Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Prince’ On HBO Max, An Animated Series That Parodies Prince George And The Rest Of The Royal Family

The new HBO Max animated series The Prince made headlines a few months ago when the service delayed the premiere after England’s Prince Philip died at the ripe old age of 99. But there was really no word of when the service would premiere the series. Then, suddenly, they announced the show’s July 29th premiere …. on July 28th. Yes, that’s a bad sign. But is the service’s lack of fanfare for the show justified?

THE PRINCE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: After a disclaimer that reminds people that The Prince is a satire, we see the British royal family around the dining room table, with two seats empty. Prince Charles (Dan Stevens) sips his tea and says, “Pleasant weather?” Queen Elizabeth (Frances de la Tour) pounds her fists on the table and says to Charles and his silent wife Camilla, “Stop jabbering, you two! We’re not Italians!”

The Gist: Prince George (Gary Janetti), the 8-year-old son of Prince William (Iwan Rheon) and Kate Middleton (Lucy Punch), is a tiny tyrant who is obesessed with social media and treats his manservant Owen (Alan Cumming) poorly, making the poor man jump through hoops at every whim. He sucks up to his “gan gan”, the Queen, while essentially ignoring his parents and grandparents. And he’s in a bitter rivalry with his little sister, Princess Charlotte (Sophie Turner).

At this moment, he’s obsessed that Kelly Ripa, who he follows on Instagram, isn’t following him back. He hatches a plan to get her attention: He’ll ask the Queen to install Ripa as a Dame. All the queen is interested in is getting her favorite dessert, the Flummery tart, at the investiture ceremony. The Flummery tarts are apparently made by some wrinkly, no-eyed humanoids that have reproduced over the decades; they all live under Buckingham Palace in a pitch-dark dungeon, making the tarts by feel.

When someone asks how Prince Harry (Orlando Bloom) and Meghan Markle (Condola Rashad) are doing, we flash to their life in Los Angeles, at the “Melrose Apartments.” Harry is amazed at how the refrigerator works, and Meghan is just happy to be back, though she knows the two of them need to get jobs now.

Ripa (playing herself) is indeed invited to the investiture ceremony, but has no idea why she’s getting the title of Dame. When she meets George, though, he persuades her to follow him on the ‘Gram.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The Prince certainly has the look and tone of Family Guy (Janetti, who created the series, was a producer on FG); Prince George could be a cousin of Stewie Griffin, they’re so alike.

Our Take: After delaying the debut of The Prince after Prince Philip’s death, HBO Max snuck the first season onto the service with little fanfare on July 29. It could be because they wanted to be sensitive to what’s going on with the royals, as the series shows Philip (Stevens) as a decrepit old man who can’t speak or move. But our guess is that HBO Max debuted the show without any fanfare because it’s just not very funny.

Janetti, who is also a veteran of Will & Grace, portrays the royals as a dysfunctional family that has no concept of what things are like in the outside world. Um, that’s not much of a parody, is it? The Queen is insolent, daffy and prone to violence; Charles is a big pussy and Camilla doesn’t speak; William has weird teeth, and Kate wonders just why she married into this family in the first place.

Many of the gags relating to the adult characters fall completely flat, mainly because to make them even remotely satirical, they have to be completely outlandish. The only two adult royals that elicit laughs are Harry and Meghan, mostly because of the (probably true) characterization that Harry was so coddled as a prince that he has no idea where to shop for a carton of milk.

So the real comedy is left to William’s kids, who of course are so well-protected from the media that they’re blank slates for Janetti. We know that Charlotte is in contact with someone that she doesn’t want anyone to know about, but that’s it. And George? As we said above, he’s Stewie Griffin without the football-shaped head. It felt like it was too easy for Janetti to go the little tyrant route, but that’s what he ended up doing. It’s just too easy to satirize the tot as a hellion who treats people with disdain and contempt, rather than make him an angsty kid that has no idea how to conduct himself in his weird family.

There are some things that we did like about the show, mainly the fact that there are continuing story threads throughout the 12-14-minute episodes, such as the plight of the Flummery tart chefs and a “play date” party that George wants Charlotte to stay away from. But those elements don’t make the gags any funnier, or cover up the fact that it’s hard to parody a family that’s already being dunked on by people on social media on a daily basis.

Sex and Skin: Nothing.

Parting Shot: As George charitably likes a picture on Owen’s Instagram, he tells his Google speaker to play Lady Gaga.

Sleeper Star: Kelly Ripa won’t be the only guest voice playing themselves; one episode includes Andy Cohen and basically the entire cast of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, for instance.

Most Pilot-y Line: Yes, we know HBO Max allows more liberal language, but leaning on f-bombs for punchlines is the epitome of a writing staff that’s short on ideas.

Our Call: SKIP IT. The Prince is essentially a royal version of Family Guy, and not nearly as biting or funny as Janetti’s former series is.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.

Stream The Prince On HBO Max