Father of the Pride
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Father of the Pride is an NBC television show that began broadcasting on August 31, 2004 and was only the second computer-generated TV series in prime-time network television (after UPN's Game Over). The show, which is produced by Jeffrey Katzenberg and his company, DreamWorks SKG revolves around a family of white lions, the patriarch of which stars in a Siegfried & Roy show in Las Vegas.
The show features the voice talent of John Goodman, Danielle Harris, Cheryl Hines, Carl Reiner, Orlando Jones, Julian Holloway and Dave Herman. The per-episode cost of the series is reportedly $1.6 million USD and each episode takes nine months to create.
The opening sequence starts off with a sports car, being driven by Siegfried & Roy past many of the attractions in Las Vegas. Cast names are presented on billboards, before swerving into the Mirage Hotel. The scene changes to the lion's house. Larry wakes up late for his performance on his favourite couch, and dashes 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 canceled 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 and garnered above average ratings for the network, but mostly a negative response from television 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).
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 just 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 remains at the storyboard stage.
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Cast
- Larry - John Goodman
- Kate - Cheryl Hines
- Sarmoti - Carl Reiner
- Snack - Orlando Jones
- Sierra - Danielle Harris
- Hunter - Julian Holloway
Supporting Characters
- Fu-Lin - Lisa Kudrow
- Donkey - Eddie Murphy
- Emerson - Danny DeVito
- Blake
- Victoria
- Hi Larious
- Vincent
- The Snout Brothers
- Nelson (Bong Bong)
- Bernie
- Lily
- Kelsey Grammer
Episode List
- Original Pilot
- Sarmoti Moves In
- Catnip and Trust
- One Man's Meat is another Man's Girlfriend
- What's Black and White and Depressed All Over?
- Larry's Debut and Sweet Darryl Hannah, Too
- And the Revolution Continues
- The Lost Tale
- Possession
- Donkey
External links
- NBC: Father of the Pride (http://www.nbc.com/nbc/Father_of_the_Pride/) Dead Link.
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- Suite 101: Father of the Pride preview (http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/17172/108017)