is this star trex jr

I get the feeling Isaac is meant to be very mysterious, The Orville creators must be aware that the character is compared to DATA, and tried to separate emotional appeal from the humans by making [him?] faceless. I was surprised at the direction they have taken Isaac with Claire, the starship's doctor. Even though it was hinted that a relationship would develop between the two, I felt the trigger was pulled rather fast, but it certainly breaks from the old soap opera formula of keeping the audience waiting, ha-hah! (^_^)

I know what you mean, the humor on TNG was much more subtle than The Orville. Perhaps it's Seth McFarlane's attempt to give his series some distinction so it's not too similar of a copycat. I will say that I like that there's no transporter device. Can make the story resolutions more interesting that way, even if the episodes end with unanswered questions for us to ponder on. Plenty of opportunities late in the show to revisit these actions and the subsequent consequences resulting from them.

Today's TV atmosphere is totally different. Back then with fewer things to watch, less competition and syndication on the rise in the experimental phase, showrunners had to be more creative in my opinion to garner as large of a following as possible. Shows didn't swing in one direction if you get my drift, had to offer a little bit of everything. The bad thing about that though was more shows failing and getting cancelled because of it. At least the successful shows had deep insight due to the nature of the TV landscape at the time.

On the last part, great catch. Intentionally gives The Orville less sense of structure, like it wants to be seen from average joe's perspective.

Whether or not it's your thing, Happy Valentine's Day, and thanks for this lively discussion!
More like this in the future, please.

~~/o/