Animation Age Ghetto: DreamWorks arguably forced themselves into this by advertising a show explicitly for adult as being "from the producers of Shrek." When it was eventually added to NBC's streaming app, Peacock, it was listed as a children's show. As a result of this, the recommendations that show up if one watched the show include preschool shows like Curious George and Make Way For Noddy.
Cliché Storm: It is really just a typical family sitcom that happens to star the lions in Siegfried & Roy's show.
Dancing Bear: The show was sold on its high-quality computer animation, which, at the time, was considered on-par with DreamWorks Animation's features.
Genius Bonus: In "Catnip and Trust," Sierra tells Mrs. Falvey how she wrote an essay on "the role of lions in early Christianity." Anyone who knows what ancient Romans did to Christians knows that the lions' role was not a flattering one.
Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Literally, in this case. While the show did not air in Germany until well after it was cancelled, it has a small-but-dedicated German fanbase.
Harsher in Hindsight: "Larry's Debut and Sweet Daryl Hannah Too" has a Running Gag of Siegfried holding complete contempt for Today Show host Matt Lauer for the crime of... interrupting people (much to Roy's annoyance). Over a decade later, Lauer would be fired from the show for the actual crime of sexual harassment, making Siegfried's distrust feel less ironic and more justified.
Okay, so we have got an animated sitcom about a suburban family of four, with a snarky teen daughter and her anxiety-riddled younger brother, whose lives are turned upside down when the mother's abrasive, arrogant single father moves in with them, unknowingly takes advantage of her Daddy Issues, belittles his son-in-law, and takes his grandson under his wing in ways that further traumatize him. Where have we heard that before?note Sarmoti is significantly more sane and only slightly more mature than Rick, however.
Kate's line "We live in a civilized community" in "Sarmoti Moves In" sounds like a precursor to the "We livein a society" meme.
Garry Marshall plays Bernie, a friend of Daryl Sabara's grandfather. Two years later, he played Irwin Fiedler, Sabara's grandfather in Keeping Up with the Steins.
Hype Aversion: DreamWorks plugged the show out the wazoo during the 2004 Olympics to the point where everyone was already sick of it when it finally premiered.
Moral Event Horizon: Tom crosses this when he encourages Anthony to beat up on Hunter.
Older Than They Think: This is not the first celebrity toon version of Siegfried and Roy. That would be the Saturday-Morning CartoonSiegfried and Roy: Masters of The Impossible, which cast the titular duo as superheroes. You can be forgiven for not knowing this, however, as its run was even shorter (only four episodes) than this show's.
Overshadowed by Controversy: The show had the misfortune to debut almost immediately after the real life Roy Horn was allegedly attacked onstage by one of his tigersnote There are conflicting reports of exactly what happened. Siegfried and Roy claim that Roy had a stroke on stage and Mantecore was trying to safely carry him off, while one of their assistants claim that Roy had not been working closely enough with Mantecore for him to trust him and he did, indeed, attack him in self-defense.. Despite their insistence that the show continue, many felt it much too awkward at the time. A joke Lampshading this appears in "Possession" where one tiger is shunned because of something unspeakable.
Popular with Furries: Not just popular with them, but furries are perhaps the only demographic making an effort to remember this show.
So Bad, It's Good: It is a clichéd sitcom with nothing new or really interesting to offer, that it is the best target for mockery.
So Okay, It's Average: The consensus seems to be that, outside of the CGI and Funny Animal cast, this is not any more or less special than any average live-action sitcom and that most of the jokes are at best somewhat clever and at worst annoyingly cheesy. While it may be a stretch to call it a Cult Classic, it does still maintain a small but dedicated fanbase.
Squick: One episode features Siegfried getting into an old lady’s pants in order to get her to modify her business.
Lily, who only appeared in one completed episode which was never even aired, is a surprisingly credible depiction of a feminist for a broad comedy like this one, as well as just a pleasant character while still being really funny. The series would have hugely benefited from her being in more episodes. Too bad her debut episode was the last one.
In "Catnip and Trust," Sierra mentions having a boyfriend who is older than her and has a kid. The show's (now-defunct) website even mentioned it in her character profile, implying he would eventually show up, but he never does and the one boy we do see her with is not him.
Despite being siblings, Sierra and Hunter have two exchanges in the entire show and are otherwise barely ever in the same scene together. As such, we never get to learn much about their relationship.
Unintentional Uncanny Valley: That state-of-the-art CGI doesn't really hold up 10+ years later. Most of the problems with early computer animation, such as plastic-looking humans, awkwardly-patched hair and "dead" eyes plague this show. The designs of the big cats, meanwhile, all have an odd mix of realistic animal anatomy, human facial features (the pink lips are a dead giveaway) and cartoon proportions. Some of the more exaggerated characters, such as Sierra and Roy, fair a bit better.
Uncertain Audience: One of the main reasons the show flopped as badly as it did. It was advertised as being from the producers of the family-friendly Shrek films and even had a crossover episode centered around Donkey, but the humor is too raunchy for children. At the same time, much of said humor is too unsophisticated and childish for preteens and above.
Unintentional Period Piece: In addition to the usual contemporary pop culture and technological references, such as TiVo and Dick Cheney being vice president of the United States, there are a few stand-out examples.
A combination of Production Lead Time and the show's release date being held back a year so after Roy Horn of Siegfried and Roy was attacked on-stage by one of the tigers resulted in the show debuting a year after the duo's real-life Las Vegas show closed for good but was still in the general public's consciousness. Horn and Fischbacher's eventual passings in 2020 and 2021 respectively also date the show to a time were they were actually alive.
Larry being a stereotypical middle-aged baby boomer with a teen daughter and adolescent son made sense in 2004, but not during and after The New '10s when even the youngest boomers were in their mid-to-late fifties and early-to-mid sixties and had adult children or even grandchildren.
"Donkey" includes a cross-promotional line about Shrek 3 coming out in 2006, one year earlier than it would eventually come out (and not under that title).
What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: One of the bigger victims. Despite it containing tons of sexual innuendos, it was promoted as a children's show and advertised as "from the producers of Shrek". This actually got the showrunners in a considerable bout of trouble with the Parents Television Council, not helped by its aforementioned Uncertain Audience. Even worse, Peacock classifies it as a children's show, and thus will recommend children's shows like Curious George and Make Way For Noddy to viewers who've watched the show.
Snack, of all characters, becomes this in "One Man's Meat is Another Man's Girlfriend." First, he thinks Candy was eaten by Larry. Turns out she is alive and she dumped him.
Tommy from "Road Trip." He spends most of the episode acting like a hyperactive Plucky Comic Relief. Near the end of the episode, he pretty much solidifies himself as a Sad Clown.
