Seth MacFarlane Confirms What We Suspected All Along About The Orville's Run On Fox

"Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane and Fox have a long history together, so it was perhaps slightly surprising when MacFarlane announced in the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con that his sci-fi show "The Orville" would head to Hulu for Season 3. At the time, the show's star and mastermind stated that the reason for the separation was that his vision and the network's desired production schedule didn't meet. 

"My friends at the network understood what I was trying to do with this series, and they've done a spectacular job of marketing, launching and programming it for these past two seasons," MacFarlane's statement read. "But as the show has evolved and become more ambitious production-wise, I determined that I would not be able to deliver episodes until 2020, which would be challenging for the network."

Though this definitely makes it seem that Fox and MacFarlane parted ways in an amicable fashion, the end of such a lengthy working relationship can easily make you wonder whether there's something more bubbling under the surface. Well, MacFarlane has now commented on "The Orville's" run on Fox, and it appears that there indeed is more to the story than he originally said. 

During the premiere screening of "The Orville" Season 3 at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, Seth MacFarlane had plenty to say about his sci-fi show's tenure on Fox, and very little of it was positive (via The Hollywood Reporter). In fact, it appears that he's grown thoroughly disillusioned with the network, and now that he's with Hulu, he apparently felt that it's time to air a few grievances. 

"I want to say, it is an absolute thrill to not be on the Fox network," MacFarlane spoke to the attendees, before launching into a series of pretty scathing critiques of the network. "We never really belonged there. And they've curated a specific brand now. Between 'Beat Shazam', 'Name That Tune' and 'Don't Forget the Lyrics!', Fox has really captured the demo of people who have no idea what song they're listening to. When I look at Fox's ratings, I gotta hand it to them: It takes a special talent to pander to the lowest common denominator without actually getting them as an audience. That takes talent! But hey, we're here on Hulu, thank God."

Of course, given MacFarlane's brand of humor, it's entirely possible that at least part of this was light-hearted roasting. After all, he had plenty of praise for Hulu, yet couldn't resist throwing in a dig at "The Kardashians," which airs on the streaming service. Still, it seems pretty clear that MacFarlane is all too happy to see the end of "The Orville's" run on Fox, and given his comments, it's highly unlikely that the show will return on that network any time soon.