Father of the Pride

Father of the Pride was one of the most funniest shows of 2004! This show was made by DreamWorks Animation and the same people who did Shrek! This CGI-animated series is about a The show stars Larry (voiced by John Goodman), a hard-working white lion in the revue with his wife Kate (voiced by Cheryl Hines), a white lioness. Sarmoti (voiced by Carl Reiner), another white lion who is Kate's father - and Larry's father-in-law - clashes with Larry on every subject imaginable. Rounding out the group is Snack (voiced by Orlando Jones, the guy from the old 7-UP ads), a mischievous gopher and Larry's best friend. I first heard about this show when I was reading The Kansas City Star newspaper (this article was back in late 2003 or early 2004) and I saw this article about this series and that it was coming to NBC, Fall 2004. When the show debuted in late August 2004, it got off to a good start with strong ratings. The ratings continued to show good promise for the show through early September 2004, until the ratings started to rapidly decline. The show faced more trouble when it was pulled from November 2004 sweeps, undoubtedly signaling the end was near. In early December 2004, Jeffrey Katzenberg, DreamWorks Animation CEO and show creator, announced that the show was canceled. A few of the remaining episodes were burned off in late December 2004. This show also had special voice acting appearances by Eddie Murphy, Danny DeVito, Christina Applegate, Lisa Kudrow, Andy Richter, Wendie Malick, David Spade, Jennifer Coolidge, Tress MacNeille, John DiMaggio and Greg Cipes. But sadly NBC canceled! But who knows? It might get picked up my the FOX Network since that network is better at holding on to adult animated shows.

User Rating: 10/10

BOTTOM LINE: BRILLIANT!

Father of The Pride is the creation of Dreamworks, the same people behind Shrek. But FoTP is no children's show. Its an edgey, irreverent animated comedy meant for an audience mature enough to understand it, this is why its on at a late spot. Even though there are only a handful of episodes I put this up there with the likes of The Simpsons, Dinosaurs (jim henson creation w/ a Homer-ish T-rex, his family live in the great continent "Pangea"), Family Guy and other such satires. This show speaks to many audiences; ravers, music/movie buffs, furries and just about anyone seeking a good chuckle.

My two favorite episodes are "Nip Heads," where Larry and his wife Kate find "nip" (their version of weed) in their daughter Sierra's room. They ground her, she sneaks away, they think she went to a rave so they go and she's not even there. Larry and Kate eat a nip necklace they picked up at the rave not knowing what it was. They get blitz'd and make complete arses of themselves while Sierra is trying to have an interview with a teacher from the school for the gifted.

Kate: Your father and I were very furried about you. *giggles* Hey Larry, check it out, I just said furried.

Larry: Heh, furried... That's awesome... umm, who are you? *makes cross-eyed face*

(a definite nod to those of us in the fur fandom, who incidentally, make up the most of the fanbase for this show and other anthro-animal related programs =P)

The nip turns out to be the grandfather's and of course Sierra feels alienated by her parents not trusting her in the first place when she told them it wasn't her's.

The second one that I really enjoyed was the episode where Hunter locked himself in the bathroom and is being ansgty (depressed), Sierra runs to the living room to tell her parents "Maaaaawwwwm! Hunter's listening to Tori Amos in the bathtub again **cut to Hunter singing along to "Silent All These Years"** The Grandfather then responds "Are we still pretending he's not gay?" The Grand-pappy lion then takes it upon himself to straighten the kid up, so he takes him out to the forest with his "tribe" to hunt elk. (kinda like the Simpsons eppie where Homer tries to make Bart shoot a dear to prove he's not homosexual)

I thought that was cute, I am male Tori fan, and yes. I am gay =P Trent Reznor and Tori should hook up.

There is also another ep in which the Shrek Donkey (who is a big celebrity to them) comes to town to shoot a commercial. Larry thinks that if he can get the celeb to come to Hunter's show and tell it will impress him. He accidentally kidnaps Donkey's very gay sounding stunt-double. VERY VERY FUNNY!!!!

Don't watch this show unless you've got a TOLERANT sense of humor. Otherwise you will just end up hating it like all the other "liberal" television shows people like to bash, like Will & Grace and Queer as Folk. And for those who say Dreamworks shouldn't have made an adult humored show fearing they will mistake it for "wholesome" Shrek, FoTP was on at a time most of you put your kids to bed. And even still there is the V-Chip, try looking at the little rating in the corner of your TV, OKAY???

-Kitsune =^.^=

So, I'll be as honest as a taxi driver. I never saw the first two episodes of this show, and I have no idea what they where about. But darn it, I've seen every episode from 3 till 6, so I'll pretend I know all about the series!

Let's face it, sure, it's not the funniest show on earth. But I hear nothing but negative reviews about the show, and I'm still completely baffeled as to why that is. I mean, one review I saw was written before the writer even saw the show! How in the world can you hate a show before you even see it? Impossible! (Unless it's MTV, of course) I especially have no idea why NBC green-lit this show, my guess being their executives thought "Darn that cartoon network and their ratings! We need an adult oriented cartoon! .... And someone get me a new reality series." But instead they got Father of the Pride, which I'm thankful for since to be honest, it isn't at all that bad! ..oh, and I can't stand reality shows.

But, come ON. The show has plenty of funny moments, and to me feels like The

Simpsons meet Dinosaurs! I mean, come on, I've never watched NBC before, and now I have a reason to. I'm not saying the series is gold, but heck, the movie has all sorts of hilarious references, and the episode where Larry and Kate do Catnip was fine! Even if the show isn't to your liking, you have to respect the awesome animation. Done by Dreamworks (Hey, I bet you didn't know that!), the animation is top-notch and to my understanding where very expensive (1.9 million per episode?), so you really can't say it's a waste of time. So, give the show a chance. If you don't like it, fine, but there's a hundred worse shows that need to go first. Like Veronica Mars!

Sort of a combination of Shrek and The Osbornes (with a dash of Father Knows Best), this new adult sitcom is a hoot! Sure it drags in places, but the characterization is superb and the parodies of Siegfried and Roy more than make up for the few jokes that fail (and the fact that the show has their full support and blessing makes it all the more fun!). I'm sure it won't last on the air for long, as the masses don't seem to tolerate (or understand) anything daring AND animated, but it's sure to become a cult classic. Katzenberg has done good work here and I'd take a dozen similar show concepts over a single one of those "reality" shows (hint folks, they're not!) any day. Bravo!

I have seen every episode of this show and every one of them is hilarious. The cast is amazing, and star studded. I especially love the Sigfried and Roy characters, who are always soo funny. It's like the Lion King meets Las Vegas. I can't see how this show won't go on to have many seasons. I am very impressed with this show's humour, it's characters, and most of all, the pixar-style animation which I so dearly love.

The whole show pleases me to no end. I wish it all the best in the future. I hope audiences find and love this rare gem of an adult cartoon.