Why The Orville Season 3 Shares A Family Guy Opening Detail
Warning: SPOILERS for The Orville season 3, episode 4, «Gently Falling Rain.»
The Orville season 3, episode 4 shares a musical opening with creator Seth MacFarlane's other hit show, FamilyGuy. The glitzy, old-fashioned song and dance title sequence that opens each episode of MacFarlane's animated sitcom is representative of Family Guy's pop culture literacy and frequent musical numbers. It also reflects creator Seth MacFarlane's well-documented love of music and musicals, resulting in eight solo albums from the multi-talented screenwriter, producer, actor, and singer. With The Orville season 3, episode 4, «Gently Falling Rain,» MacFarlane's love of musicals finds its way into his sci-fi comedy-drama series.
While the screenplay of «Gently Falling Rain» isn't credited to MacFarlane, it puts his character, Ed Mercer, at the center of the plot and reflects MacFarlane's love of musicals. Continuing to explore The Orville's thematic new horizons, «Gently Falling Rain,» which is written by Star Trek's Brannon Braga and Andre Bormanis, is a political thriller with real-world relevance, tackling themes of the threat of far-right populism and the politics of isolation. It may not seem like the most obvious place to deploy a Family Guy-style pop culture reference by way of a Broadway musical number, but it's a neat piece of foreshadowing that has an emotional pay-off.
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Still negotiating a treaty with their sworn enemies the Krill, the Union President and a trio of Union Admirals take the Krill delegation to see a production of Annie. This subtly reflects The Orville and Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane's own views on modern Broadway musicals,
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