NBC’s ‘Pride’ takes Tuesday

Tuesday’s premiere of “Father of the Pride” showed some bite but nothing close to a roar as it kicked off NBC’s early-starting, Olympics-boosted fall season.

The savagely reviewed computer-animated comedy attracted 12.3 million viewers, tops for the night, and also won among the key demographic of 18- to 49-year-olds. NBC noted that its performance in that demographic was the best for any nonsports program on any network since May.

But the show was expected to do better, particularly given the intense promotion the DreamWorks-produced series received during NBC’s two weeks of Olympics coverage. Of the 16 fall comedies NBC has unveiled since 1999, “Father of the Pride’s” opening ratings rank 13th, and only one of those other shows, “Scrubs,” is still on the air.