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Pondering the existence of 'Cavemen'
After the first pilot for Cavemen got (excuse the pun) savaged by the continent's critics at the summer press tour, ABC decided not to send out advance copies for review ahead of Tuesday night's premiere.
Good call by the network, because Cavemen is a thuddingly unfunny show. Based ("in part," the closing credits say) on the Geico insurance ads, the show stretches the premise of the ads -- basically, cavemen are people too, so stop picking on them -- into a very dull half-hour.
The first pilot had elements of a racial allegory as well, with the "cro-maggers" standing in for any minority group. It was borderline offensive, and also not funny, but at least it was reaching for something. What aired Tuesday came straight from Sitcoms 101, as our hero, Joel (Bill English), lets roommate Nick (Nick Kroll) convince him that Joel's girlfriend, Kate (Kaitlin Doubleday), is hiding him from her friends.
There's not much more to say about it -- it's not worth the energy. What really makes me scratch my head, though, is how something like Cavemen ends up on the air in the first place.
ABC hasn't turned out a half-hour comedy hit in a good while. The network has introduced nine comedies over the past two seasons, and exactly one -- Notes from the Underbelly -- has survived to see a second season. Even on those occasions when the show was pretty good (Sons & Daughters, The Knights of Prosperity), bad timeslots, a lack of compatible shows and uneven promotion doomed them.
As word that ABC was developing a show based on the Geico ads filtered into the media last spring, the collective reaction was, essentially, "Really?," followed by "There's no way that ever makes it on the air." Then as the upfronts approached, buzz began to build that the network would actually pick up the show, causing a more emphatic "Really? I mean, really?"
It's hard to believe that of the more than 15 comedy pilots ABC ordered last spring, there wasn't something better in that group. (And, in fact, ABC still thinks a couple of those may have potential, having extended cast options on shows called The Hill and The Middle.) And it's not as if the comedy team at the network is incapable of recognizing good shows -- among ABC's other new half-hours, Samantha Who? is in fact pretty charming.
It's one thing to get excited by an idea and order up a pilot. But there are so many filters a show has to make it through to get on the air, you have to wonder how no one at ABC ever said, "Wait a second. This isn't funny."
There were a lot of movies based on one-joke Saturday Night Live characters foisted on us in the early and mid-'90s. But even the folks who gave us It's Pat and Stuart Saves His Family never thought there was enough material to stretch "Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer" into anything longer than four-minute sketch.
I watched it just to see for myself, and it was truly awful.
Jason | Oct 3, 2007 8:29:15 AM | #The show is hilarious, yes, I will agree that the story line is simple, but the lifestyle is dead-on, not forced in ways that other sitcoms try to be. As if car pooling is some sort of lifestyle that some even considers important in their own life. Are the over done café scene of every sitcom . The girlfriend plot line though simple is better at least when your introducing characters and setting of bachelor’s.
For the moment cavemen friendships are believable. Most comedy shows have characters whose flaws are so over the top you have to wonder why anyone would allow them into their social group. An example would be a good friend who robs your house to steal a toaster. There is also the good friend who is a loud mouth chauvnists; one in particular is the doogie howesier’s character on CBS. I know people who would drop life long friends if those friends hung around people like that. What makes the character more annoying is the long diatribe of these characters, as if even a psychiatrist would sit through one rant let alone a friend. And always at the end of the episode they gain a moment of unbelievable insight or lame rationalizations. No one I know is that callous and then sudden self-aware, and if they where, I kind of find them strange in serial killer sort of way. With the exception of positions of power, such as the "The Office" -which is actually funny and watch able- no one could be so obnoxious and more to the point mean spirited, and still have friendships. If the friendship is not believable then the story line will not work.
Hopeful the show will not go overboard on characterization but the first episode is a great start, and I am looking forward to the next showing.
It wasn't even campy ... it was just boring. I thought the only chance it might have is if it was really campy/silly or something like that, but it was just boring. Spike Feresten did a parody of the show last Saturday that was way more entertaining than this dumb show.
Don R. | Oct 3, 2007 10:21:49 AM | #I saw the Cavemen pilot and I agree, it was pretty boring, but check out what I found:
Other Failed Ad Icon Sitcoms
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PIlNuoZz1E
The Geico ‘Cavemen’ sitcom wasn’t the only failed show based on a commercial character. In 2004, the Verizon 'Can You Hear Me Now Guy' had an hour long drama pilot. Fred The Baker of Dunkin Donuts fame, had a 80's sitcom ala Cheers and the Weiner Mobile starred in its own crime thriller. Watch these uncovered clips...
