From the ABC Website dealing with next seasons television comedy, tentatively tiled Caveman:
Cavemen is a unique buddy comedy that offers a clever twist on stereotypes and turns race relations on their head. Inspired by the popular Geico Insurance commercials, the series looks at life through the eyes of the ultimate outsiders -- three modern cavemen -- as they struggle to find their place in the world. Joel, his cynical best friend, Nick, and easy-going little brother, Jamie, are contemporary cavemen who live in the suburban south and simply want to be treated like ordinary thirty-something guys. Despite their attempts at assimilation, Nick doesn't believe mainstream society will ever completely accept them, Jamie seems to take it all in stride and Joel straddles the middle, torn between his friends, his traditional values and his loving fiancée.
cast
Bill English: Joel
Dash Mihok: Jamie
Nick Kroll: Nick
Kaitlin Doubleday: Kate
John Heard : Trip
Stephanie Lemelin: Thorne
The only thing I see getting turned on it's head in this proposed ABC series, in which three twenty-first century cavemen live in the Deep South (wink wink), is the original premise of the commercial. Originally, it was a hilarious slam at political correctness, though granted that was not the major intent, which was of course to sell Geico car insurance.
The popular commercials have done their job, evidently, and the executives of Touchstone should bear in mind that the commercials are funny precisely because they do make fun of political correctness.
So will the new series adhere to that premise, or will it at some point, if not right in the beginning, do the exact opposite? Despite the fact that one of the original commercial writers wrote the pilot, I don't look for it to stay true for long, if ever, to the original premise. Look for the series to feature a supporting cast of minority representatives, in story lines that are "ripped from todays headlines".
Will the Cavemen be considered illegal aliens? Will they be denied fair housing opportunities in suburban Atlanta? Problems on the job? Suspicious looks from concerned families of potential romantic interests?
Will it get bogged down in syrupy morality lessons geared toward teaching the value of tolerance? I would almost be willing to bet on it. I can hear the heart-wrenching violins tuning up now at a pivotal part of any given show.
If it does this, as I'm convinced it will,I can almost promise you that it will do so in ways that are as pretentious, condescending, and insulting as similar past offerings which seem to assume that most if not all common Americans are outright bigots either by choice, or by ignorance. We just need Hollywood to teach us better, you see. And since those cool Caveman guys are so popular, what better instrument to use to get that point across?
See how clever those tinseltown folks are? Ha Ha Ha Ha, we thought we were laughing at political correctness but in the meantime they're going to teach us to laugh at our own obvious bigotry. WHOA Ho Ho Ho Ho, those guys really crack me up.
I bet'cha one of those Cavemen ends up falling in love with and dating a regular old white girl, probably a beautiful blonde. Don't look for him to use a club on her, either. Those cave guys,it will probably turn out, have gotten a bad rap in that regard. Shit, these are Cavemen, not white southerners, remember?
Besides, why would they need a club? Those Cavemen guys obviously have humongous sized dicks, and we all know how blonde white women are.
