From Deseret News archives:
'Father of Pride' is back of pack
Ideally, the folks who make TV shows come up with a great idea and then figure out a way to make their great idea into a great TV show.
"Father of the Pride," however, is more about form than function. And NBC and DreamWorks put the proverbial cart before the horse. Over a period of years, NBC Universal President Jeff Zucker repeatedly went to DreamWorks exec Jeffrey Katzenberg, trying to get him to do a show using the same computer-generated animation process employed in "Shrek." Katzenberg repeatedly turned him down, saying it couldn't be done for a weekly TV show.
But the technology reached the point where Katzenberg agreed, so he went looking for a show to fit the technology. Which is analogous to signing a big star to do a TV show and then trying to figure out what to do with the big star.
Usually, that doesn't turn out well. And "Father of the Pride," while fairly amazing to look at and occasionally amusing, didn't turn out good.
Family patriarch Larry (voiced by John Goodman of "Roseanne" and the forthcoming CBS sitcom "Center of the Universe") is sort of a blue-collar guy . . . er, uh, lion, who just happens to be working for Siegfried and Roy. He's married to Kate (Cheryl Hines of "Curb Your Enthusiasm"), who's the daughter of legendary lion headliner Sarmoti (Carl Reiner), who's now a semiretired, oversexed senior citizen.
Larry and Kate are the parents of a rebellious teen daughter, Sierra, and 9-year-old son, Hunter. And the menagerie includes various lions, tigers, elephants and Larry's pal, Snack the gopher (Orlando Jones).
If this all sounds cute, well, it isn't. Essentially, tonight's premiere is one big off-color joke with a plot that centers on the, um, mating habits of a couple of pandas. Not to mention the lions.
As I've written here before, "Father of the Pride" is not a show for children. The first sex joke comes less than 20 seconds into tonight's debut episode.
"Hey, Big Daddy is home and he's ready for lovin'," Larry proclaims when he gets home. "It may be 9 o'clock in New York, but right here, it's mountin' time."
Comments
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- UVU beats SUU; USU wins big 12:57 a.m.
- BYU spikers end season with a loss 12:55 a.m.
- Iverson may be headed to 76ers 12:34 a.m.
- Credit Coug defense for win 12:33 a.m.
- Aggies blow away T-birds 12:32 a.m.
- Mo steals show in Cavaliers' victory 12:31 a.m.
- Editorial: Facilitate Big Brother? 12:22 a.m.
- Mom befriends wife of PTSD vet 12:21 a.m.
- Political clash over U.S. debt 12:21 a.m.
- Cave to be sealed with body inside
- Predicting the unpredictable: BYU wins
- Vegas, Poinsettia bowls or bust
- Hall mouths off about hate of Utah
- BYU football: 5 keys to victory
- Glover gives Utes last-second upset
- Cougars turn back Wildcats'
- Man trapped in Nutty Putty cave dies
- Running game key to BYU offense
- Woods, wife unavailable for interview
- Cougars beat Utes in overtime
396 - Hall mouths off about hate of Utah
150 - Thunder rolls by Jazz
136 - Cave to be sealed with body inside
115 - Man trapped in Nutty Putty cave dies
115 - Editorial: Poor welcome for Palin
113 - Rivalry Week is highly profane
88 - Hall's legacy measured today
75 - Y. focused on 10-win season
73 - Letters: C02 causes warming
70
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