What the HELL is Father of the Pride? (DreamWorks FAILED Adult Cartoon)

[Music] there are a lot of adult animated sitcoms in the world and you can thank the Simpsons for that to which they can think the Flintstones for that to which they can thank the honeymooners for that to which they can thank domestic abuse for that yeah that's uh that's what he meant folks bang boom straight to the move and three to five in jail that's not an astronaut it's a TV comedian he was just using space travel as a metaphor for beating his wife needless to say the success of the Simpsons launched a new genre for animation and many companies and Studios wanted a piece of that pie they still do to this very day that's why we see so many adult animated shows in the world and most of them are family sitcoms so many family sitcoms but there was one show that was very different but also the exact same time nothing really new father of the pride released in August of 2004 on NBC father of the pride was thought to be the next big thing a show that could possibly rival The Simpsons or even surpass it it had big names working on it it had a massive amount of advertising and promotion it had anthropomorphic lions why does this keep happening to me why am i cursed with these anthropomorphic lions for the rest of my life but despite all of its momentum and support the series only lasted one season and was a total failure so what happened why wasn't father of the pride a huge success hey it even had backing from DreamWorks and this was even during their glory days with Shrek I mean Donkey even has a guest appearance in this show I am not kidding see for yourselves do you know how many times I had to hear don't use the hands don't use an ass all right I get it no synonyms I hate synonyms Larry you know what I do love though puffy you like puffy but no but Larry I'm sorry there's nothing I can do but let your kid know that Trek 3 is come in 2006 father the bride was thought up by Jeffrey Katzenberg back in 2002 he's one of the head people of DreamWorks Animation and a complainer extraordinaire he came up with the premise for father of the pride while watching a Siegfried and Roy show in Las Vegas according to him he thought quote I wonder what it's like for those lions what life must be like from their point of view they're living in Las Vegas trying to raise a family and earn a living in animation we look for those things a way to look at our lives through a fantasy world it allows us to take on subjects that are too difficult to do with the real I'm gonna laugh Caleta edit coming up Emma for DreamWorks a way to look at our lives through a fantasy world it allows us to take on subjects that are too difficult to do with real people it allows us to be more controversial edgier there can be parody and innuendo and satire things can be sophisticated in a way that even our feature films cat this is an odd and premise a show based on Siegfried and Roy and their animals okay for those who don't know who they are Siegfried and Roy are this old Las Vegas act where they would take their animals and their magic and combine it into one single show it was very successful I think it actually might be the most successful show in Vegas history all of these larger-than-life things were coming together for the show and the icing on the cake this show was going to have computer animation boo that'll make it stand out computer animation was on the rise during this time it was the new trendy thing to do it was over running 2d animation on the theatrical scene so why not take it to television with adult animated shows as well it just makes sense right well yeah actually I can see where they're coming from with this approach but I could take kid cartoons for example they were handling CGI around that time just fine and still do to this very day so I can see why MBC and Katzenberg wanted to try their own hand with an adult animated CGI show no one else has really done that before well I mean there were some shows that tried but none of them stuck you got like tripping the raft game over the acid trip that was Xavier renegade angel but none of them were massive hits CGI animation despite all of it success in every other genre of animation never got much of a foothold with adult CGI shows but NBC was dead set on making father of the pride succeed it pushed it hard on the advertising front and even promoted it during their coverage of the 2004 Summer Olympics Oh God furry lions and the Olympics I'm having flashbacks and break his concentration anybody who watched NBC around this time knew about this upcoming show but something happened during the production and promotion for the show that no one expected the infamous tiger attack for the first time today roy horns neurosurgeon talked to them and said it's all but miraculous The Illusionist is still alive after he was attacked by one of his Tigers in October of 2003 Rory was attacked and severely injured by one of the Tigers from the magic show it did massive damage to his spine and he also had a stroke too like he almost died folks though he was very forgiving to the tiger apparently when he was being dragged off he was saying things like leave the tiger alone it didn't know any better it's just a tiger leave it alone or something like that there is a ton of drama after the fact of like what happened but I won't talk about it all you need to know is that this incident will lead to Siegfried Roy ending their magic show which did not bode well for father of the pride apparently NBC was ready to scrap the show