Cavemen
GenreSitcom
Based onCharacters from the GEICO commercials
by The Martin Agency
Developed by
StarringBill English
Nick Kroll
Sam Huntington
Kaitlin Doubleday
Jeff Daniel Phillips
Theme music composerMickey Petralia
Jude Christodal
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes13[1][2]
Production
Camera setupSingle-camera
Running time30 minutes
Production companiesDouble Vision Productions
Television 360
ABC Studios
Original release
NetworkABC
ReleaseOctober 2 (2007-10-02) –
November 13, 2007 (2007-11-13)

Cavemen is an American sitcom that aired on ABC from October 2 to November 20, 2007. The show was developed by Joe Lawson, Josh Gordon and Will Speck, based on the GEICO Cavemen TV commercials, which were also written by Lawson. It was described by the network as a "unique buddy comedy that offers a clever twist on stereotypes and turns race relations on its head", and is set in San Diego, California. However, the show earned an extremely negative reception, becoming regarded as one of the worst television shows of all time.[3][4][5]

Plot

In the series, cavemen were never really fully supplanted by modern humans, but integrated into Homo sapiens civilization as a separate species sub-group. Cavemen are a small but widespread minority group that have been present in every global civilization since the dawn of recorded history (a montage scene in the opening credits shows Cavemen in Egyptian hieroglyphs, when George Washington crossed the Delaware River, standing with Abraham Lincoln, participating in the space program, etc.). Effectively, Cavemen form another ethnic minority in the modern world, which faces several prejudices from Homo sapiens (sometimes referring to humans by the derogatory term "Smoothies" in reference to their relative lack of hair, or "Sapes" in reference to their species). Although these cavemen self-identify as Cro-Magnon, their facial appearance and physical anatomy is reminiscent of the Neanderthal.

Some Cavemen attempt to pass as Homo sapiens by shaving off their body hair - other Cavemen call them "Shavers". The central humor of the show is that Caveman characters are not brutish primitives, but fully integrated into white-collar jobs; the central Cavemen characters are effete modern city-dwellers. They must also endure racial epithets such as "Magger", a pun based on "Cro-Magnon".[6]

The series focuses on three Cavemen roommates who share a condo: Joel, his brother Andy, and their cynical and self-absorbed roommate Nick.

According to producer Joe Lawson, the show was originally going to be set in Newport News, Virginia, due to its proximity to the water. The setting then changed to Atlanta, Georgia and finally San Diego, California.[7]

Cast

Main

Recurring

Production history

Conception

In March 2007, ABC gave a pilot order to a script written by Joe Lawson which was inspired by the GEICO Cavemen advertisements. Lawson would be executive producer alongside Guymon Casady, Daniel Rappaport, Will Speck and Josh Gordon. Gordon and Speck also developed the series with Lawson[10] and directed the pilot.[11] Later in the same month, Bill Martin and Mike Schiff joined the staff as executive producers.[12] ABC gave the series an early pick-up and a 13-episode order on May 11, 2007.[13]

Casting

When the pilot was approved by the network in March, it was unclear if the original actors, Jeff Daniel Phillips and Ben Weber, who played the cavemen in the advertisements, were going to be part of the series.[11] This was not to be when it was later reported that Nick Kroll, Kaitlin Doubleday, and Bill English had all landed roles in the series in the same month.[12] Dash Mihok and Stephanie Lemelin were respectively cast in April as Jamie, Joel's younger brother, and Thorne, a party girl.[14] John Heard rounded out the regular cast when he was chosen to play Trip in the same month.[15] Mihok was replaced by Sam Huntington and the character of Jamie was renamed Andy in July. Tony Award winner Julie White was also promoted to a regular cast member as Kate's mother in the same month.[8][9]

In July 2007 it was announced that Phillips had been cast for the series.[16] He subsequently appeared in the first broadcast episode playing Maurice, a friend of the three main characters.

Pilot episode controversy

The initial limited screening of the pilot episode was met with a less than favorable reception. The pilot was accused of being racist[17] as some critics thought the Cavemen were being used as a metaphor for African-Americans and other minorities.[18] The series subsequently underwent a major creative "retooling", which included changing the show's venue from Atlanta, Georgia to San Diego, California.[19][20] The pilot episode has remained unaired on ABC.

