SEATTLE — You can add “executive producer of an animated series” to the resume of TODAY co-host Savannah Guthrie.
“Princess Power” on Netflix is designed for pre-school viewers and based on the best-selling book “Princesses Wear Pants” written by Guthrie and Allison Oppenheim.
Entertainment reporter Kim Holcomb spoke with them and showrunner Elise Allen.
HOLCOMB: "I work for our 'Evening' lifestyle and entertainment show, so waking before dawn is not usually on my Bingo card. I literally don't know how you do this every day. Is this nature, is this professional nurture?”
GUTHRIE: “All these hours before noon, yes they exist. You didn't know that, Kim, because you're the nighttime reporter! I'm definitely a morning person. It's good for this job. (And) put a little shot of espresso in your coffee. Hoda and I put in an extra shot every morning, pro tip."
HOLCOMB: "There's been a lot of backlash against little girls embracing princesses over the past few years — but this is not anti-princess."
OPPENHEIM: "We didn't want the girls to have to choose, because we didn't want to choose. We love our fashion, as you can see. But that's not what they're about. They have an opportunity as real princesses do to be a woman in a leadership role with a big job and a big responsibility to take care of her community."
GUTHRIE: "I think we're just trying to go a little deeper. We're trying to say you should sparkle on the outside and the inside."
HOLCOMB: "And there’s the notion we're not just one thing. Have you been pigeonholed in your life, Savannah, where you felt like, 'They're trying to make me this one thing and I'm more than this?'”
GUTHRIE: “I don't think anyone ever tried to make me be one thing, but I think maybe sometimes, especially early on in my career, I thought I should be a different way. I thought I should be a newscaster with a very smooth voice, and my hair should look a certain way, and unfortunately for me neither was true, I didn't fit that mold at all, and it's just a miracle that I've been able to stay in this business all those years. But I think sometimes it's the mold that we put ourselves into, the expectations that we think we have, and it takes a long time sometimes to say, 'You know I think I just have to have this voice.' And the older you get, hopefully with time, you say, 'That's good enough.'"
HOLCOMB: "The show also features the voice of one of my heroes — Rita Moreno.”
ALLEN: “She is amazing! She is a true queen, she was absolutely incredible every time she stepped into the (audio) booth.”
GUTHRIE: “I flipped out when they said Rita Moreno was going to voice one of the characters. They had to scrape me off the floor from joy and shock.”
OPPENHEIM: “That is true.”
HOLCOMB: "Any mom has experienced the mind-numbing programming that our kids can watch, so how did you try to make this for everyone in the household?”
OPPENHEIM: “It was very important to Savannah and I that this be a show parents want to watch with their kids."
GUTHRIE: "And each episode is about 12 minutes so, you're welcome."
All 14 episodes of “Princess Power” are now streaming on Netflix.
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