because of what happened but Siegfried Roy were like no don't do it but let's let's still do this cartoon please we insist on it so NBC still went forward with it and saw the series through to completion perhaps - Siegfried Roy for being cool about it from what I read they were very helpful during the production of the series love to give feedback and ideas and in light of what happened with the tiger they were very killed you'd think they'd be like nope pulled the plug we're done here but no they said let's keep going and on August 31st 2004 father of the pride made its debut to the world and was initially very successful but it rapidly declined in the ratings eventually it was ultimates lineup and would not be revived for another season despite all of the resources and momentum in its corner it wasn't enough and father of the pride was a failure aren't you mr. right would you would you move alright so we've talked about the rise and the fall of the show but what about this show itself well I bought the complete series on Amazon so I can watch it and upload a quality version for this review guess what Oh one side of the DVD worked so that's why half of these episodes are like kind of okay and the other ones are not at all you DVD all right whatever father the pride is about a family of white lions who live in Las Vegas and who work for Siegfried and Roy they live off-site in this animal compound with a bunch of other creatures who also work on the show there's Larry the father lazy chubby and kind of a dummy though he means well there's Kate the mom she's much more straight-laced and primarily takes care of the kids also she has purple eyebrows they're Sierra the teenage daughter rebellious open-minded embarrassed by her family you know that cookie cutter character trope then there's hunter the younger brother who's geeky and out of touch with the cool kids he loves Lord of the Rings which automatically makes him the best character in my book oh you poor child I I was just like you when I was your age I'm still that way and finally there's the grandfather Samadhi though I'm pretty sure I'm saying his name wrong whatever sar mati that's what we're gonna call him he's Kate's dad and was the previous star of Siegfried and Roy's show until Larry took over now he spends his time criticizing Larry and hanging out with his grandkids and his daughter oh and of course there's Siegfried and Roy they're in the show as themselves though Siegfried and Roy don't voice themselves usually they take up the beep plot of the show and go off on crazy adventures on ironically and I mean this they are the best part of the series you would think that the talking lions would be more interesting but no it's these two guys they're just so wide-eyed charismatic impulsive and magical they are completely disconnected from reality and they don't know how to act around normal people there's one episode where they go to a 7-eleven and the place just blows their mind all of us is it is a it is a big gulp oh my gosh by the way shameless product placement but whatever you got them at the 7-eleven they're all about the big gulps and the hotdogs and they just they're not they don't know what they're doing yet they do know what they're doing it's again so strange that it is show with talking and they're amorphic lions that the two humans are much more interesting it will not be easy kiddies but at least you are not taking your addiction lion gun outside of the main cast you got this ensemble of side characters who real talk I don't give a [ __ ] about none of them made an impression on me like there's the best friend of Larry who is a gopher called snack voiced by Orlando Jones and it just seems so generic and forgettable and tropi I just I've seen this done before and much better and on top of that you also have some celebrity cameos by Matt Lauer and Kelsey Grammer though none of them felt very well utilized like they're there but again not getting much of an impression here oh and uh Danny DeVito shows up as a lobster hmm that was interesting I didn't survive 3472 dinners by making small talk with prostitutes hey I'm gonna prostitute yeah yeah yeah you're working your way through law school I get it I'm being forgetful the best cameo in this entire series was donkey from Shrek like legitimately there was an episode where donkey shows up as donkey the celebrity from Shrek I even think they got Eddie Murphy to voice him he's like walking around being a big old hotshot celebrity at the Animal compound Larry's trying to get donkey to be like hey we're friends that way Larry seems cool to his son and it was just so weird because look at these designs they are not from the same universe this guy looks very different compared to donkey and yet here we are goddamn you DreamWorks alright let's go over my five points first the story or suppose store reads since this is a series first off I do not care for the premise of the show despite being unique and different like I'll give it that it doesn't click with me if anything I see the setting as a hindrance like you are in Las Vegas this town is supposed to be crazy and wild and yet you all don't really do that much with it instead you have this weird pseudo anthropomorphic animal compound which is like okay for like the world you're trying to set up outside of Vegas but you all get stuck in it way too often and honestly it doesn't really stand out that much it's just a village of animal performers which like that should sound more interesting that should be more meaningful to me but it's not and