Beyond The Animated TV Grave: Father of the Pride

The Ratings Junkie

Beyond The Animated TV Grave is a sub-series of Beyond The TV Grave, and takes a look at short-lived prime time adult animated series that aired on ABC, CBS, or NBC. This tenth edition focuses on NBC's 2004 series Father of the Pride, which aired 11 episodes and was pulled from the schedule twice.

Background & Synopsis

While 3D animation was widespread at the time in theatrical movie releases, Father of the Pride was only the second ever broadcast TV show to be produced in the format. The other, Game Over, was canceled after a 13-episode run on UPN in spring 2004. It was also the first series to ever be created by Jeffrey Katzenberg, the co-founder and then-CEO of DreamWorks Pictures. Katzenberg would tap former Late Night with Conan O'Brien head writer Jonathan Groff to develop the series, which was to be produced in-house by DreamWorks Animation. It would be the third ever animated TV series produced by DreamWorks, after 1998's Toonsylvania on Fox Kids and Invasion America on The WB. Since then, DreamWorks had found two box office hits in 2000's Chicken Run and 2001's Shrek, while also being the production company behind under-performers like 1998's Antz and The Prince of Egypt, and 2000's The Road to El Dorado.

Katzenberg created Father of the Pride after being inspired by a trip to a Siegfried and Roy show. The series stars John Goodman as the voice of Larry, a husband, father, and middle-aged white lion. It follows Larry and his family as he navigates life as the star of Siegfried and Roy's magic show. Cheryl Hines, Danielle Harris, and Daryl Sabara round out the voice cast of Larry's family, while Carl Reiner voices Sarmoti, Larry's father-in-law, lifelong rival, and former star of Siegfried and Roy's magic show before Larry replaced him. Father of the Pride was the first, and to date only, scripted TV series starring white lions.

Despite everything pointing to the contrary on paper, Father of the Pride was an adult animated comedy. It was also one of the most expensive 30-minute TV shows ever produced, with each episode costing upwards of $2 million to make. It would premiere just months after Friends concluded its 10-season run, one that concluded in large part due to growing expenses. The show would feature the voices of various celebrity guest stars, including Kelsey Grammer as himself and Eddie Murphy as Donkey from Shrek.

In October 2003, Siegfried and Roy star Roy Horn suffered a devastating on-stage injury at the hands of the performing white lion, temporarily putting into question if Father of the Pride would even air. With Siegfried and Roy's blessing, NBC went ahead with airing the series. They would premiere it on Tuesday, August 31, 2004 after heavy promotion during the 2004 Summer Olympics. With the massive box office of' Shrek 2 occurring the same summer, NBC's latest attempt at adult animation would be promoted by the network as from the creators of Shrek, a move that would lead to thousands of protest complaints to the FCC.

Ratings & Cancelation

Father of the Pride premiered relatively well, rating higher than anything else airing that night with a 7.7 Household rating and 12.4 million viewers. It grew significantly from its Last Coming Standing lead-in (4.3), and was also significantly higher than its Scrubs lead-out (5.5). Its closest competition, CBS's The Amazing Race, received a 6.3 rating. Unlike many previous attempts on adult animation on ABC, CBS, and NBC, Father of the Pride was not dead on arrival. It wasn't about to fill the hole left by the end of Friends on Thursdays, but it premiered as well as one could possibly expect.

The issue is Father of the Pride was a very expensive series, and its ratings never quite stabilized. The following week, Father of the Pride would take a steep decline to a 6.2 Household rating and 9.9 million viewers. That was still enough to grow substantially from Last Coming Standing and out-rate Scrubs, but not quite enough to win its time slot anymore. It would proceed to decline each subsequent week, to the point where it notched a paltry 4.2 Household rating and 6.6 million viewers for its seventh episode on October 26, despite getting a larger-sized lead-in from new 8 pm occupant The Biggest Loser (6.1). That would be its final airing before being pulled from the schedule.

To be fair to Father of the Pride, it never had a consistent lead-in and often had tough competition in its later episodes. For its sixth episode, Father of the Pride had to air after reruns of itself and against the MLB ALCS. For its seventh, it aired against the World Series. It was also tasked with airing against a still-robust According to Jim on ABC. NBC also aired episodes wildly out of order. But with a low-rated Scrubs now growing from it, and Law & Order: SVU growing significantly from both at 10 pm, NBC saw reason to remove it from their schedule ahead of November sweeps.

Father of the Pride would briefly return to NBC's schedule in December, airing once on Tuesday, December 21, and three more times the following Tuesday, December 28. Despite its Biggest Loser lead-in being a tad higher-rated than it was when Father of the Pride was first pulled, the cartoon dipped to a 3.9 Household rating with 6.2 million viewers in its return, lower than the Scrubs rerun that aired after it. It came in last place in its time slot. The following week, it went as low as a 2.9 Household rating with 4.7 million viewers, each episode losing to reruns on ABC and CBS. Father of the Pride would be pulled from the schedule for a second time after this, leaving two produced episodes unaired. It would finish the season with a 3.2 average in the Adults 18-49 demo, tying for 17th on NBC. That would be enough to tie Scrubs, and beat midseason Tuesday comedy entries Committed (21st) and The Office (25th).

Aftermath

As of December 2025, all 13 produced episodes of Father of the Pride are available to stream for free on Peacock. It was previously available on Netflix, but removed from the service in 2016. It also got a DVD release in 2005, and a People's Choice Award nomination the day after it got pulled from the schedule in October 2004. Only once would a broadcast network other than FOX take a stab at adult animation in the 20+ years following Father of the Pride's short-lived stint on NBC. While Father of the Pride did tie Season 4 of Scrubs in the Adults 18-49 demo in the 2004-05 season and beat the notoriously low-rated first season of The Office, that was due to the ratings for the cartoon's earliest episodes. Its lack of a cultural footprint despite its presence on streaming indicates there are no signs of ABC giving this one the reboot treatment.