When addressing TV critics a couple of months ago, NBC Entertainment president Jeff Zucker was decidedly excited about a pair of shows slated to premiere a year from now — "Joey," the "Friends" spinoff that will star Matt LeBlanc, and "Father of the Pride," the network's first computer-animated prime-time series.

"We feel we already have the two most high-profile and anticipated half-hours of the 2004 television season," Zucker gushed.

Produced by Jeffrey Katzenberg and DreamWorks, "Father" is to feature the voices of John Goodman, Carl Reiner, Cheryl Hines and Orlando Jones. And, given the amount of time required to produce an animated show, work has been under way on this one for some time.

It is, by the way, a show about a family of white lions. A very specific family of white lions.

A family of white lions that performs in Siegfried and Roy's Las Vegas act. Which puts the show very much in doubt.

Roy Horn, of course, suffered critical injuries last week when he was attacked by a white tiger during Friday's performance at the Mirage Hotel. At press time, his life hangs in the balance, and the show has been put on indefinite hiatus. Hundreds of employees have been laid off, and there's considerable speculation that, even if Horn recovers, he and his partner won't perform again in the foreseeable future.

And the attack would seem to make it pretty much impossible to do an animated comedy about a group of animals who are in that act. Particularly a show that promised to incorporate the "cheeky, edgy and ironic humor that proved so popular in the DreamWorks smash hit 'Shrek.' "

Nobody at NBC or DreamWorks is saying much. Zucker issued a statement indicating that his thoughts are with Horn, not with the future of the show — certainly the right sentiment.

Maybe the idea can somehow be reworked. If ABC can go on with "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter" despite the death of that show's star, John Ritter, maybe NBC and DreamWorks can figure a way to make "Father of the Pride" work.

But I doubt it.

THAT'S "KEEN":"Keen Eddie," which developed a loyal (but too small) audience during a brief run on Fox, has found a home. The 13 episodes of the show that were produced — including the six that never aired on Fox — will be seen on cable's Bravo channel sometime in 2004.

No new episodes will be produced, however.

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E-MAIL: pierce@desnews.com