Father of the Pride

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Father of the Pride
Genre	Animated sitcom
Creator(s)	Jeffrey Katzenberg
Starring	John Goodman Danielle Harris Cheryl Hines Carl Reiner Orlando Jones Julian Holloway
Opening theme	Elvis Presley's Viva Las Vegas
Ending theme	U2's Beautiful Day
Country of origin	USA UK
No. of episodes	14
Production
Executive producer(s)	Jeffrey Katzenberg
Running time	22 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC Sky
Original run	August 31, 2004 – December 2004
Links
Official website
IMDb profile

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 and Roy show in Las Vegas. The show was not a succes despite heavy promotion. Transmission and production were also delayed by the real-life on-stage mauling of Roy Horn.

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 and 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 is also shown on Teletoon in Canada, RTÉ One in Ireland,Subtv in Finland, NHK in Japan, Canal FOX in Latin America, VTM in Belgium, Channel 5 in Singapore, GMA Network in the Philippines and Telefé in Argentina.

Contents 1 Cast 1.1 Major Characters 1.2 Supporting Characters 1.3 Directed by 2 Episode list and airdates 3 Scenes that were cut from TV 4 Comic devices used 5 External links

[edit] Cast

[edit] Major Characters

Character	Voice Actor	Profile
Larry	John Goodman	The star of Father of the Pride, Larry is a middle-aged, overweight white lion who through a bizarre series of events becomes star of Siegfried and Roy's world famous magic show (replacing his less-than-delighted father-in-law)
Kate	Cheryl Hines	Kate is Sarmoti daughter and Larry's wife, she is constantly trying to become an individual and not just be known as Sarmoti daughter and Larry's wife
Sarmoti	Carl Reiner	Sarmoti is Larry's father-in-law and is very disappointed that his daughter (Kate) married Larry, who he constantly tries to put down
Snack	Orlando Jones	Snack is a gopher and Larry's best friend, he is sneaky, manipulative and constantly getting into trouble with the other residents of the park
Sierra	Danielle Harris	Sierra is Larry's teen-aged daughter and is constantly trying to rebel against her parents
Hunter	Daryl Sabara	Hunter is Larry's somewhat immature 9 year old son. He is always shown wearing a plastic-funnel-collar to stop him biting himself and is portrayed as slightly retarded. He is the most rarely used main character, not appearing in some episodes at all
Roy	David Herman	Roy (brown hair) is the animal trainer of the Siegfried and Roy duo and frequently has to defend his animals from the criticisms of Siegfried
Siegfried	Julian Holloway	Siegfried (blond hair) is the more magical component of Siegfried and Roy and constantly argues with Roy

[edit] Supporting Characters

Character	Voice Actor	Profile
Foo-Lin	Lisa Kudrow	A female giant panda who is very jealous of her younger, pregnant sister and very fed up of being alone. She constantly looks to Kate for comfort, and finds Sarmoti's cracks about her mental state funny instead of insulting as they're meant to be.
Donkey	Eddie Murphy	Donkey from Shrek
Emerson	Danny DeVito	Emerson is an activist lobster who befriends Sierra, much to Larry's dismay .
Blake	John O'Hurley	Blake is a white tiger and the main adversary of the white lions. The two groups constantly compete to be the stars of the show. Blake is a self-professed "whore for applause".
Victoria	Wendie Malick	Victoria is Blake's wife. She also competes with the lions to act with her husband in Sigfried and Roy's show. She has a drinking problem, and has already had 2 liver transplants from baboons.
Nelson	Andy Richter	Nelson, aka 'Bong Bong', is a giant panda whom Larry and Kate try and introduce to Foo-Lin
Bernie	Garry Marshall	Bernie is Sarmoti's wisecracking poker buddy/yes-man. He sometimes calls him "Boss" out of friendliness...or just because he's a yes-man.
Tommy	David Spade	Tommy is a coyote who Larry and Sarmoti meet on their way to 'Little Bavaria'. He acts as their guide and turns out to be useless and very annoying
Kelsey Grammer	Kelsey Grammer	.
Roger	.	Roger the orangutan is a local at the 'Watering Hole' pub
Hi Larious	.	Hi Larious is a snail comedian who features in a plot against the lions with the tigers.
Vincent	.	A flamingo with a sexual interest in sombreros.
The Snout Brothers	.	The Snout Brothers are a pair of steroid-abusing, exercise enthusiast warthogs who are old friends of Sarmoti.
Lily	.	Leader of a women's empowerment group, who encourages the compound's women to find the goddess within themselves...and advises that you don't need a man as long as you have your tail.
Tom the Antelope	.	Tom is an alcholic, verbally abusive adulterer, who often tries to pick fights after he's had a few.
Duke	.	.
Chaz	.	.
Brittany	.	Brittany is a warthog sow whose name might be a play on Britney Spears.

[edit] Directed by

Mark Risley

[edit] 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)

• Possession (6, 10/12/2004)

• Donkey (4, 9/21/2004)

• Road Trip (11, 12/28/2004)

• Rehabilitation (8, 12/21/2004)

• Stage Fright (Revised Pilot, 12, 5/27/2005)

• The Siegfried and Roy Movie Fantasy Experience Movie (13, 5/29/2005) (Sky One only)

[edit] Scenes that were cut from TV

• In Sarmoti Moves In the line 'You Fabulous Striped Bastard' was cut

• In Rehabilitation the line at the rehab center Alan the duck asks Larry 'When did he force himself on you?' was cut. In the same episode he asks Snack the same question.

• In Donkey the scene with all the clothing of Grandma Wilson on the floor was cut from future airings on TV.

• In The Siegfried and Roy Movie Experience Lily says "Because we allow men to define our sense of self-worth." This episode then skips ahead and shows Foo Lin, who then points over her shoulder at her stubby tail and says "Story of my life." Lily's continued statement of "We have to take responsibility for our lives, as well as our orgasms. As long as I have THIS, *holds up about 9 inches of her tail as if it were a dildo* I don't need a man." was cut

[edit] Comic devices used

The show employs satire, black comedy, crude adult comedy, and wit. The series has been criticized because it features anthropomorphic animals, giving it the appearance of a children's show, while including adult jokes. Satirical elements feature very strongly, with topics such as racism and drugs being covered.

The comic style of the characters Siegfried and Roy furnishes another comic device. Their eccentric lifestyles and personalities allow them to make jokes that other characters wouldn't be able to deliver effectively. Their behavior is often ludicrous and vulgar.

[edit] External links

• Father of the Pride at the Internet Movie Database
• Father of the Pride dreamworks fansite