MUMBAI: Computer generated image (CGI) technology has made a major impression on the silver screen over the last couple of years. Shrek won Dreamworks an Oscar. Ice Age proved to be a monster hit for Rupert Murdoch's Fox last year. It was only a matter of time before the concept came to television.

US network NBC has teamed up with DreamWorks for what is a first on television, namely a primetime series made only using computer-generated images.

A Reuters report indicates that the show, titled Father of the Pride, will deal with the foibles of a family (albeit animals) with plenty of tongue-in-cheek humour. The half-hour series will revolve around the competition between a family of snobbish white tigers and a white lion pride featured in the Siegfried & Roy theatre act. The Las Vegas show is filled with elaborate sets, costumes, illusions, and live exotic animals. The NBC Dreamworks TV show will debut next year.

CGI has blown away the old fashioned technique of animated drawings. Besides the kids the above-mentioned CGI feature films have managed to hook in the adults and that is something NBC and Jeffrey Katzenberg no doubt must be hoping for.

Readers will recall that the CGI technique came into prominence in 1995 with the release of Toy Story. Through painstaking work involving hours of research the production team was able to make the facial features and movements of Woody and Buzz Lightyear somewhat resemble Tom Hanks and Tim Allen who memorably voiced the characters.

Katzenberg, Steven Spielberg and the rest of the Dreamworks gang are obviously looking to push the envelope regarding the work possible with CGI. The project will mean that the studio will have to stay in front regarding the latest advancements in CGI.