Trivia / Father of the Pride

• Actor-Inspired Element: Hunter's obsession with the then-new Lord of the Rings movies, particularly him doing the famed "My precious" bit in "Possession," came from Daryl Sabara's own obsession with the movies at the time.
• All-Star Cast: As with most DreamWorks projects, this was one of its selling points. Aside from John Goodman, Carl Reiner and Cheryl Hines in the leads, nearly every guest star is at least an A-Minus-list celebrity.
• Bury Your Art: DreamWorks Animation and show-runner/founder/CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg like to forget this show ever happened, to the point that their website lists The Penguins of Madagascar as their first TV series! ^note Both are actually pre-dated by the short lived 2D show Toonsylvania, but DreamWorks doesn't like to look back on their 2D work either.
• Children Voicing Children: Daryl Sabara as 9-year-old Hunter. Due to Production Lead Time, Sabara was three years older than Hunter by the time the series aired.
• Creator Killer:
  • This was the second of only two animated TV shows that was done by Imagi Studios, who moved on to feature films afterward. Then they did Astro Boy and that was the last anyone heard of them.
  • Along with Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, the show was the last project that DWA head Jeffrey Katzenberg had direct creative input in before he decided to resign to strictly producing.
  • And finally, this killed any chances of DreamWorks Animation doing prime-time television. All future DWA shows that air on television are either on Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network. They would eventually return to season-based series with All Hail King Julien.
• Distanced from Current Events: The show was originally intended as a mid-season replacement, but due to Roy Horn's injury in October 2003, it was delayed until September 2004. This could also explain why some episodes aired Out of Order.
• Fake Nationality: Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn, two Germans, are played by the British Jullian Holloway and American David Herman, respectively. Holloway uses his normal voice as Col. Yum Yum in "Possession."
• Genre-Killer: Along with Tripping the Rift and the equally short-lived Game Over, this show set the bar exceptionally low for fully 3D CGI animation being used for adult-oriented prime time American TV shows and there have been none since.^note Xavier: Renegade Angel came out afterwards, but aired in the watershed hours. Plus, while Pride boasted feature film quality CGI, Xavier deliberately played into the medium's weaknesses for comedic effect. 2D animation (with the occasional 3D effect) continues to reign supreme in TV animation for adults, while All-CGI Cartoons are limited to children's shows.
• I Want You to Meet an Old Friend of Mine: Pauly Shore, whose first two movies were produced by series creator Jeffrey Katzenberg, cameos in "One Man's Meat is Another Man's Girlfriend" as Sierra's boyfriend.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: A complete series DVD, which included all of the aired episodes, two unaired ones and one incomplete one, was released several months after the show was canceled, but quickly went out of print, as DWA wants absolutely nothing to do with the show anymore. It briefly appeared on Netflix in its early streaming days, but has since disappeared from there, and it's only availability since has been the occasional episode floating around YouTube. NBC would eventually add it to its own streaming service Peacock in 2020.
• Missing Episode: Some broadcasts omit the "Panda episode", where Kate tries to matchmake her panda friend Foo Lin to a male panda, who falls for Kate instead.
  • The DVD has two episodes which never aired: "The Siegfried and Roy Fantasy Experience Movie" and "Stage Fright" (the pilot re-cut as an Origins Episode), as well as one episode that was only ever storyboarded.
• Out of Order: The episode where Sarmoti first moves in with Larry and Kate was the second to last episode aired!
• Playing Against Type: In "One Man's Meat is Another Man's Girlfriend," guest star Pauly Shore plays a Nice Jewish Boy (albeit one with a bit of a macho streak), a far cry from his trademark "obnoxious surfer dude" persona.
• Role Reprise: Eddie Murphy voices Donkey in his self-titled episode.
• Schedule Slip: The show went on a weeks-long hiatus after "One Man's Meat is Another Man's Girlfriend" aired due to low ratings. It was canceled a month later and the last three episodes were burned off on a single night in December.
• Throw It In!: All of the actors for the series would often ad-lib while recording their lines.
• Typecasting: Sarmoti's date in "And the Revolution Continues" is a literal and figurative cougar voiced by Jennifer Coolidge, aka the original MILF.
• Unfinished Episode: The episode "The Lost Tale" was not finished when the show got cancelled, and thus is included on the DVD in animatic form.
• What Could Have Been
  • Another network was interested in picking up the show for a smaller budget and with some creative changes a year after it was canceled, but nothing came of it.
  • According to the DVD Commentary, Tommy the coyote would have become a recurring character had the series continued.