Reception

In terms of reception from the media the show was "critically savaged".[21] The Chicago Tribune listed it as one of the 25 worst TV shows ever,[3] and Adam Buckman of the New York Post declared the show "extinct on arrival."[22] Ginia Bellafante of The New York Times wrote "I laughed. But I laughed through my pain. 'Cavemen,' set in some version of San Diego where people speak with Southern accents, doesn’t have moments as much as microseconds suspended from any attempt at narrative."[4]

Other critics were more forgiving: Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Dorothy Rabinowitz said that the show "has its charms... The chief source of that charm is the unmistakable hint of wit in the writing. Only a hint – but it's steady, which is enough to seduce."[23]

In 2010, TV Guide Network listed the show at #22 on their list of 25 Biggest TV Blunders, arguing that basing a TV show on a commercial was a bad idea from the beginning.[5]

Broadcast

Produced by ABC Studios and Management 360, the series originally aired alongside Carpoolers on Tuesday nights at 8:00 pm Eastern/7:00 pm Central.[1] The series was placed on hiatus during the Writers Guild of America strike,[24] and canceled before the strike ended.[25] A total of 13 episodes were produced. The final six episodes never aired in US markets but did however air in Australia.

Post-cancellation

After the show's cancellation, a Geico commercial was aired during Super Bowl XLII in which two cavemen watched television, switched it off, and had an exchange about Cavemen.

All 13 episodes were originally supposed to be released on DVD in 2008; however, plans were put on hold.[26]

List of episodes

No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateProd.
code
1"Pilot"Will Speck and Josh GordonStory by : Joe Lawson & Josh Gordon & Will Speck
Teleplay by : Joe Lawson		Unaired (US)
September 10, 2008 (2008-09-10) (AUS)		101
Joel, Andy and Nick are invited to a private barbecue which Kate's parents are having. Joel attempts to get Kate's father's blessing for him and Kate to marry.
2"Her Embarrassed of Caveman"Will Speck and Josh GordonBill Martin & Mike SchiffOctober 2, 2007 (2007-10-02)102
Joel thinks that his girlfriend is embarrassed to tell her friends that she is dating a caveman.
3"Nick Get Job"John BlanchardAl HigginsOctober 9, 2007 (2007-10-09)103
Nick gets a job at Norskbild, a home improvement center, through Joel. But when Nick is quickly fired for being a terrible worker, he considers his firing to be a discriminatory act against him and immediately files a lawsuit against the company. Meanwhile, Andy scares a woman in an attempt to prove that he is not scary.
4"The Cavewoman"Linda MendozaTheresa Mulligan RosenthalOctober 16, 2007 (2007-10-16)105
Joel, Nick, and Andy visit a Fruitberry Frozen yogurt-shop, and Nick falls for the hot cavewoman, Heather, who works there.
5"The Mascot"Will Speck and Josh GordonJoe LawsonOctober 23, 2007 (2007-10-23)104
Nick takes a job as a substitute teacher and discovers that the school's mascot is an offensive, stereotypical caveman — which leads him on a quest to have the mascot removed. Meanwhile, Andy's search for an accounting job comes to an end when Leslie hires him to balance her books. But he is torn about what to do when he discovers that Leslie has been dabbling in some creative financing for her lover that could both estrange her from her family and land.
6"The Shaver"Ken WhittinghamJace RichdaleNovember 6, 2007 (2007-11-06)106
Joel gets a new Homo sapiens friend, Jake, but Nick suspects he's a Shaver, a caveman who shaves his body hair in order to pass himself off as a Homo sapiens. Meanwhile, Thorne is attracted to the beast in Andy.
7"Rock Vote"Millicent SheltonChris KellyNovember 13, 2007 (2007-11-13)108
Andy has people coming at him from two different directions: Nick and Joel want him to vote their way in the next election, while Thorne wants him to buy a gun after a burglary.
9"Nick Jerk, Andy Work"Will Speck and Josh GordonLuvh RakheUnaired (US)107
Nick causes problems for Joel when his girlfriend Kate refuses to spend the night. Joel starts spending more time at her place and finds he would rather be with his roommates. In the end, Joel moves back home and they all make compromises to get along. Andy starts working for SodaCo and his coworkers find him rather annoying. The entire office is forced to go through a series of seminars starting with "boundary training" because of him. He figures out that they cannot fire him and continues to do all of the good-natured but annoying things that made everyone upset.
10"Nick Sick"Fred SavageScott Marder & Rob RosellUnaired (US)
July 23, 2008 (2008-07-23) (AUS)		109
Nick goes to see the student health centre with paresthesia in his buttocks, where he is advised by the caveman doctor to exercise more. While there, he learns that his CRP is up but he is told not to worry. However, he does research on the internet and finds out it could be a sign of leukocytosis. Worried, he pretends to be Joel and uses his insurance to see an HMO, who tells him he has appendicitis and schedules him for an appendectomy. Meanwhile, Joel and Kate are having relationship troubles, with Kate using far-fetched excuses not to sleep with Joel and avoiding him. Their relationship has lasted three months, which is when Kate traditionally dumps her boyfriends. Joel's boss finds out about the surgery for Nick when the insurance calls, but believes it to be for Joel and so gives him time off. When Kate comes to break it off with Joel, she learns of his major surgery and rushes to the hospital where Joel, disgusted that she only came when she thought he was having surgery, breaks it off with her.
8"Caveman Holiday"Lee Shallat-ChemelChris KellyNovember 20, 2007 (2007-11-20)108
The boys are throwing a party because it is Long Night, a caveman holiday that remembers when the cavemen did not die in the coldest day in history.
11"Andy the Stand-Up"Gail MancusoJace RichdaleUnaired (US)111
Andy participates in Nick's open mic night, and becomes famous for his character of a dumb caveman.
12"Cave Kid"Lee Shallat-ChemelPeter SajiUnaired (US)112
Neighbors who adopt a cave kid ask Joel, Nick and Andy to be his mentor.
13"Hunters & Gatherers"John BlanchardJoe LawsonUnaired (US)113
Joel runs into trouble when he parks in an executive's parking space. Nick competes with Maurice for the attention of his ex-girlfriend, Heather, after Maurice explains his own charm with women in terms of hunter and gatherer roles, classifying himself as a hunter and Nick as a gatherer.

