Reviews by Matt

Sometimes I wonder who is making the decisions at the networks. Some of the shows are horrible, but nothing perplexed me as much as when, last year, ABC announced that they were developing a show based on a commercial. The buzz was immediate and opinions were made before the show had even started filming. Tuesday was the day that America got to find out if this is either the greatest idea for a show, or a really lame publicity stunt.

“Cavemen” is based on the popular Geico commercials (there is a sentence I never thought I would write). Joel (Bill English) Nick (Nick Kroll) and Andy (Sam Huntington) are three cavemen living in modern day Virginia (I think, judging by a weather map). The pilot revolves around Joel trying to get permission to marry Kate (Kaitlin Doubleday). He is invited to a country club for a Forth of July celebration and he uses this time to try to get her father to like him.

I give ABC credit; they tried something new. No one has ever used a commercial as source material for a television show before. The only problem is the commercial is a one-note joke about cavemen being stereotyped as stupid works for the short time span. You would think that the show would try to be different. You would be wrong. In fact, it relies on a single joke way too much. The cavemen have become a race and not just less evolved humans. There is a lot of use or plays on black stereotypes. They are better at sports (at least horse shoes) that the modern humans and are suspected of stealing the tip jar. They can dance better and are “wild” in bed. There is even a derogatory term for cavemen; “Cro-Maggers.” It is the same thing over and over again.

Despite the original source material, it is unoriginal in every other aspect. The cavemen themselves fall into sitcom stereotypes. Joel is the straight laced one, Nick is the hip slacker and Andy is the loveable dope. Kate loves Joel even though he is different and hairy. The three cavemen are out of place in the world of the county club. It is all the same and it has all been done before.

Even with all this show has going against it; there were some funny moments. Nick is proud of his primitive heritage. He is constantly mocking the upper class county club crowd that Joel seems desperate to become a part of. Nick even takes a few hundred bucks off the club members in a game of horseshoes and when he loses it, makes it a “racial” issue.

That is not enough to make this show good. The concept is interesting at best and the raciest overtones are hard to ignore. The show, much like the commercials it is based on, is a one-joke wonder and burns out quickly. Basing a show on a commercial dooms it from the start. A joke in a commercial works because it is between 15-60 seconds long. After that it is over. A show cannot sustain a single joke for 21 minuets (including the actual commercials) and be successful. I guess I should be glad that they did not base a show around the Aflac duck.

“Cavemen” airs every Tuesday at 8 p.m. on ABC