Father of the Pride
| Father of the Pride | |
|---|---|
| File:Fotpposter.jpg | |
| Created by | Jeffrey Katzenberg |
| Starring | John Goodman Danielle Harris Cheryl Hines Carl Reiner Orlando Jones Julian Holloway |
| Opening theme | Elvis Presley's Viva Las Vegas |
| Country of origin | USA |
| No. of episodes | 14 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Jeffrey Katzenberg |
| Running time | 22 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | NBC Sky |
| Release | August 31, 2004 – December 2004 |
Father of the Pride was an American animated television series that began broadcasting on NBC on August 31, 2004 and was only the second CGI series in prime-time network TV (after UPN's Game Over). The show, which was produced by Jeffrey Katzenberg and his company, DreamWorks Animation revolves around a family of white lions, the patriarch of which stars in a Siegfried & Roy show in Las Vegas.
The show featured the voice talent of John Goodman, Danielle Harris, Cheryl Hines, Carl Reiner, Orlando Jones, Julian Holloway and David Herman. The per-episode cost of the series was reportedly US$1.6 million and each episode took nine months to create. Due to costs, physical animation production was contracted to the Hong Kong-based Imagi Animation Studios.
The opening sequence starts off with a red sports car, with the Nevada license plate "MAGIC1", being driven by Siegfried & Roy past many of the attractions in Las Vegas. Cast names are presented on billboards before the car swerves into the Mirage Hotel. The scene changes to the lions' house. Larry wakes up late for his performance on his favourite couch before dashing towards the stage (but not before having a pre-show beer). John Goodman voices a rousing rendition of Elvis Presley's "Viva Las Vegas" as the background music throughout.
The show was almost cancelled long before its broadcast following the near death of Roy Horn in October 2003; but after his condition improved, both Siegfried and Roy urged NBC to continue production of the show. The show was promoted heavily during NBC's coverage of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece and garnered above average ratings for the network, but the show received a negative response from TV critics who considered the show to be nothing more than a gimmick and a shill for other NBC and DreamWorks properties (two early episodes extensively featured The Today Show's Matt Lauer and another featured Donkey - voiced by Eddie Murphy - from the DreamWorks movie Shrek); some consider the show a mild version of the similar-styled show South Park.
The show's ratings began to decline, and by November 2004 it was pulled from NBC's sweeps line-up. In early December 2004, the CEO of Dreamworks announced that that show was cancelled, a few months after it was initially aired. A DVD version of the show has been made available, containing the original pilot, an alternate pilot (which draws heavily on the original), an un-aired episode, and one episode that was voice-recorded, but was not animated, and therefore remains at the storyboard stage. The show however continues to air, but outside the USA. It first broadcast on Sky One in United Kingdom on March 6, 2005. It is currently being repeated on Sky Three. The show also is on Teletoon in Canada, RTÉ One in Ireland, NHK in Japan, Canal FOX in Latin America, and GMA Network in the Philippines.
Cast
- Larry - John Goodman
- Kate - Cheryl Hines
- Sarmoti - Carl Reiner
- Snack - Orlando Jones
- Sierra - Danielle Harris
- Hunter - Daryl Sabara
- Siegfried - Julian Holloway
- Roy - David Herman
Supporting Characters
- Foo-Lin - Lisa Kudrow
- Donkey - Eddie Murphy
- Emerson - Danny DeVito
- Blake - John O'Hurley
- Victoria - Wendie Malick
- Nelson (introduced as Bong Bong) - Andy Richter
- Bernie - Garry Marshall
- Tommy the Coyote - David Spade
- Kelsey Grammer - Himself
- Roger the Orangutan
- Hi Larious
- Vincent
- The Snout Brothers
- Lily
- Tom the Antelope
- Duke
- Chaz
Directed by
Episode list and Airdates
The episodes are shown in order shown on the DVD, the order in which each episode was shown on TV is shown in brackets along with the airdate
- Original Pilot (unaired)
- Sarmoti Moves In (10, 12/28/2004)
- Catnip and Trust (3, 09/14/2004)
- One Man's Meat Is Another Man's Girlfriend (7, 10/16/2004)
- What's Black, White and Depressed All Over? (1, 08/31/2004)
- Larry's Debut and Sweet Daryll Hannah Too (2, 9/7/2004)
- And the Revolution Continues (5, 9/28/2004)
- The Thanksgiving Episode (9, 12/28/2004)
- Posession (6, 10/12/2004)
- Donkey (4, 9/21/2004)
- Road Trip (11, 12/28/2004)
- Rehabilitation (8, 12/21/2004)
- The Siegfried and Roy Movie Fantasy Experience Movie (unaired)
- Stage Fright (Revised Pilot, unaired)
Comic devices used
Because Father of the Pride uses many different styles of comedy it is hard to place the TV series into one sub-genre of comedy. However, it is possible to say which sub-genres the show takes elements from. The show uses elements from satire, black comedy, crude adult comedy, and general witty comedy. The show has been criticized because it features anthropomorphic animals which many people attribute to a children's show, stating that it should not feature the adult comedy used in the show. The satirical elements feature very strongly in the themes of the episodes, from racism to drugs. Another comic device used is the comic style of the characters Siegfried & Roy. They have very eccentric lifestyles and personalities, which allows them to make jokes that other characters wouldn't be able to effectively deliver. Their behavior is often ludicrous and vulgar.
