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Father of the Pride officially canceled. Petition up to save it.

Edited by mwalimu as of Sun 9 Jul 2017 - 00:28
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NBC officially gives the show the axe. The remaining six episodes will air after November sweeps.
More InfoA petition has been started to presuade NBC to renew "Father of the Pride." Click the link to show your support!
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Your rating: None Average: 5 (2 votes)

One of these days, network television will actually stop catering to the lowest common denominator and actually properly promote and place a show like FotP, which is actually funny, compared to the junk that makes up most of the "sitcom" field. This was the first show to draw me back to network television, outside of news and a couple of specific sports, and I knew it was going to die because it was too smart.

Your rating: None Average: 5 (2 votes)

Father of the Pride was cancelled due to the fact that they weren't bringing in enough money to warrent the almost 1.6 million dollars it took per episode to make it. That's why they cancelled it. No petition is going to bring it back unless someone else pays for the show, or else the ratings skyrocket. I doubt either will happen.

"Father of the Pride" cost NBC $1.6 million per half-hour episode and has seen its ratings slump as it placed fourth in its time slot last week, the paper reported.

Business wise, I wouldn't throw 1.6 million dollars at something that was only coming up in fourth place either. NBC can't afford to lose more money. After it lost Seinfeld, it's been on the decline.

Your rating: None Average: 5 (2 votes)

Presumably, shows like FotP will become less expensive in the future, as computer animation advances. There will be a cost for writers and voice actors, but that shouldn't be anywhere near $1.6M/episode.

Maybe the show was just ahead of its time?

Your rating: None Average: 5 (2 votes)

Good point. Unfortunately, I think NBC did a lacklustre job of promoting it, and unfortunately, critics seemed to beat it up - though I can't quite figure out why. It's a shame.
Ah well. I hope it gets a DVD release. I wasn't keeping my tapes from week to week.

Your rating: None Average: 5 (2 votes)

I guess because it's animated, and therefore it's For Children, but the writing contains adult themes, and therefore it's Not For Children.

I wonder how long the American preconception of animation as an infantile medium will last. I also wonder what can be done to change it.

Your rating: None Average: 1 (2 votes)

I think NBC did a lacklustre job of promoting it

Then you had your head up your rear end, since the show was slathered all over the country in billboards and bus ads, and almost every commercial break leading up to and during Athens Olympics had something for it.

Your rating: None Average: 5 (2 votes)

Ah, but which country? Tony's Canadian.

Your rating: None Average: 1 (2 votes)

So he was making a statement about the show's promotion without ever being around to see it. That's still dumb.

Your rating: None Average: 5 (2 votes)

Umm, he watched it regularly. I know because he's a friend of mine on IRC.

Your rating: None Average: 5 (3 votes)

Actually, yeah, I saw the promos leading up to it, and felt they were marketed poorly. I'm in the media, so I sort of know how marketing works, 'k, and while yeah, it was marketed widely, it was not *targeted* all that well. It was not promoted hard enough as an adult-oriented show, which meant critics and advertisers watched it and went "OHMYGOD THAT'S TERRIBLE CALL JERRY FALWELL" because of the content - the typical reaction to adult-oriented animation in North America. Thus, families were tuning in and going "This has sexual innuendo and is not appropriate for our kids, let's watch something violent instead!" and changing the channel.
Money spent on marketing doesn't mean a thing unless it's spent well and well-aimed. Throwing the thing up on billboards and in every commercial spot did a nice job of getting people to realize it's out there, but it attracted the wrong audiences. Wrong audience and, actually, a bad time slot to boot, and boom. Dead.

So excuse me for being "dumb" and "having my head up my ass" and whatever else. This is an informed opinion.

Your rating: None Average: 5 (2 votes)

It could come back, you never know.

