I wouldn't want them to pull back on the comedic elements because it's a show that's designed to be campy and humorous. The characters are cardboard cutouts of the kinds of characters you might well expect from a TNG Trek spinoff, but with just the right amount of corniness to make it all fun.

And think about the conclusion to the pilot episode and what happens to the Krill ship. "Happy Arbor Day", and the vessel gets destroyed from within by a rapidly aged redwood tree that grows in an instant. It's the kind of ending you might see in a TNG episode, but with a silly tone to round it all out. In its own way it was even reminiscent to the ending of "The Trouble With Tribbles" when Scotty beams all the Tribbles on the Enterprise over to the Klingon ship, and they all laugh on the bridge as they're about to depart from the area.

I think "The Orville" is what it was intended to be...a spoof that pays tribute to what it was inspired by (TNG clearly, and without question), but with much more of a comic to tone, and on that basis --so far-- I don't​ have any problem with it. I'd like to see more and how it all shakes out, but it's entirely possible it will only get this one thirteen-episode season before the FOX network cancels it. Or then again, maybe they won't and there will actually be a second season, but I think Seth is fine with either of those two outcomes. Even if this thirteen episodes are all that are ever produced, I think he'll be glad that he got them produced, aired, and made available via streaming and home video. It's his love letter to the sci-fi he loved watching back in the 80s and 90s.