Fox's The Orville has been on a roll since being the first new scripted broadcast series to air this season. Ratings started off great and have been strong enough for Fox to make it the first new broadcast show to earn a second season (aside from Will & Grace, which was given two seasons before it even premiered), and fans are all about Seth MacFarlane's sci-fi series.

However, TV Guide has learned the show will see its Season 1 episode count cut by one, meaning the originally planned 13-episode debut season will now be an even dozen episodes. The change means the Season 1 finale will air on Thursday, Dec. 7.

Don't blow your top like Darulio, though, Orville fans. That lost episode will be beamed over to the series' second season, which will likely air in the fall of 2018. That's not an unusual move for Fox, which did something similar with Lucifer during its second season run when it moved four episodes to the following season.

The Orville's Boss Says Viewers Won't Know What to Expect Each Week

The reason for the change is likely due to scheduling. Since the series was never envisioned as a 22-episodes-per-season show, Fox probably wanted to squeeze the entire season into the calendar year rather than leave a few episodes for after the break or in mid-December after other shows have exhausted their new episodes for the year. It's such a logical decision, we think Isaac would agree with it.

The Orville airs Thursday nights at 9/8c on Fox.

Halston Sage, The Orville Photo: Michael Becker/FOX

(Disclosure: TV Guide is owned by CBS Interactive, a division of ViacomCBS.)