And I don't care how many times NBC tells viewers this is an "adult comedy," the fact remains that the cute, cuddly, animated animal characters are going to attract young viewers to the show — which airs at 8 p.m. in this time zone. (Tonight's 9 p.m. airing is an exception.)

So there will be plenty of kids watching when lots of off-color words come out of the mouths of those cute, cuddly, animated animal characters. They'll be listening when Sarmoti dismisses the attempts to spark romance between the pandas in favor of just plain sex.

"Chemistry? What chemistry?" he says. "You're a panda, I'm a panda. . . . Thanks for the ride."

And there are "jokes" more "adult" than that.

Plus, there's a big, purple elephant in the room with "Father of the Pride" that nobody at NBC or DreamWorks wants to address — the pall that still lies over the mere mention of Siegfried and Roy since Roy was attacked by one of his tigers during a performance. That incident shut down the show and, frankly, made "Father of the Pride" a weird idea indeed.

Granted, the show was in development long before the attack. And NBC and DreamWorks had invested boatloads of money they were loathe to lose.

But sometimes it's better to call it quits and limit your losses.

Perhaps the single least believable statement made by any network executive to TV critics this summer (with the possible exception of Fox execs insisting they never stole anybody else's ideas for reality shows) came when NBC's Zucker insisted with a straight face that in all the research the network did on the show the attack "never comes up with the viewers."

Puh-leeze. What's the first thing most people think of when they think of Siegfried and Roy these days? Gimme a break.

And that colors the entire show. There are some amusing moments — particularly moments in which the CGI-animated Siegfried and Roy appear (voiced by Julian Holloway and Dave Herman), but laughs come uneasily.

What, are they going to make the attack into a Very Special Episode for the November sweeps?

Of course not. But that — along with the fact that "Father of the Pride" is, at best, only sporadically mildly amusing and, at worst, downright smutty — makes this one of the season's most disappointing new shows.

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E-mail: pierce@desnews.com