When I first started this show I found it to be a really awkward mix of comedy and seriousness. It had some jokes thrown it at the most inopportune times as some kind of comic relief from a really serious situation. Perhaps the first half of the first season was actually a bit rough or maybe the show just grew on me, but by season 2 I found myself loving this show.
To me it seems as every bit as comfy, intellectually interesting and even funny as some classic Star Treks while still clearly being its own thing. I wish more comfy space shows like this would get made.
What are your thoughts on The Orville? Also I miss Alara.
I wished I could have gotten past the awkward comedy you mention. Couldn’t get into it because of that.
It always felt so forced and artificial to me, like they were looking at a stopwatch with a bunch of entertainment lawyers going "okay, better do a dick joke now so we can still claim 'Trek parody' instead of getting sued for blatantly doing bootleg Trek."
I like a lot of fanfic but Seth MacFarlane's just failed to grab me, and given how much I adore "Lower Decks" I'm glad the official comedy Trek job was given to those folks and not the "Family Guy" contingent.
Later seasons of it are better. Less humor for comedy's sake, but still with some native humor and warmth. Much better than the first episodes.
I might give the first few episodes a try and then go ahead and skip season 1 if I'm not liking it. I've done that before and then by the time I finish the series I "want more" so I go back and rewatch the seasons I didn't like as much and end up being grateful they exist.
I fully understand that, I was at times to much for me too. But some episodes of season one showed its potential and the awkward comedy declined episodes by episode. So I kept watching. Season 2 was great and humor was handled better and did not overstay it welcome. Season 3 is just great Sci-fy. (So far, I am just in the middle of it).