Coming off its Olympics promotional platform, NBC starts the fall TV season early with two new series premieres this week: "Father of the Pride" and "Hawaii."

	'Father of the Pride' When: 9 p.m. Tuesday on NBC. Starring: The voices of John Goodman, Cheryl Hines, Carl Reiner. 'Hawaii' When: 8 p.m. Wednesday on NBC. Starring: Ivan Sergei, Eric Balfour.

Let's start with "Father of the Pride," which looks like a cuddly computer animated comedy about Siegfried and Roy's lions and has been advertised as "from the makers of 'Shrek.' " Should be perfect for children, right? WRONG!

"Pride" showcases innuendo and adult humor as it chronicles the home life of Larry (voiced by John Goodman) and Kate (voiced by Cheryl Hines), two mated lions who appear in the act made famous by Siegfried & Roy in Las Vegas.

In Tuesday's premiere, Larry is thrilled that Kate is in heat.

"Big Daddy's home and he's ready for lovin," Larry says. "It may be 9 o'clock in New York, but right here it's mountin' time."

Later a monkey refers to his wife with the rhymes-with-witch B-word.

The plot of the premiere follows the efforts of Larry and Kate to get a new panda, Nelson (voiced by Andy Richter), to mate with Kate's "fat, over 30, virgin" panda best friend (voiced by Lisa Kudrow).

"Pride" does provide some laughs (Nelson says "Bong Bong," as Siegfried & Roy call him, is his "slave name") as it mixes pop culture references with typical domestic sitcom stories.

In an upcoming episode, Kate finds catnip, which substitutes for marijuana in the feline world, in daughter Sierra's room.

"She's a teenager, she's bound to experiment," Larry says.

"Bound to experiment?" rages Kate's dad, Sarmoti (voiced by Carl Reiner). "Way to parent with authority. Call me when she's pregnant."

Here's the biggest problem with "Pride": It started with a concept. NBC executives saw the success of the first "Shrek" and wanted to do a weekly computer-animated TV series. They had to wait for computer technology to catch up with that idea, but when it did, the show remained a concept in search of a story. The best TV shows are those that have characters viewers care about, get invested in and want to spend time with.

"Pride" can be an amusing, semi-irreverent diversion, but in the first two episodes, I didn't care about any of the characters because not enough care was put into crafting them as individuals. They're all types we've seen before.

Speaking of types we've seen before, NBC's "Hawaii" is packed to its tropical brim with them.

You've got the detectives who are Young Crazy Partners (Ivan Sergei and Eric Balfour), the Newbie (Sharif Atkins) and the Grizzled Veteran (Michael Biehn) with a dark past.

When a portion of a disembodied torso turns up in a lava flow, the medical examiner declares it a murder because the head was decapitated before the body hit the lava.

"That's a homicide," says Young Crazy Partner No. 1.

"That's a homicide," echoes Young Crazy Partner No. 2, a little too gleefully.

Add in a love triangle on the police force, car chases in civilian vehicles and detectives who wear casual Friday wardrobes daily and you've got the primary ingredients for this attempt at a light-hearted, entertaining cop show.

The landscape is beautiful, the stars are beautiful, but watching "Hawaii" is like staring at a department store window: Everyone wears cool clothes, the scene is hip and tries to look fun, but there's not much substance to any of it.