Father of the Pride

DVD cover

Father of the Pride, is an American animated television series, created by DreamWorks Animation.

The series deals with the mostly off-stage antics of a family of white lions, the patriarch of which stars in a Siegfried & Roy show in Las Vegas.

It premiered on August 31, 2004 on NBC and was part of a short-lived trend of CGI series in prime-time network television (after Game Over). It was cancelled after its first season.

On June 7, 2005, DreamWorks released the DVD box set of the entire series. The box set contains all 14 episodes, including 3 episodes that have not been aired before the DVD release, including the pilot (original and revised version), as well as commentaries and "The Lost Tale," an un-animated episode, presented with voice acting, sound, and storyboards. Out of the 3 unaired episodes (the Original Pilot, "Stage Fright," and "The Siegfried & Roy Fantasy Experience Movie"), all but the pilot aired after the DVD release.

The series won the 2004 Ursa Major Award for Best Anthropomorphic Dramatic Series.

On July 15, 2020, shortly after the death of Carl Reiner, the streaming service Peacock launched nationwide, including Father of the Pride as one of its re-aired shows.

Main characters

Character	Voice Actor	Profile
Larry	John Goodman	The main protagonist, Larry is a middle-aged, hard-working, fat white lion who, through a bizarre series of events, replaces his less-than-delighted father-in-law Sarmoti as the star attraction of Siegfried and Roy's world famous magic show. He is Kate's husband, Sierra and Hunter's father, and Snack's best friend. Larry has a tendency to speak before thinking.
Kate	Cheryl Hines	The deuteragonist, Kate is Larry's wife, Sierra and Hunter's mother, and Sarmoti's daughter. She is usually having a hard time keeping up with Larry's antics, as well as trying to keep up their relationship with the neighborhood.
Sierra	Danielle Harris	The tritagonist, Sierra is Larry and Kate's rebellious 16-year-old daughter, Hunter's sister, and Sarmoti's granddaughter. She is an activist with very left-wing views. Sierra has a boyfriend named Justin. She wears a black collar and sometimes argues with her parents. Sierra also enjoys reading magazines. She has been compared to an older, more popular version of Lisa Simpson on some occasions on Father of the Pride discussion forums.
Hunter	Daryl Sabara	The secondary tritagonist, Hunter is Larry and Kate's somewhat immature 9-year-old son, Sierra's brother, and Sarmoti's grandson. He is always shown wearing a plastic Elizabethan collar because of his rash (as mentioned in the original pilot) and he is portrayed as slightly mentally-deficient and geeky. He is the most rarely-used main character, being entirely absent from a few episodes. Hunter is a huge fan of Lord of the Rings as he plays with action figures from the movies and recites some quotes from it as well. Sarmoti suspects that Hunter might be gay.
Sarmoti	Carl Reiner	The main antagonist, Sarmoti is Larry's father-in-law and arch-nemesis, Kate's father, Sierra and Hunter's grandfather, Bernie's boss and best friend, and the former star of Siegfried and Roy's show. He hates Larry for not being born in Africa and he never fails to spot an opportunity to remind him about it. He loves objectifying women, drinking, and playing poker with his friends. The name Sarmoti is an acronym of Siegfried And Roy, Masters Of The Impossible.
Snack	Orlando Jones	Snack is a gopher and Larry's best friend. He and Larry go way back. Snack has a girlfriend who broke up with him in one episode, which prompted Larry to lie to Snack by telling him he ate her, thus making him feel betrayed and hold a funeral for her; in the end, Snack found out the truth and forgave Larry, becoming his friend again.
Siegfried and Roy	Julian Holloway and David Herman	Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn are usually presented somewhat disconnected from reality. They appear in a humorous side-story in almost every episode, trying to live their everyday life. Siegfried, while genuinely friendly, is quick to judge people, whereas Roy has a more reasonable, thoughtful approach. They tend to use less contractions in their vocabulary.

Episodes

In the order presented in the DVD box set:

• "Original Pilot"
• "Sarmoti Moves In"
• "Catnip and Trust"
• "One Man's Meat is Another Man's Girlfriend"
• "What's Black and White and Depressed All Over?"
• "Larry's Debut and Sweet Darryl Hannah, Too"
• "And the Revolution Continues"
• "The Thanksgiving Episode"
• "Possession"
• "Donkey"
• "Road Trip"
• "Rehabilitation"
• "The Siegfried & Roy Fantasy Experience Movie"
• "Stage Fright" (Revised Pilot)

Trivia

• Father of the Pride was marketed as "From the Creators of Shrek," even though the series was aimed more at adults. This caused problems, with angry parents sending in letters to NBC over the adult jokes in the show.

External links

• Dreamworks Official Website
• Link to amazon.com page