'Pride' not for kids
"Father of the Pride" — at least the episode screened here for critics — is also one sex joke after another and completely inappropriate for young children, even if it is about the animals who perform in the now-defunct Siegfried and Roy act in Las Vegas. It's inappropriate even for not-so-young children.
Executive producer Jeffrey Katzenberg demonstrated his Hollywood Elite-ism when he repeatedly insisted that there's absolutely no conflict between those two facts.
"Well, I'll tell you what — this was a show that was created and designed in every respect for an 18- to 49-year-old audience," said Katzenberg, the former Disney executive who's one of the founding partners in DreamWorks SKG and the man behind movies such as "Shrek." "It's not a children's show. NBC scheduled this show at 9 o'clock at night (on Tuesdays), very specifically to ensure that the viewing audience, particularly parents, not be confused."
Whether scheduling a show at 9 p.m. would prevent kids from watching it is questionable. But, like so many in the TV branch of the Hollywood Elite, Katzenberg is oblivious to the fact that in half the country — the Central and Mountain time zones — the show will air at 8 p.m. when lots of little kids (and even more not-so-little kids) are still watching TV.
"I applaud NBC for scheduling it at 9 o'clock," he said. "There is no better signal to give to the world about what its intention is and who it is intended for."
Yes, NBC is soooo concerned about young viewers. That's why "Friends" aired at 7 p.m. and "Will & Grace" at 7:30 p.m.
Scheduling isn't the only problem with "Father of the Pride." Again, the episode that critics were shown was replete with sexual jokes — many far too graphic to reprint in a family newspaper. And Katzenberg can say, "This is not a show for children," as many times as he wants, but that doesn't change the fact that kids are going to want to watch those cute, cuddly, animated animals.
It's like when Comedy Central execs insisted that "South Park" wasn't marketed to children . . . and then they sold plush toys of the characters to, well, children.
"I really don't share that concern" that parents won't get the message and kids will end up watching "Father of the Pride," Katzenberg said. And, in a perfect world, parents would police their kids' viewing habits.
But that's simply not true. The reason Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" at the Super Bowl caused such a sensation wasn't so much the event itself but because so many parents don't pay attention to what their kids are seeing on TV.
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