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10/3: Cavemen review
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If you want to bet money on which shows are guaranteed to die before Christmas, place your moulah on “Cavemen.” While movie studios will often shield films from critics they consider dogs or flicks that don’t need reviews (e.g. horror movies, anything starring Pauly Shore), TV studios usually send out most anything, no matter how decrepit. But in this case, ABC didn’t bother with “Cavemen,” at least the one that aired tonight. They did send out a pilot in June that was so abysmally bad that ABC dumped it and started over again. They haven’t even been able to keep the fictional locale straight, moving it from Atlanta to Virginia Beach to Atlanta to San Diego. We in Atlanta should be grateful.
So ultimately, how was the revised “Cavemen”? The humor is less physical, less broad and less tied to black stereotypes than the one nobody will ever have to see. But it’s also not any funnier. Actor John Hurt is gone, too. Lucky bastard. The only notable thing is that it will be a fine time capsule of 2007, with references to text messaging, James Blunt, the Wii game system, panini presses, online passwords, R. Kelly’s “Trapped in the Closet,” wikipedia and sudoku. Oh, and they play squash and order biscotti and cafe machiatto. But they face discrimination, too. Someone says “Yabba Dabba Doo” to their face. A real estate agent with a Southern accent who knows Joel and Nick can’t differentiate the two. An employee at a fake Ikea, watching Nick get angry, says, “You’re not going to bite me, are you?”
There are three main cavemen characters: Nick, a writer dating a “sape,” meaning a non-caveman. There’s Joel, the skeptical, cynical date-your-own-kind one (“Crave the cave!” he burbles at one point.). And there’s a new character Andy, who has moved in after breaking up with his girlfriend. In the pilot, they had kind of a doofus caveman character but replacement Andy is smart. In fact, none of them are stupid, as if to prove that cavemen are not truly Neanderthals. Isn’t this the pointless “point” that was already revealed in much wittier fashion in the Geico commercials?
UPDATE: Ratings were better than I expected: 9 million viewers. But the key is how it does the next couple of weeks. If it maintains at least 8 million viewers a week, it will survive. If it drops below 6 million by week three, it’s a goner.
Comments
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By Denise Tyson
October 3, 2007 8:12 AM | Link to this
I love the Geico ads with those cavemen and was eagerly awaiting the move to their own show. I watched the pilot episode last night and did not find it funny at all. Sad to say but I too don’t think this comedy will last long.
By Steeledawg
October 3, 2007 9:04 AM | Link to this
While this was show was not exactly the second coming of Seinfeld, Cavemen was not as bad as I had expected, and certainly better than Carpoolers. I think the premise of the show has potential, but the writing needs to improve drastically.
By jungleland
October 3, 2007 10:38 AM | Link to this
Might have made a decent Comedy Central movie, but there is no way they have enough to make a series out of this.
Southpark will have a field day with this!
By The K
October 3, 2007 11:22 AM | Link to this
Caveman was horrible. Stick with the 15 seconds commercials.
By BTC
October 3, 2007 11:37 AM | Link to this
I watched about 10 min of the show last night. Abysmal. It will undoubtedly be among the first of this season’s cancellations.
By Rob in Seattle
October 4, 2007 8:12 AM | Link to this
You all begged for a TV show based on a commercial, now that you have it, you gripe about it. Here is an idea, why not spend a weekday evening away from the TV and computer and cell phone and read a book? TV melts minds yet you beg for more.
By Jim
October 4, 2007 10:57 AM | Link to this
I think I’ll read a book about cavemen.
By Rob in NH
October 4, 2007 12:00 PM | Link to this
This is total and utter CRAP! If you need proof that there is nothing on TV, well…here it is.
By Dan
October 4, 2007 2:43 PM | Link to this
The point of the show was to ‘not fit it’ and it hit the mark. It was a little long with the dialog, but has room for improvement.
By Curt
October 8, 2007 12:56 PM | Link to this
The TV critic who described this show as “Astonishingly Awful” has it right. At least we now know why the Neanderthals went extinct. Acute boredom was the cause. This show, like the Neanderthals, will also be extinct in a week or two. Perhaps they can replace it with one staring the Chic-fil-A cows or a new super hero show with the Aflac duck.