you all know me I am a fan of anthropomorphic animals or just animals in general being used in stories when used correctly it can do wonders for a story but here I feel like they ignored the potential as far as the main characters go it wasn't anything new the chubby lazy dad the sexy nagging wife the rebellious teenager the criticizing grandparent this has been done so many times before so if you're gonna do it again try to make it stand out and guess what they weren't able to accomplish this goal adult animated shows for the most parts fall back on their characters and riding and if that fails to connect with the audience then the show itself usually fails altogether and that's what happened here I was waiting for the moment when the show might rise above my expectations where the characters might become more than just tropes and be something fresh and different like dinosaur the show with a giant like rubbered suits and whatnot that show's first season was trophy then the show became more than that it became different it grew its own personality and I enjoy that show it was able to break the mold but for father of the pride it wasn't able to do that and that's a damn shame when it comes to the lion characters the only episodes that were somewhat interesting to me were the ones that focus on the grandfather and the grandson they kind of have this Hank and Bobby Hill chemistry going on but it was different enough to not be an exact clone I truly wish they would have built on that but oh well hey kids what if I buy you some beer it'll be our secret there's no alcohol in middle-earth grandpa crap next there's the voice acting no complaints I thought the voice acting was just fine I mean if anything there's some good performances in the show you got John Goodman as Larry and he always does a great job like John Goodman is a good actor he tries his best he kind of reminds me of samuel l.jackson and how like samuel will do his best no matter the role John's the same way compare this to other actors who definitely phone it in Harrison Ford you got some other big names on this show Cheryl Hines Daniel Harris the little boy from Spy Kids yeah remember that movie and of course there's the legendary actor himself Carl Reiner who just like John gave 100% Oh Larry I want you to know that if I've been tough to live with in any way I'm sorry that's okay what are you looking at unless you've given out happy endings get out of my way after that there's the dialogue there's a lot of humor in this show that is very much so like of its time this is early 2000s humor I recall there was like one joke in the show where a snails like tells a bad joke and then he just goes well you're gay and it's like what are the same funny it's just outrageously stupid and and yet when I think about when this show came out it makes so much sense why the comedy of this show why the dialogue of this show is the way it is my boss fired me yesterday I started to cry my boss said I can't watch a grown man cry so I gave him a blindfold Kapow that was terrible yeah and you're gay to be fair I did get some chuckles mostly from Siegfried and Roy but also Larry had some good one liners the grandfather character had some good lines there are jokes in this show and exchanges of dialogue that are funny like actual laugh out loud humor here's the downside though there's not enough of that to make this show stand up on its own two legs a show needs to be more than just funny exchanges you need meaningful characters you need fun stories this isn't just a bunch of short form content and joked you need more than that so again for the dialogue it was fine it was funny and they got better throughout the show but again it's not enough to establish a show on its own then there's the a today the music was generic I didn't really care for it just kind of forgettable same thing with the sound effects just overall the editing like it did its job to help the show like make the show if that makes any sense as then they put the show together some of the scenes run over a bit where they can be I would say shortened it's funny because there's the entire idea that you can't edit an animated movie and ironically the guy who created this show is on record Jeffrey Katzenberg was saying yes you can I'll show you how because when Katzenberg first arrived at Disney back in the 80s it was a complete mess he said that these old movies like the Black Cauldron are way too long and he said I'll edit it and the folks who worked on the Black Cauldron were like you can't edit an animated film and like [ __ ] I'll show you so yes I get the idea that some shows animated shows and movies are edited obviously because those reasons why there are deleted scenes but at the same time when it comes to the pacing of a show which is where I see editing at its most at the front-runner this is when editing really shines is how you can help with the pacing of a show that's where here I feel like it is sufficient but not outstanding again I feel like if they had better characters and stories to work with it could be more noticeable but for what it is the editing is just me you did your job whatever let's move on because finally we get to the animation let's talk about the animation why not the non main characters look awful I'm sorry I'm just gonna say it I think they look bad they look like they're cereal box mascots not even bad at least Tony the Tiger looks good but these characters who are not just background characters but side characters they look bland and forgettable and generic characters