Exec producers Jeffrey Katzenberg (left) and Jonathan Groff are hoping their Father of the Pride gets a sophomore year and doesn’t end up in The Simpsons’ cartoon graveyard.

Katzenberg goes on to describe “expensive but not prohibitive” as costing “more — a lot more” than a conventional sitcom. What NBC is getting for its money is a computer-animated half-hour about the backstage lives of the animals in Siegfried and Roy’s Las Vegas act. The show’s already raised a few eyebrows over its cartoon animals spouting risqué dialog, leading exec producer Jonathan Groff to respond, “We’re not trying to walk both sides of the street. It’s an 18-49 show — they’ve been very clear about saying it’s targeted for adults. It airs in the 9:00 pm slot, the same as Will and Grace, Scrubs or Frasier, all these adult, sophisticated things. There are plenty of Pride episodes you can watch with the kids, but seven-, eight- or nine-year-olds shouldn’t be watching NBC at 9:00 pm.”

The focus of the show is on a mom-dad-and-the-kids family of white lions, led by John Goodman-voiced Larry. It’s a classic sitcom set-up (albeit in animal drag) that Groff ascribes to the necessity of providing viewers “an entry point.” “The characters are recognizable in a human dimension in their relationships, because that’s really important. People need a way in. Otherwise it’s not grounded and there’s no rules.” Facing the balancing act that shows like The Simpsons have dealt with for years, Groff says, “the greater danger for us in terms of a business proposition was to make a soft family show. One of the reasons we’ve taken some heat for this is nobody’s ever done a CGI show for grown-ups before. People who were 10 years old when Toy Story came out are 21 now. They’re our target audience — there’s no reason you can’t use CGI to tell an adult story.”

Groff credits CGI with providing a subtle level of acting beyond the reach of 2D animation, saying “You can do a more recognizably NBC-feeling show in terms of sophisticated adult acting if you do it in 3D.” Indeed, there are numerous moments when a character raises an eyebrow or curls a mouth with subtle and genuine emotion. At other times however, Groff acknowledges that the animation — produced by the Hong Kong-based Imagi — is still evolving, with characters occasionally looking rubbery or sporting fur textures that appear painted on.

“Raman Hui was DreamWorks’ lead animator on Shrek in Shrek 2,” says Groff. “He’s been over there supervising the animation and doing training all year. The animators are making strides in leaps and bounds. We’re learning in terms of guiding them and being clear about what we want. David Spade is playing a coyote in a later episode — they got some really great acting on him.”

Even before it aired, Father of the Pride survived a pre-emptive brush with cancellation when Roy Horn was mauled by one of his show’s tigers. “The attack was devastating,” Katzenberg recalls; his personal friendship with Siegfried and Roy, and his appreciation for their act was one catalyst for the show’s creation. “For a month or more Roy was fighting for his life. We didn’t know if we were coming or going. There was no chance of doing the show if he didn’t pull through of course.” CGI versions of the Germanic duo (voiced by others) figure prominently in the show, their comic bickering often providing the episode’s B story.

The animation in Father of the Pride, produced by the Hong Kong-based Imagi, is still evolving. © DreamWorks.

While Father of the Pride‘s fate is currently up in the air, both Katzenberg and Groff are optimistic. Groff points to the show’s steady ratings, and an early go-ahead from NBC to start work on season two scripts. “The network seems real happy. They’ve been great on this project, they’ve supported and promoted it, and given us some real attention. It’s doing really well — better than anything has done in that time spot for them. It’s bringing in a young audience, a lot of 18-34 within the 18-49.” (According to NBC publicity, the show has been exceeding Frasier‘s numbers in the same timeslot the year before.) Katzenberg expects word on a possible renewal in, “a month or so. We need the lead time for next year; right now I don’t know, and I don’t want to jinx it.”

Last year, and to great fanfare, Spike TV unveiled a primetime animation block called The Strip; this year, Stripperella, Gary the Rat and Ren & Stimpy’s Adult Cartoon Party are nowhere to be seen. A network spokesperson explains that those series, “have had their run. There still might be one or two Ren & Stimpy’s in the pipeline, but programming hasn’t put them on the schedule yet.”

Spike hasn’t given up entirely on `toons. Howard Stern’s high school show is now set for a 2005 premiere, and six episodes of Klasky-Csupo’s Immigrants series will air in November. “We’re really excited about animation — there’ll always be animation on Spike,” says the spokesperson. “We won’t have our schedule in place until January; right now we’re still figuring out if there’ll be a new animation strip or not.” The network has more animated series in development that may see the light of day later next year or in 2006.