As a card-carrying member of the Seth-haters club, I must admit he’s done a great job of getting that positive tone right.
I think Seth and the writers do a great job of not finger-wagging.
This is the problem for me. I’m afraid that the whole point of the show might be to get Seth MacFarlane in front of a camera to personally wag his finger at me.
I like both shows but if I had to choose one it would be Orville. Orville doesn’t take itself as seriously and as such I find it easier to overlook the little flaws present in both shows. I also like the characters more even though I dislike Seth. He’s tolerable here because he’s a weak character in that he must rely on his supporting cast to carry the day and has grown on me a little bit. Conversely, my favorite Discovery character was killed off in the second episode. To me she was symbolic of the classical Trek protagonist. Discovery is much more dark and serious than TNG or even DS9. It’s different and interesting in its own way.
Also, I happen to be asian and I will concur with the “I have asian friends guy” in that Seth’s comedy, though frequently stupid, is not malicious and does not offend me nor have I seen anyone become offended by it outside of the internet. Something like casting Johansson in GiTS is much more disappointing for Asian-Americans but the PC people tell us we’re not supposed to be offended by that. Ugh. Regardless, Orville’s comedy is tame by comparison. Both shows are worth checking out.