March 23, 2007
Caveman TV?
We've all seen the commercials for Geico and love them.
The cavemen being totally pissed off about Geico's slogan, "So easy, a caveman could do it."
A few weeks ago, word slipped out to turn the cavemen into an ABC sitcom, in a half hour slot.
"Cavemen" will revolve around three pre-historic men who must battle prejudice as they attempt to live as normal thirtysomethings in modern Atlanta.
That was it, the cavemen were launched and the next ad we saw, had two cavemen being treated to an elegant dinner by someone from Geico, who is trying desperately to apologize.
One of the cavemen orders the roast duck with mango salsa, and the other one says he has lost his appetite.
The cavemen want people to know they are just like us, not the chest beating, grunting, stereotypical cavemen we've all read about.
The commercials just keep coming, at the therapists office discussing his feelings over the ads, on a news talk show defending his right not to be stereotyped, at the airport being pissed off about yet another poster with the slogan, carrying a wooden tennis racket in a canvas bag.
The music is catchy, he's dressed modern, you can see how this would upset him.
At CavemensCrib.com, we learn a bit more about these guys, their music tastes, as we flip through their ipod, their computer where they are into blogging, we can even read some of their emails.
They have poetry magnets on their fridge in Esperanto, they read Tolstoy, they practice yoga and like Paddy Chayefsky movies.
But is all this funny enough for a half hour sitcom?
Other super high concept sitcoms have worked, Third Rock from the Sun, about aliens who live on earth and can't tell anyone they are aliens, Small Wonder, where their daughter was a robot.
And other ad icons have worked in the past, been able to cross over from 30 second spots to feature length movies and tv specials. Just take Ernest, who started off pushing milk. That character has had much success with movies like Ernest saves Christmas and Ernest goes to jail.
It launched the pitchman, Jim Varney, into a very good career, he's been in many successful films outside of the Ernest fame, like The Beverly Hillbillies, and as a voice work actor in films like Toy Story and Toy Story 2 (as Slinky Dog).
I think the cavemen have potential, but the show can't continuously be about them being victims, being stereotyped as brutish Neanderthals. They will need to branch out from the shtick, and find a way to make these guys appeal to every one in order to last through the first 5 shows.
geico
cavemen