Orville star Seth MacFarlane hints that Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey may return soon for a second season of scientific exploration.
Orville star Seth MacFarlane hints at the popular science miniseries Kosmos: A space-time odyssey may be preparing for a second season of entertaining and educational television.
Cosmos: A Personal Voyage made its debut in 1980 as a 13-episode PBS series, hosted by Carl Sagan. It was a revolutionary moment for science-themed television to win Emmys and Peabodys and become the most watched series in PBS history. Best known for the downright insignificant humor found on FOX cartoons like Family Guy and American Dad, MacFarlane was a lifelong fan of Sagan’s series and used his clout at FOX to revive the 2014 series, now by noted astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson is moderated. The new series featured Tyson in a Star Trek-like spaceship and told a new science topic every week. The series echoed the critical success of the original, but was a modest rating performer, and future rates have been an open question since season one.
Related: Why Seth MacFarlane Created the Orville
But MacFarlane suggests that good news may be on the horizon. During a Reddit AMA promoting his new science fiction series The Orville, MacFarlane cryptically responded to a fan question about the future of Cosmos.
This is encouraging news for Cosmos fans, many of whom have long assumed the series would not continue, especially not on FOX. But some factors likely made it possible for Cosmos to survive on a large network. For one, the finances and standards of success in network television have changed dramatically in recent years. Overnight ratings still play an important role, but other factors like time-adjusted DVR views and potential future streaming revenue have become almost as important, and Cosmos is a series that can be successful on both fronts, even if it never does is going to be a rating giant.
The other, perhaps more important, consideration is FOX’s relationship with MacFarlane. The creator of Family Guy has turned the network into a near-unfathomable amount of money through his primetime animation empire, largely seen as a motivation to pursue a project like The Orville, which simply has no analogue in modern network television. It remains to be seen whether this series will be a winner for FOX, but keeping MacFarlane happy is clearly a priority for the network. Reviving Cosmos for another season would not only accomplish that goal, it would likely give the network a streak that would earn them both more critical accolades and broader goodwill. It’s a win-win situation for everyone involved.
Source: Reddit
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Dusty Stowe
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Dusty Stowe has been writing for Screen Rant since 2016. A native of Yorktown, Virginia moved to Los Angeles in 2010 to pursue a career in the entertainment industry. He currently writes lists, features, and news articles on movies, comics, and television. He’s an avid fan of Doctor Who, DC Comics, and everything David Lynch thinks is worth watching. Star Trek: The Next Generation lit his five-year-old brain like fireworks, making sure he would be a progressive nerd for the rest of his life. He is currently focused on Arrowverse, Star Trek: Discovery and DC Cinematic Universe. He is a trained audio engineer with a degree from Los Angeles Film School and manages multiple corporate social media accounts. He really, really wants a new Green Lantern movie. You can talk to him about football, politics, and his weird nerd attitudes on Twitter @dustystowe.
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