By John Maynard
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 8, 2007

Snoop Dogg may still cling to the gangster image in his music, but pretty much everywhere else he purrs like a big ol' pussycat.

Snoop plays golf in a TV commercial as he shills for Chrysler. He voices animated characters like Lightning the horse in "Racing Stripes." He guest-stars on sitcoms and does daytime talk shows.

The softening of Snoop continues tomorrow night with the premiere of the E! network reality series "Snoop Dogg's Father Hood," which shows the lighter side of the former Crip and ex-con now living L.A.'s suburban life with his wife, three kids and assorted hangers-on.

"Hood" is such a sloppy, awkwardly staged affair, though, that the rapper's charm can't lift the show above the cliche.

"Father Hood" follows a played-out formula that started five years ago with MTV's seminal series "The Osbournes": Take one rich celebrity with a hardened image, plop him in his own home, casting him as the big-time pushover while the wife and kids rule the roost.

The punch line is always the same, and although it was fun and new with "The Osbournes," it grew all too predictable with VH1's "Hogan Knows Best" with wrestler Hulk Hogan, A&E's "Gene Simmons Family Jewels" and MTV's "Run's House," featuring Run-DMC's Rev Run.

"Father Hood" seldom deviates from that script. Snoop -- yes, the same Snoop who's been known to lead female companions around on a dog leash -- refers to wife Shante as the "boss lady," and he looks baffled by his three rambunctious kids: sons Corde, 13, and Cordell, 10, and cute-as-a-button daughter Cori, 8.

In the show's opener, Snoop complains to everyone within earshot about how messy the house is and sheepishly tries to get the family to clean up -- but by show's end, it's Snoop holding the vacuum.

Although Snoop is a natural in front of the camera, and does deliver a few funny moments, his family members seem confused, not really sure whether to act or to just try to be themselves. Mostly, they play to the stereotype of the smart-alecky kids, who engage in burping contests and generally just drive Dad crazy.

No one should mistake "Father Hood" for a true, documentary-style reality series; so many of the situations obviously are set up for comedic effect. Snoop goes to the doctor! Snoop goes to a barbecue joint with David Beckham!

Although the humor works sporadically (Snoop doing yoga is genuinely funny), mostly it falls flat, and the show feels like a bad sitcom.

"This ain't the Huxtables," Snoop raps in the show's opening song.

No, it sure ain't, and viewers would be better off switching from "Father Hood" and finding the nearest "Cosby Show" rerun.

Snoop Dogg's Father Hood (30 minutes) premieres tomorrow night at 10:30 on E!