==WATCH FATHER OF THE PRIDE AT 9 PM EDT==

From my dear friend Laura:

Hello, all.

Well, it's finally here.  After about 16 months, 13 episodes, countless late nights and one tiger "accident" (Um, Roy fell down, the tiger was just helping him up...), "Father of the Pride" premieres tomorrow night on NBC at 9pm Eastern and Pacific. As most of you know, I'm the script coordinator on the show, which means I spend all of my time with the show's writers, and they've been great to me. As the episodes come out over the next couple of weeks, you'll even hear some jokes pitched by yours truly.  And the alligator you'll see skating by in the opening credits?  My idea.

So what is this show, in case you missed the promos they showed during the Olympics?  "Father of the Pride" is a computer animated, beautiful-to-look-at family sitcom about a group of lions who live in Las Vegas and work for Siegfried and Roy.  I might be biased, but I happen to think that the show is smart and funny, featuring, among other things, two hilarious German magicians/superheroes, and a lot of angry primates.

Trust me, when I first heard the idea, I thought "what the hell?" But the show has turned out to be great, and the episodes just get better and better as they go along.  As well as our main cast members, we've got wonderful guest stars, including Andy Richter and Lisa Kudrow playing pandas in our first episode, Eddie Murphy as Donkey from "Shrek", Danny DeVito as a lobster who thinks he is a political prisoner, and David Spade as a stoned coyote desert guide. We've had a lot of fun here.

I hope you're all tune in and check it out - NBC is even going to be showing it commercial-free tomorrow night.  They'll also be repeating it a few times this week for those of you who miss it tomorrow. I hope you enjoy the show.  Let me know what you think!

Love, Laura