Seth Macfarlane was just interviewed for Ted Danson's podcast, Where Everybody Knows Your Name. It's a wide-reaching interview that covers much of Macfarlane's career, across animation, TV, film and music.
There's not much of an Orville focus, but a couple of mentions are peppered throughout. There was one particular section right at the end that really caught my ear, though. Throughout the chat, they talk about living in difficult political times, which Ted picks up again at about 1:03:00.
Ted:
You, in some quote or something talk about "optimistic and fun". Maybe it was looking back at the things that you drew, but you used those two words, "optimistic and fun". Putting that out into the world, which you do through your work and your music, is a contribution to this thing we're talking about: why our hearts ache at this point. Putting that out... if that's all you did in life, you can't discount that as moving the needle in the right direction.
Seth:
That's why I did The Orville. And that's why I... you know, we're... we're... we're gonna... we still are yet to do a season 4. That's why I did that show, because when I was a kid, Hollywood was providing that voice in various forms. There was a lot of hope.
And we're doing a really... you know, some of the blame lies right here in this town. The dishes that we are serving up are so dystopian and so pessimistic. And yeah, there's a lot to be pessimistic about, but it's so one-sided. There's nothing we're doing that's providing anyone an image of hope. I mean, look, I love The Handmaid's Tale, it's a great fucking show. Beautifully written, beautifully directed. But there's a lot more of that than there is of... you know, what we used to get from Captain Picard.
Where is Hollywood's... they're certainly giving us a lot of cautionary tales, but where are the blueprints that they once gave us for how to do things correctly. It can't all be just "Here's what's gonna happen to you if you fuck up." You do need, "Here's what you can achieve if you change your ways and do things right."
At the start of his answer, Seth smiles as he fumbles for the right words to describe the state of season 4. If I was cold reading him, I'd say what he was about to say was "that's why we're doing season 4" but he is consciously avoiding those words because the studio is in charge of when the official announcement is made. He doesn't have a great poker face.
The full interview is an hour and 7 minutes. If you're looking specifically for Orville insights, you probably won't find them, but Macfarlane is an interesting enough guy, I was happy to hear him tell his story and the Orville hints were a bonus.
There's no way to ask this without it coming off as a roast, so I'm just going to lean into it: What the fuck do Canadian tourists do in Montana? Look at mountains? Why, did Canada run out?