'Father of the Pride' has no animal magnetism
Animated show is just another adult sitcom
"Euw." It is a wonderful and concise exclamation, especially when paired with a squinching up of the nose and a tight pursing of the lips. It says, "I'm disgusted" and "That's just wrong" in one elongated syllable. Plus, it has the added virtue of being onomatopoetic, so that even non-English-speaking listeners can easily follow the gist of its meaning.
Which brings us to "Father of the Pride," the new NBC animated sitcom from DreamWorks, the makers of the "Shrek" movies. This toon-com, which premieres tonight at 9 on Channel 7, is sure to inspire a few hearty "euws," particularly if you're a viewer who doesn't want to imagine adorable CGI creatures in flagrante delicto. When we meet the animals who populate the series -- the lions and pandas and elephants of Siegfried and Roy's Las Vegas spectacular -- they look like cuddly kiddie toys. But when they open their mouths, they're as likely to utter a racy, lusty gag as not. "Big Daddy's home, and he's ready for lovin'," John Goodman's Larry the lion announces to his wife, Cheryl Hines's Kate. "It may be 9 o'clock in New York, but right here it's mountin' time."
All together now: "Euw."
There's a reason many of us have never much wanted to think about the sexual exploits of Goofy, Pluto, Astro, and Dino. It's a dissonant experience, looking at innocent but hearing randy. Occasionally, a show such as "South Park" or a movie such as 1972's "Fritz the Cat" will intentionally play with the yoking together of opposites to make viewers uncomfortable. But "Pride" isn't trying to be edgy in a Comedy Central kind of way. The show, which NBC is hoping will help fill the ratings gap left by "Frasier" and "Friends," is trying to be a sitcom for adults. It wants to be "My Wife and Cubs."
Which leads to another problem with "Father of the Pride." While it looks different from most prime-time shows, it aims to be yet another generic family sitcom like "Still Standing." Naturally, Dad wants sex from Mom -- "She's in heat," Larry explains to his buddy, "and this is the first date we've had in a long time." And just as naturally, Mom withholds the sex until the end of the half-hour. Is there a family sitcom that hasn't leaned on this tired setup repeatedly? Meanwhile, to make matters even more blandly familiar, Kate's gruff father, Sarmoti (Carl Reiner), pays visits in order to make life hard for Larry and to deliver his own flat jokes. "Katie Couric's got that good-girl-but-probably-wild-in-the-sack thing going on," he says next week, in an episode that shamelessly plugs NBC's "Today" show.
Into all the strangeness come the cartoon versions of Siegfried and Roy, and yes, that is redundant. While Larry, Kate, and Sarmoti do the "Everybody Loves Raymond" thing, the two Vegas showmen sneak around their animals' digs, muttering prissy asides in heavy Euro accents. "Vat do vee do now, Mr. Smartyhozen," Siegfried snaps at Roy, sounding like Mike Myers's "Saturday Night Live" character Dieter. They reach for camp comic relief, and generally fall short. And it doesn't help their efforts that in real life, Roy Horn was attacked last year by one of the very lions portrayed so harmlessly on the show.
The premiere episode is helped along by its two guest stars, whose voices are as distinctive as the others in the cast. Lisa Kudrow is a lonely panda named Foo-lin, and Andy Richter plays Nelson, her only chance at love. Their awkward courtship has a sweetness that seems fitting for a pair of huggable bears. Unlike so much else in "Father of the Pride," it even elicits a bit of an "awww."
Matthew Gilbert can be reached at gilbert@globe.com. 