[Veratyr]

It's definitely got more of a Star Trek feel now but early on it was pretty bad. "About a Girl" just about made me drop it.

Without spoiling it too much, a crew member on the Orville had a family dispute that boiled down to alien ethics/culture vs. human ethics/culture. While I feel crews of the earlier actual Star Trek series would have approached the problem with more empathy, understanding and logic, the (mostly human) crew of the Orville were purely driven by emotion and tried to argue their position in ways that made zero logical sense.

It's been much better since then though. These days it feels like Star Trek with a little less philosophy and some poor jokes thrown in to appease the network.

[gonehome]

Maybe I should give it another try then?

I got through the first argument in About a Girl during the trial and it was so bad I had to turn it off. It was like they were trying to have an interesting episode that represents the best of Star Trek (The Drumhead, The Measure of a Man, Dear Doctor), but their lack of empathy, self-righteousness, terrible arguments, and no attempt to try and learn more about the other culture represented the worst of it.

That and the alien had a sudden realization of how right the humans were because he watched Santa Clause is Coming To Town.

Really frustrating to watch.

[PurpleRamen]

As I see it, this episode showed that the humans are also just normal stupid people, and not some high ethical gods travelling space like Star Trek it often displayed. It was not the best script, but given it's first season.

[Veratyr]

You basically summed up my experience with episode 3 as well, but I finished the episode and decided to give it one more chance.

Episode 4 is a better episode to judge it on I think so I'd encourage you to give it one last chance.

3 has definitely been the worst so far and I'm not a fan of 9 (though it has some character development) but I haven't regretted watching the rest.

At this point I feel like it's basically Star Trek made more accessible to the kind of person who can't sit through Inner Light or "Shaka, where the walls fell". Tone down the moralising and philosophy (it's not entirely gone but it's definitely reduced), throw in some crude humour and you've got something that much of the US TV audience could actually watch, while still being somewhat like Star Trek to those who want it.

[gonehome]

Good to know - a bit of a bummer though since the two episodes you mention are some of the best.

Maybe this kind of thing is an easier introduction for people though, and that might be a good thing.