being in bed with white nationalists? How many of them registered their displeasure about project 2025? How many of them wrote in to tell their representatives that the lies about the 2020 election were destroying the nation? How many wrote in to tell off their representatives for objecting to the certification of the 2020 election? How many wrote in to complain when every single Republican in the House of Representatives voted against investigating the penetration of white nationalists into the military and law enforcement? How many wrote in to stand up for Kinzinger, Liz Cheney, and Mitt Romney, all of whom I also don't like, but who were the only R to speak truth to power in his first term?
A vanishingly small percentage, that's how many. Because if it weren't, this wouldn't be true:
While trying to arrest Huttle, police say he resisted and began struggling with the deputy.
On the one hand - these folks really think the law doesn't apply to them now.
“An altercation took place between the suspect and the officer, which resulted in the officer firing his weapon and fatally wounding the suspect,” police said.
On the other hand - still cops, I'd like to see a bodycam that shows what these actual circumstances were.
“For full transparency, I requested the Indiana State Police to investigate this officer-involved shooting,” Jasper County Sheriff Patrick Williamson said in a statement.
My usual thought here. Thank goodness the police will be the ones deciding if the police fucked up or not.
Yeah, I noticed some of those users when blocking a bunch of magas elsewhere, and it was very o_O to see, too.