Your rating: None Average: 3 (2 votes)

awe come on, are we really THAT despirate?

i'll admit i've only seen one episode and while the art was better then ok, the story line and context, was ... sheesh gimmmi a break

maybe that's the best we can hope for or expect to see on the broadcast tube, i sincerely hope not.

of course i also realize quality of content has absolutely nothing to do with what gets aired and what doesn't.

someday if people ever again stop worshipping little green pieces of paper to the virtual exclusion of almost everything else, maybe they'll be a little more hope.

but hell's bell's, who needs the damd greed driven media anyway?

if it had been about a real furry world, one that addressed issues like making infrastructure habitate sustainable, the way i cannot invision a real furry world not being, then maybe we might have had something.

i really felt the whole context of it, of what i saw of it any way, was talking down to us. as if it had anywhere to talk down to us from.

sorry but much as i'd love to see REAL furry content, i'll NOT miss THAT one!

=^^=
.../\...

Your rating: None Average: 1 (2 votes)

What a hunk of pure crap this show was. Jokes cribbed from "Family Guy" and "The Simpsons" and stuck into CG animation that not even Pixar's B-team would consider releasing, with acting that was phoned in by disinterested talent just there for a paycheck. And at a cost per episode that would pay for an entire season of shows like "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends" and have enough left over for a few eps of "Sealab 2021."

If furry fandom wants to try to improve how people see it, it needs to stop clasping junk like this to its collective bosom hard enough to make their nipples shoot out their backs. The sooner this stops, the sooner we stop looking like Trekkies supporting "Enterprise."

The real sad thing is that even with the lousy quality of the show, there was one aspect of it I would have liked to have seen continued: The Siegfreid and Roy segments. They were better written and better performed than anything involving the animals. As Siegfried would have said, "I vant ze UMMMMM..."

Your rating: None Average: 5 (2 votes)

http://www.pcavote.com/voting/tv/t01.shtml

Please vote for Father Of The Pride in People's Choice Awards' category of Favorite New TV Comedy.
Hopefully an award (or a decent number of votes) will increase the chance that a company will create new episodes of FOTPride.

Please vote now!
[ End of voting was supposed to be on 2004 Nov 29 but I voted 2 hours ago and my vote was apparently successful:
"Your vote has been submitted."
"Thank you for voting for your Favorite New TV Comedy." ]

Your rating: None Average: 5 (3 votes)

I thought that FOTP was the best new comedy that was played. Not played out. I feel as if it was much better than any of the current comedy/cartoons that are on the TV now making millions. I think if they would give it a chance it would really turn a lot of viewers
heads. I for one told several of my friends an co-workers about it and before they could even get a chance to watch it they took it off the air. They shoud sell the series on DVD. I know I would spend the money to see it all again. Not to mention the episodes they havent even aired. It had a poor time slot at the time. Please bring it back!!!!

Your rating: None Average: 5 (2 votes)

Check out the new petitions to bring back the show!

Your rating: None Average: 5 (2 votes)

http://www.activism.com/en_US/petition/save-father-of-the-pride/182594

Your rating: None Average: 5 (2 votes)

Don't forget the tiger accident Siegfre was involved with that's has Alot to do with the show causeSiegfre and Roy Co produced it.

Your rating: None Average: 2 (2 votes)

Siegfre and Roy

Your rating: None Average: 5 (2 votes)

Siegfried and Roy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siegfried_%26_Roy

Fred Patten

Your rating: None Average: 5 (2 votes)

* Siegfried and Roy.

Your rating: None Average: 3 (3 votes)

www.thepetitionsite.com/345/778/039/re-open-imagi-animation-studios/

Your rating: None Average: 5 (2 votes)

Sorry to say, but NBC clearly has no interest in bringing back FotP, not after it quickly flopped after the first episode and panned by TV critics (and yes, they did promote it. Heavily. I recalled seeing a lot of ads for it during the 2004 Olympics) and it's going to take a hell of a lot more then a few thousand fans on the internet to get them to bring it back. Not to mention online petitions are not the most effective way to get a big businesses attention, considering there's nothing to stop the same person from signing as many times as (s)he likes.

If you want to see any impact, go buy the DVD for it. Stronger sales and reaction on in the internet may lead them to reconsider. But in the end, I would just move on and accept it's never coming back.

