A Cartoon with Bite
The WASHINGTON POST’s Lisa de Moraes files an amusing report (“On NBC’s Lineup, ‘Pride’ but No Shame”) from NBC’s 2004 upfront for advertisers and critics in which she sardonically notes that it’s the first time a network has used a partially paralyzed mauling victim to help promote a new TV series. Of course, that person was “Siegfried and Roy”‘s Roy Horn, who made an appearance in New York last week to promote DreamWorks’ primetime animated series FATHER OF THE PRIDE. De Moraes writes in the POST:
In clips shown to advertisers, jokes took on a tacky inappropriateness, as when Animated Roy says to Animated Lion Family, “Goodbye my lions, or should I say ‘GRRRRRR!,’ ” as he crouches down and tries to look like a wild cat.
And then she notes Conan O’Brien’s routine about said show:
“He’s been horribly mauled — let’s make a show about it!” O’Brien said, pretending to be an NBC suit, to nervous tittering in the audience.
The article notes that right before FATHER OF THE PRIDE debuts, NBC will broadcast a special hosted by Maria Shriver about Horn, the tiger incident and his recovery.
