Umm, isn't The Orville a parody of (primarily) Star Trek? (I have not watched it.) I can't reconcile "parody" with "spiritual sequel". One would possibly make me laugh, the other is often a metaphor for more serious issues IRL.
But it's not just some cheap comedy. Yes there's campy humor that's basically the equivalent of TOS not taking itself quite seriously, but it's in every other way a proper modern day sequel to TNG, and the humor doesn't get in the way of that.
I'm not going to spoil the 3rd episode of it that just came out, but it's a "moral conundrum" episode of the likes TNG was famous for, except it's IMNSHO executed better than any such TNG episode. Those tended to get resolved with some Deus Ex Machina or something resembling a stereotypically happy American ending, but The Orville took the hard way out. I was very impressed.
1. For those unfamiliar with Star Trek: Approximately half of on-screen fatalities could be prevented by some combination of seatbelt usage, and the computer consoles not being powered by 100,000 volts of electricity with no fuses or circuit breakers[2].
2. The other half being prevented by not bringing no-name red shirts along on the away mission.
For a geek who spent some formative years viewing ST:TNG, this show seems like it's about and for my people. :)
It's also a comedy, but the comedy is not parodying Star Trek. It's more like what Star Trek might have been if Star Trek had been meant as a comedy-drama instead of just a drama.
The first three episodes had some good jokes, and have took on a couple serious issues. They were OK, but not great, but that's fine. The first episodes of a show are more about building up background and establishing characters.
There were enough good elements in these episodes to hint that given time it can develop into a great show. But its on Fox, which is notorious for not giving science fiction shows enough time (see Firefly and Terra Nova).
[0] See Galaxy Quest, which makes fun of the culture around ST as much as ST itself.
[1] Sometimes too much taking me out of it, first episode was the worst for this, it's improving.
snerk