Your rating: None Average: 2 (3 votes)

You guys know this show is genuinely considered a giant piece of shit by most everyone, right?

Your rating: None Average: 5 (2 votes)

It was quite good for TV CGI in its day. But its day was thirteen years ago.

Fred Patten

Your rating: None Average: 1 (2 votes)

It was never just the animation that was the problem; it was everything ... screw it, I'm ripping a forum post from a (non-furry) guy who just decided to randomly watch the whole thing after that Wiki article got posted there:

Having watched the entirety of the father of the pride, I can say that the show's place on the "worst" list is not because it's interesting, but because it is entirely unambitious in its failure. Tired jokes about domestic strife and homosexuality combined with lackluster low-budget dreamworks animation and unconvincing physical gags make for a bland, life-draining experience. Basing characters on real-life performers Siegfried and Roy is strange, as they're depicted not as a couple but as two eccentric coworkers who just happen to share a mansion (and a zoo.) Siegfried is portrayed as a heterosexual Lothario with a penchant for older women, while Roy moves through a rapid series of demi-romantic and (implicitly sexual) relationships with male animals. This is further complicated by Siegfried and Roy being directly involved in the creation of the show as executive producers. While they didn't "officially" come out as gay men and former romantic partners until 2007, it was hardly a secret. Why Roy would rather be portrayed as a zoophile than Siegfried's partner is a mystery. Most likely he was unaware of the actual content of the show.

The titular pride are a set of sitcom cliches. Father Larry (John Goodman) is lazy, more interesting in drinking with his pals than he is in spending time with his wife Kate (Cheryl Hines). Kate has zero personality traits other than to want the opposite of whatever Larry wants at any given moment as a cheap way of establishing comedic tension. For example we learn in season premiere What's Black and White and Depressed All Over?, Larry is eager to mate with Kate because she is "in heat" (in one of the show's rare but typically uncomfortable acknowledgements of animal biology.) However, in later episodes, she is the one eager for Larry's attention while he would rather watch Bill Murray movies (Possession) or celebrate Jimmy Hendrix (Road Trip). Daughter Sierra (Danielle Harris) is a typical rebellious teenager, struggling with her growing independence. She vanishes almost completely from the show by the third episode. Son Hunter (Daryl Sabara) is shy and nerdy. Larry's father-in-law, Sarmoti (Carl Reiner) is a retired circus performer who openly loathes his family. While Sarmoti frequently uses yiddish, he is established as having grown up in Africa. Sarmoti alludes to Larry having been raised in captivity (Stage Fright) but this potentially interesting dynamic between an older wild lion and a younger lion raised in captivity is never explored. Neither is the allusion to Roy having once saved Larry's life.

The setting of the show, Las Vegas, seems underutilized. The show opens with John Goodman's energetic rendition of "Viva Las Vegas". However, Vegas itself rarely factors into the show at all. The cast could be living in a mansion (and attached wildlife reserve) in Cincinnati or any American city. Siegfried and Roy's magical show is, at best, incidental. The locations visited include a convienence store, a folksy restaurant, and the home of Kelsey Grammer. None of these locations seem especially Las Vegas, even if Siegfried has sex with the elderly owner to convince her into changing her restaurant into a casino.

The cosmology of the world is confused - animals seem unable to directly communicate with humans, and always convert from walking on their hind legs to standing on all fours when a human shows up. However, the humans all seem able to directly read the motivations and needs of the animals, going so far as to take them to therapists. Lions are allowed to take the bus by themselves and eat at restaurants. It's not clear if this is a special privilege granted to Siegfried and Roy or if this is just the way that animals live in this fictional world. The animals live in houses (with some zoo-like features), watch television, run their own bar, etc. When Donkey from Shrek arrives in Las Vegas to film a commercial, his manager is a pig (complete with phone and headset). It is not clear if this is an animals-only commercial hidden from the human world or if humans often contract directly with animals.All animals live together, but only rarely show any predatory desire to eat one another, except in a home movie in episode 3 (Catnip and Trust) and when Larry wants to devour his best friend's girlfriend (One Man's Meat Is Another Man's Girlfriend). However, Larry's son Blake is seen attending a lions-only school in episode 1 but then an integrated school with other species in episode 4 (Donkey). These issues are moot, as it's unlikely anyone who worked on the show cared enough to establish canonical answers.