and keep saying generic but that's the truth this flamingo is a recurring character but you wouldn't think so from seeing him now if they had a good character and good stories about him up then he could make more of an impression on me but that isn't the case the writing and the character designs aren't there so it's just completely forgettable in its entirety same thing with like the snack character nut snack as NS NACC but as an SN a ck he's again forgettable my opinion I feel like outside of the main cast of lions and the elephant's who is only noticeable because he's an elephant and of course Siegfried Roy everybody else is forgettable it's orangutan it's chimpanzee it's it's just a bunch of background and side characters you blend in together because they don't stand out like look at England's of Madagascar look Madagascar in general those movies have stylized animals that look different and cartoony but here it just it's not doing it for me they don't seem creative it just either falls into the realm of okay you made a flamingo or you made a chimp and that's not enough for me to remember them because the writing doesn't really make an impression on me either and it's entirely from character to design to a combination of the two it just doesn't make an impression on me and that's a problem give me my hug ma now as far as like the textures the hair effects the background designs and whatnot and the assets that are in the shots with like the way the home is designed I think it's competent for the time I don't think it's aged very well and there's a reason why most of these adult animated shows are 2d and not 3d but for what it's worth I thought it was oh-kay for the time once more it hasn't aged very well but it's okay like compare hair effects around this time you've got cuz the show came out in 2004 the show went to production in 2002 around this time you've got solely funny enough John Goodman from Pixar his fur is like one of the biggest deals with computer animation at that time oh my God look how real it looks then you've got the line mains in this show which again don't look bad they don't look anything as good as so Lee's fur of course but again for their fur it's okay it's alright it's sufficient but how you compare it to nowadays and what we've accomplished today will blow this stuff out of the water so I give them points for trying I don't think it's aged that badly but it's definitely showing its age also some of these sets with the backgrounds they feel a bit empty to me and in combination with these characters like I get that there's color and these scenes with these characters but for whatever reason I can't quite put my finger on it because I'm also stupid but I I feel like these scenes and these characters look bland I don't really feel like it's popping out to me compare this to like reboot funny enough I feel that that show pops a bit more same thing with current shows like miraculous ladybug where you've got characters and backgrounds and assets that pop and look good but for here when I watch this show it just feels bland just kind of a big old pot of blandness but to be fair I do want to get props to the show it did something that I very much so appreciate so when it comes to the show Siegfried and Roy are humans they talk to the animals but the animals don't talk back to them it's like the animals have their own world where they then turn into anthropomorphic characters and then they have the world where they communicate with the humans and in that world they remain as animals it's really interesting how they did this but to be fair because it was the extra mile here I'm pretty sure that they had two versions of character models for the main characters a version where they are actual lines walking on all fours and then a version where they're anthropomorphic because when I see Larry walk on all fours his chest seems bigger his stomach seems smaller his stomach doesn't drag on the ground but when you see him on his behind legs and the anthropomorphic sense his belly's huge his chest is small and I see that or I believe that they have two models that they interchange so I appreciate that they went the extra mile thank you so much looks much better than sheep in wolves where you just got this one character model who walks on their small hind legs but also runs on all fours at times because that makes sense that doesn't make any sense all right so how would I improve the show honestly this show is doomed to fail from the start the premise just isn't that interesting I know adult sitcoms don't need mind-blowing premises to work since they depend mostly on good care ders and riding but still the Brewers just doesn't do it for me and it puts the animals in a weird box with this animal compound again you've got Las Vegas let them get lost and Las Vegas let them get caught up with a bunch of gangsters or even prostitutes let them get to a casino and and get in some gambling troubles where they pretend to be humans and they start winning all the winnings but they cheated and all the casinos are like get out for those guys oh my god they're actually lions or something like I know that Reno nine-one-one isn't about Vegas it's about Reno duh but you kind of get that Las Vegas vibe from Reno 9-1-1 and I see that show as a better example of them understanding their surroundings of we take place in Reno here is why it is crazy here are all of our adventures with our officers running into issues and crazy stories by being in Reno as officers again these lions are in Vegas there should be