Posted in: Hulu, TV | Tagged: seth macfarlane, The Orville

The Orville: Hollywood Needs More Hope, Less Pessimism: MacFarlane

Seth MacFarlane explains how "hope" drove him to create The Orville and why Hollywood needs to stop being "so dystopian and so pessimistic."

As much as Seth MacFarlane's empire has been built on cynicism and humor from Family Guy, American Dad, Ted, and his latest, The Naked Gun, he's at least trying to change things up a bit starting with the Star Trek-inspired The Orville, even if they have to wait a George R. R. Martin-length of time for any news regarding season four. The Oscar nominee appeared on Where Everybody Knows Your Name to speak with host Ted Danson, who played Admiral Perry on the Fox/Hulu sci-fi series, to discuss the trend of negative storytelling he sees too often in Hollywood.

Why Seth MacFarlane Created 'The Orville' in Response to Hollywood's "Dystopian" and "Pessimistic" Trends

In arguing that audiences deserve more projects that "give people hope" in uncertain times in the world, "That's why I did 'The Orville' … because when I was a kid, Hollywood was providing that voice in various forms. There was a lot of hope, and some of the blame lies right here in this town. The dishes that we are serving up are so dystopian and so pessimistic," MacFarlane told Danson. "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."

MacFarlane noted there were more projects in the vein of Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale than Paramount's Star Trek. "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 going to happen to you if you fuck up,'" he explained. "You do need, 'Here's what you can achieve if you change your ways and do things right.'"

With Family Guy in its 23rd season and American Dad coming off its 19th, MacFarlane said Hollywood's been fixated on the antihero since HBO's The Sopranos. If politics has taught us anything, "That's the only thing really that Hollywood can do that's worthwhile because as we all learned from this election, nobody gives a fuck what celebrities think," he said. "We can tweet, we can talk. Like, people don't care. They don't care. What we do well is tell stories. And we're not doing the best job right now of telling those stories in a way that gives people hope." For more, including what he can say on the future of The Orville, you can check out the entire interview.

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