The crews' lack of passion in the project is evident by the lack of continuity. Episode 2 (Larry's Debut, and Sweet Darryl Hannah Too) tells, in real time, the story of how Larry transitions from merely living in Siegfried and Roy's wildlife preserve to being their star performer. However, episode 12 (Stage Fright) contradicts that narrative and establishes that Larry took over from Sarmoti years ago when Larry "saved" Roy from Larry's best friend, the gopher Snack (Orlando Jones), who had become trapped in the special helmet that Roy uses to gas himself while meditating. This episode also establishes that Larry cannot perform due to stage fright induced by the guilt he feels from enjoying the attention of being a star, despite Episode 2 establishing that he had no experience performing at all, and was in fact very bad at it.

While the show's gender roles and marriage spats between Larry and Kate are cliched and typically misogynistic, the show's troubled relationship with homosexuality is more subtle but more deeply disturbing. At the surface, we see a variety of characters, primarily Sarmoti, accusing other men of being gay due to perceived weakness or male affection. However, this takes a much darker note when Sarmoti asks his daughter Kate "when we will stop pretending [my grandson Hunter] isn't gay?" Hunter wears a plastic cone for the entirety of the series, presumably because he has been castrated. No other animal is portrayed as neutered. The only other character with stereotypically "gay" mannerisms is the white tiger Blake (John O'Hurley), an occasional villain, ho is portrayed as very effete. Episode 2 establishes that Blake had been seduced by Roy when Blake was just a child ("cub"). These two moments create a disturbing and perhaps unconscious connection between homosexuality and sexual abuse. Hunter, however, masturbates to his mother's copy of Our Bodies Ourselves in episode 6 (Possession), which is presumably meant to indicate that he is heterosexual, and Blake appears to be married, although it's never firmly established.

1/5 Stars.

Your rating: None Average: 5 (2 votes)

While I don't consider the show a masterpiece or anything, on the whole I found it entertaining and amusing. I certainly wouldn't dump on it like this critic, whose review seems overly obsessed with various characters' sexual orientation and potentially non-heteronormative relationships. I'd probably rate the show 3.5/5.

That said, there's no realistic chance of the show coming back, and no amount of repeat posting here by a latecomer obsessed with the notion is going to change that.

Your rating: None Average: 3 (3 votes)

Anything is possible.

Your rating: None Average: 5 (2 votes)

Anything is absolutely possible.

Your rating: None Average: 3 (3 votes)

http://www.activism.com/en_US/signatures/save-father-of-the-pride/182594/8

Your rating: None Average: 5 (2 votes)

Actually, it is possible it may return one day. Never say never.

Plus, there are actually a majority of people that I know who actually love the series and want it back.

Finally, no need to be so pessimistic.

Your rating: None Average: 2.5 (2 votes)

PLEASE BRING BACK FATHER OF THE PRIDE!!!

Your rating: None Average: 5 (3 votes)

Spamming us here won't bring it back, Anthony. It's been 12 years dude! That's a long time to be stuck in the denial phase.

Your rating: None Average: 2.7 (3 votes)

Equivamp, stop stealing my job!

Your rating: None Average: 5 (2 votes)

Why can't people see the show is really not that bad?

Your rating: None Average: 1.3 (3 votes)

BRING IT BACK!

Your rating: None Average: 3 (3 votes)

I miss this show..

Your rating: None Average: 2 (2 votes)

Sorry, but don't you guys miss the show?

Your rating: None Average: 1.3 (3 votes)

Sorry, but it needs to be said.

FATHER OF THE PRIDE MUST COME BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Your rating: None Average: 3 (3 votes)

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/345/778/039/re-open-imagi-animation-studios/

Your rating: None Average: 3.5 (2 votes)

Please bring this show back!