no shortage of stories and craziness here and if anything it's not the Lions who really get caught up in Vegas its Siegfried and Roy but even then they're crazy enough on their own where you can throw them into a 7-eleven and it works you don't need them really going to these super long lengths of craziness and Vegas itself because they themselves are a product of Vegas I know that sounds confusing it's almost like you have the craziness of Siegfried and Roy on one side of the scale so you want to put them in normal settings and they've got the craziness of the Lions on the other scale but they're kind of normal because they're a family so take that family unit and throw them into the crazy realm of Vegas that's just my advice I feel like the show got close to trying to approach that premise from that point of view but not nearly enough to succeed with it Brad dude uncool to be fair though father the pride initially did well with its ratings it got like 12.5 million people watching it when it first debut but unfortunately those ratings plummeted as a show went on like at the end it was pulled from its lineup if I'm correct they even pulled some episodes Katzenberg was like well I don't think there's going to be a season two because this show is not doing well and yeah it just kind of had failure written all over it despite all of the promotions despite all of the advertising despite having the blessings of Katzenberg Siegfried and Roy having good actors like Hall Reiner and John Goodman and good people working on this it wasn't enough it goes to show you that you can have all of the blessings in the world but if you do not have a good idea and how to follow through with it properly it will fail and I think that they could have salvaged it maybe the show needed a second season to finally spread its wings and breathe a bit if you watch king of the hill season 1 the simpsons season 1 shows like that they change as they go on they become different they can explore themselves and have more fun with the characters as they establish the setting so maybe the show needed some more time but who could say all I know is that that tiger attack from Siegfried Roy couldn't have come at a worse time of course my heart goes out to Roy for suffering a tiger attack that sucks for him but I do wonder if that itself was the main reason why people were turned off to this show it is such a wild-card thing to happen I'm not really even sure how you can quantify that but it happened I personally think that was a big reason why folks saw this show and a different light and some people were turned off by it along with everything else I've been saying up to this point hey so in conclusion father the pride isn't a bad show if anything it's a big expensive CGI show that bet on the wrong horse I give them credit for attempting something different but it just wasn't enough for them at the end of the day there are too many parts about this show that were lackluster and meant to me just completely meh generic trophy stuff that the rest of the showdown with it and there were much better shows worth watching around that time if anything the show's existence itself and how it came to be is much more fascinating than the show itself talking about computer animation being used in this way seeing DreamWorks in Katzenberg back it up sings Siegfried Roy try to use their brand for a cartoon show and then seeing it backfire and having the unfortunate drama of a tiger attack that almost killed you that's just insanity again the road to completion for this show is incredibly crazy and I personally think it's much more fascinating than the actual show so for what it's worth I will give father of the pride props for trying to do something different it wasn't all fall I think some folks wouldn't buy kit so if you don't want to check it out give it a shot let me know what y'all think in the comments and yes folks I realize this is like the tenth animated show or movie that has to do with lions that I've reviewed on my channel when we get to number 13 my head will actually explode so yeah keep your punch cards ready at number 13 my head explodes and everybody gets a free ice-cream cone that's the price you pay when you play with a furry Devil magic will kick ur [ __ ] [Applause] [Music] [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Saberspark

Views: 1,727,644

Rating: 4.9484687 out of 5

Keywords: saberspark, saber, what the hell is father of the pride?, father of the pride, dreamworks, anthro, furry, sigfried and roy, failed adult cartoon, what the hell is, donkey, shrek

Id: 1xR9xT9Jx7I

Length: 31min 59sec (1919 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 24 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Saberspark]

I was really proud of this video, I think it turned out nicely. Lemme know what you all think!

[u/Rabbitearsblog]

Just saw this video and I LOVED IT!!! I remembered watching this show when it first came out and I actually only seen one episode of this show and just lost interest in it afterwards. I wonder if the show had better characters, would it had turned out much differently?

[u/DocLeWolfe]

Do you think, if it were to somehow reboot today, it would do better? The old premise wouldn't work but assuming they work around it, and set all obstacles they had before beside, would it be successful?

[u/TheKingbirdDude]

I forgot about this even existing, was like 8 or 9 at the time. I don't know whether my parents watched it or let me watch it with them or not but I remember it was a thing for a short while.