Any show whose main series conflict can be resolved with a pair of scissors and a razor is not a series. Why don't they just shave?! Oh, yeah, and it's not funny.
Steve | Oct 3, 2007 11:35:03 AM | #Cavemen? How about Cancelled Men?
Nancy | Oct 3, 2007 11:38:37 AM | #ABC couldn't mount a comedy if comedy was a hooker and ABC was a John.
Joe | Oct 3, 2007 11:39:47 AM | #Cavemen makes me long for the days of Emily's Reasons Why Not. All two of them.
Francis K | Oct 3, 2007 11:41:13 AM | #Why does ABC need to put on another show about Cavemen when Jim Belushi's still on TV?
Mario | Oct 3, 2007 11:50:54 AM | #If you drink the PC Kool-Aid, you won't like it. If you were hoping for something that took on or mocked the PC establishment, you'll be disappointed.
**Intelligent television is a relative term**
So unfunny! It wasn't even mildly entertaining. I kept waiting for it to kick in or do something, and nothing ever happened. They should have taken a page from the "Munsters" playbook. Same premise, different characters. Wonder if this will actually hurt the successful Geico ad campaign. That would be the biggest shame.
Joe Turner | Oct 3, 2007 1:01:51 PM | #I loved the Geico ads. A couple of the ad cavemen were hairly attractive. I gave the show 15 minutes of my time till I realized I would have rather have gone to the dentist.
Maybe if they used the commerical actors it might have a slight chance.
The "I don't speak English" line was funny. The Wikipedia / dissertation crack was amusing. The James Blount jibe was spot on. Hence I got three more chuckles out of this program than I did out of the pilot for Back to You, the very definition of an critical darling from day one, based largely on the reputations of those involved, not on the actual content produced. Frazier or Cheers on its worst day was far better than Back to You has been conceivably at its best thus far. A little outside the box thinking on another way too inside the box column.
Captain Caveman | Oct 3, 2007 4:23:05 PM | #Ron M | Oct 3, 2007 6:48:35 PM | #
What really struck me was that the cavemen themselves said nothing that was funny. The only good laughs came from Julie White and that goofy blonde guy.
Ron M | Oct 3, 2007 6:49:45 PM | #The commericals are funnier.
rita | Oct 3, 2007 9:57:58 PM | #Dear Capt. Caveman: Back to You, while far from perfect, is sooo much funnier than Cavemen. You were correct about which spots in Cavemen were mildly amusing, if only because at some point when you watch a train wreck of a show like that, you start to feel bad for it and let out a few sympathy grunts once in a while.
A | Oct 3, 2007 10:28:22 PM | #Did Disney buy ABC just to destroy it????????????
Everything has gone "to pot" since the purchase. One or two new shows show promise but that does not a network make. A Harvard TEACHING degree hardly qualifies one to run a network.
Get qualified people. Case in point, Dennis Frons. He did NOT raise the ratings on Soaps, yet he was promoted to Daytime promgrammer. No progress but ANOTHER promotion!
Autumn
wow, it's like they made another bad spin-off of seinfeld, but with cavemen and not michael richards.
What a disappointment. I loved the Geico ads. I was really looking forward to see the show. I think the cavemen characters they chose to play the part couldn't have been worse. They should have used the Geico cavemen< but it doesn't stand a chance with that pathetic story line. I almost made it through the pilot, but couldn't hold on, so unless the last five minutes produced something like the grand finale at a fireworks show, this is a ten fingers and ten toes down flop. It want make it through this season unless they are contractually bound to do so.
RR | Oct 6, 2007 1:54:20 PM | #I was over the Cavemen before their second Geico commercial! Seriously, there needs to be a lot of firing going on this season at ABC!!
eahilbert | Oct 10, 2007 4:44:07 AM | #I totally agree, talk about scraping the barrel for ideas, there is NOTHING original about this show, it's just a show about some really grungy looking guys, nothing to do with 'cavemen' it was a silly gimic that went nowhere. Amazing what can get on the air these days!
Mary Ann | Oct 14, 2007 10:55:30 AM | #I can't believe this Caveman show made it on the air. Total garbage TV!
Wayne Geddes p.land | Oct 17, 2007 10:31:15 PM | #I loved Caveman. Excellent show. When is it on DVD?
brian birchall, alberta rancher | Oct 17, 2007 10:33:12 PM | #
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