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

Ah, but which country? Tony's Canadian.

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.