That old TV curmudgeon, Alan Brady, returns to the tube in a brand new computer-animated special, The Alan Brady Show, premiering August 17, 2003 on TV Land (10:00-10:30 pm). VFXWorld editor Bill Desowitz recently spoke to the always-funny Carl Reiner, creator and producer of the legendary sitcom that has been given new life on TV Land, about his first foray into computer-animation and the thrills of voice over work.

Alan Brady may have a new look, but he’s the same old curmudgeon. © TV Land.

Bill Desowitz: What was it was like working with computer animation for the first time?

Carl Reiner: As a matter of fact, the only time I worked with it was to get some of the sound right. I was absolutely amazed when I came into that compound and saw 12 people working on it — each one working on a leg or a foot, a grid. I couldn’t believe that people know how to do that. It’s very sophisticated and also frustrating for people who are used to saying, ‘Put that line here.’ When you put it into the computer, you don’t move lines around that fast. Painstaking. And we’re lucky to have people who don’t feel the pain of the staking.

BD: Why did it take three years to get this going?

CR: Well, I think what happened was that they were looking for different ways to present this material. At one point they even had puppets. They had 10 people dressed in black with their arms in sleeves. I mean, I do applaud [TV Land] for being so dedicated to making this happen. The stick-to-itiveness that they had. They researched cartooning, they went to different countries and they finally came up with this…

BD: Yeah, this unique look that has been termed 2-1/2D, which is very flat and monochromatic, just like a sitcom would look if you computer-animated it.

CR: Now that’s your business, so you know all about animation. My wife (Estelle) is not a big animated person, so we don’t go that often. But when I do see it, like the Toy Story movies or the Shreks, I’ve been very impressed.

Impressed with Shrek, Reiner signs onto DreamWorks’ animated TV series Father of the Pride.

BD: Speaking of DreamWorks, I understand that you’re one of the voice over stars of their upcoming NBC pilot, Father of the Pride, in which you play a curmudgeonly lion from the Siegfried & Roy show with son-in-law problems.

CR: Yes, as matter of fact, we go in next week and record two more episodes. We’ve run the first one and it looks like that’s going to be OK.

BD: There’s even an homage to Alan Brady where the lion loses his toupee on stage.

CR: Yeah, I saw the toupee. They not only did a rendering but they did cement statues of every character. He’s so cute, this big, old lion. He’s lost his hair in the back.

BD: I understand it takes nine months to produce one episode.

CR: These forward-thinking people who climb mountains, know they’re going to get there or don’t know they’re going to get there. I applaud them.