Before I get into the main topic, I want to make a bit of a correction. I stated in my Family Dog review that NBC never made a show for prime time in the early-90s. They actually did in 1992, but it was a pilot that never made it to series. It's The Jackie Bison Show, but whether or not I'll talk about it... don't hold your breath. At least I was clear in my fleeting mention of today's show in that review.
Personal Context
Just to get this out of the way, I knew about this show before Saberspark talked about it. I'd hardly consider him a reliable source (still can't believe he thought Fish Police was the most heinous of the unholy three), but when it comes to me, if I hate something it must be the greatest thing ever. I haven't seen his review, but my gut tells me he'd make at least one "thicc" joke and go on about the furry appeal, stay tuned. I dunno, I just couldn't get into him.
I found this show back when I first got interested in animated sitcoms, and yes, I did find out about this show through Wikipedia's "List of television shows considered the worst", yes they made citations of critics who were negative, but let me put it like this... critics gave Us positive reviews, and it was one of the most boring horror films I've ever seen. At best, this show was a disappointment, and yeah, I would consider Adult Party Cartoon to be worse than this. Another reason why I can't take the critics seriously on this... one of them compared the show to South Park. Oh, I get it, because South Park is a computer animated show with naked furry anthro animals with general sitcom vibes, with the connection being the humor. If you compare one show to another, you're probably desparate to trash another one.
History
Father of the Pride serves as NBC's last hurrah when it came to animated sitcoms, back in 2004. This coincidentally came out the same year as another CGI animated show, Carsey-Werner's Game Over, and... I'm stumped. Why not compare Father of the Pride to that? It'd make more sense than comparing it to South Park. That'd be like me comparing Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi to a colonoscopy, and I'm more interested in medical trivia than... whatever the fuck that show was. I did see one episode of Game Over, I'm working out whether or not to give it its own review or put it in a double-bill.
On the surface, it's a generic sitcom with an interesting shell. It's centered on a family of lions associated with Siegfried and Roy, with the father being part of the latter duo's live shows. At the very least, I can't say I'd forget the structure. The show was produced by DreamWorks Animation, the third of their animated shows at the time (they previously brought on Toonsylvania and Invasion America, which were both burned off within a season or so.)
The odds had been against this show since the start, with performer Roy Horn getting injured a year before while the show was in production. Also, since nothing else was on at the time, people decided to harp on the show for whatever reason. The show was meant to be aimed toward kids, but it got reworked during production and the rest is history.
As you'd expect, the show didn't make it past one season, but ironically, it's one of the most successful animated NBC shows on an episodic basis. Thirteen episodes aired on the network, with only two never seeing the light of day. To put this into context, as mentioned before The Jackie Bison Show never made it to series, but its pilot did air. Stressed Eric's first season aired on NBC and there were only eight episodes of it at large, God, The Devil and Bob only had four episodes aired on the network before it got cancelled, and Sammy only had two episodes that saw the light of day, and I'm one of two people who know of that show's existence.
Wherever I stand, I don't think everything needs a philosophical edge like that one guy I mentioned in my review of The Andy Milonakis Show review, and I don't give the idea that I think everything I don't know about is unholy like Saberspark. My question is, will this be entertaining to me?
The Humor and Other Stuff
I basically gave it away in the last section. It's a sitcom, starring anthros. Nude anthros. The setups are expected (father who hates his son-in-law, the main character, moves in and has a valuable memory that may get destroyed later in the episode.) Some adult jokes do surface, and I refer to it as adult jokes even in the context of a prime time sitcom, because these are often the most forced. There's one with three bikini-clad women, though it's mixed with a throwback to NBC's chimes.
For the rest of the jokes, its one of those "you've seen one you've seen them all" affairs. Nothing stands out from other sitcoms, hell, others that wound up getting more scorn had more originality than this on a sitcom basis (I like Glen Martin DDS, I don't care what anyone says.) The nude aspect is also an issue, though for me it's because there're little aspects that'd help differentiate the others on a physical basis (okay, it's a stretch, but they have the the most dissimilar similar looking characters.) Mild mannered and idiotic by default patriarch, his asshole of a father-in-law who's stuck in an entirely different decade of parenting, his supportive but smart by default wife, rebellious daughter and idiotic son. You've reinvented the structure.
Siegfried and Roy are the most interesting characters by default, and frankly, this show would've been better if it was centered entirely on them. They're the most interesting characters on this, but maybe it's because their style of sitcom isn't as beaten to death as the family sitcom. When was the last time we got a TV show about celebrities who gamble in Vegas? That would be original in prospect, even a gambling story in the episode I'm talking about peaks my interest more than the a-plot.
Remember that valuable item gag I mentioned early on? Yeah, it happens, but this time the wife makes things worse. Okay, I didn't expect that, you win this round. It's a zebra rug that gets ruined, and the husband and wife consider killing another one to replace it. I mean they way they go about it with snark (my kind of humor) barely brings this up to mildly interesting, and I'm not saying this is one of the worst shows of all time like some would lead you to believe, but those are some serious strikes against it, especially with some mediocre adult jokes and setups that don't take long to compare to others, but at the very least, this is nothing like South Park, whoever got that going should be made into chili and fed to Scott Tenormen.
What's left? Oh right, the voice talent. I basically recognize only four actors in the main cast, it stars John Goodman, Roseanne's lesser half, Cheryl Hines who might've been the live action Wanda and probably didn't give a shit in this, Orlando Jones and David Herman, who plays Roy. Yeah, Siegfried and Roy don't play themselves in the show, but that could've been a bullet dodge. For the rest, it's basically a free for all. Don Stark from That 70s Show, Andy Richter, Dom DeLuise, Lisa Kudrow, Jane Lynch, Julia Sweeney, John DiMaggio, Pauly Shore, Kelsey Grammer, Danny DeVito, David Spade, and this isn't the whole list I swear.
But most notably of them all, Donkey appeared in this, Donkey from Shrek appeared in this show. I mean they had every right to do so, but given what audience this show wound up being for, I think it'd be a while before we got a grander adult demographic from Shrek who'd catch on to the guest appearance.
The Animation
2004 was when television CGI became a bit more stable, as in this doesn't look as outdated as other CGI shows. It stacks up to DreamWorks' usual style, but hasn't really changed to a noticeable extent. I will say this, it does have better animation than Family Dog.
Overall
I would say this was NBC's own Family Dog as this was also a letdown of some extent, but honestly this show wasn't horrible. I mean sure, by all means it's generic, but I can see potential in it. Stay away from the lions and make a damn Vegas cartoon, preferably with humans. Once more, compared to other animated NBC prime time shows, this technically did better.
Overall, I prefer this to DreamWorks' Nickelodeon efforts, and yeah, I hate Penguins of Madagascar.
No comments:
Post a Comment