Weekly ratings

In the following summary, rating is the percentage of all households with televisions that tuned to the show, and "share" is the percentage of all televisions in use at that time that are tuned in.

Unless otherwise cited, the overnight rating and share information comes from Zap2It[27] The following week, the Nielsen numbers from TVWeek.com.[28] Additional ratings information, including the 18–49 rating, comes from BroadcastingCable[29] and finally weekly overall ratings come from ABC Medianet[30]

# Title Air Date Rating Share 18-49 Viewers Rank
(Timeslot)		 Rank
(Overall)
1 "Her Embarrassed of Caveman" October 2, 2007 6.1 10 3.3/10 9.06 #1 #34
2 "Nick Get a Job" October 9, 2007 4.5 8 2.5/8 6.96 #3 #59
3 "The Cavewoman" October 16, 2007 4.6 8 2.7/8 6.92 #3 #64
4 "The Mascot" October 23, 2007 4.5 7 2.2/6 6.55 #4 #71
5 "The Shaver" November 6, 2007 3.4 5 1.7/5 5.51 #4 #83
6 "Rock Vote" November 13, 2007 3.3 5 1.6/5 4.61[31] #4 #84

Seasonal ratings

Seasonal ratings based on average total viewers per episode of Cavemen on ABC:

Season Time slot (EDT) Season premiere Season finale TV season Rank Viewers
(millions)
1 Tuesday 8:00 pm (October 2, 2007 – November 13, 2007) October 2, 2007 November 13, 2007 2007–2008 #107 6.6[32]

+ Information is current as of January 7, 2008.[33]

Worldwide premieres

Overseas distribution

References

  1. 1 2 Cavemen at The Futon Critic
  2. ↑ Networks plot post strike plans
  3. 1 2 "Top 25 worst TV shows ever". Chicago Tribune.
  4. 1 2 Bellafante, Ginia (October 4, 2007). "They Put on Their Pants a Leg at a Time; It's Just That Their Legs Are Hairier". The New York Times. Retrieved April 28, 2010.
  5. 1 2 "Breaking News - TV Guide Network's "25 Biggest TV Blunders" Special Delivers 3.3 Million Viewers". thefutoncritic.com. 2010-03-02. Retrieved 2010-03-10.
  6. ↑ Defending 'Cavemen' II: The Racial Insensitivity Question Archived 2007-10-09 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ↑ "Q&A: Joe Lawson, producer of "Cavemen"".
  8. 1 2 Andreeva, Nellie (2007-07-09). "Huntington joins "Cavemen" as series revamps". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2007-07-09.
  9. 1 2 Andreeva, Nellie (2007-07-17). "White sticks with "Cavemen"". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2007-07-17.
  10. ↑ "Cavemen". Writers Guild of America West. July 27, 2007. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
  11. 1 2 Development Update: Friday, March 2 The Futon Critic
  12. 1 2 Development Update: Friday, March 30 The Futon Critic
  13. ↑ Sullivan, Brian Ford (2007-05-11). "ABC Adds 10 Newcomers, Renews 'Notes,' 'Road'". The Futon Critic. Retrieved 2007-07-09.
  14. ↑ Development Update: Monday, April 2
  15. ↑ Development Update: Wednesday-Thursday, April, APRIL 4-5 The Futon Critic
  16. ↑ My Way
  17. ↑ Jonathan Storm | Hard to say who's the stupidest | Philadelphia Inquirer | 10/02/2007
  18. ↑ "STLtoday - Entertainment - Columnists". Archived from the original on 2007-10-24. Retrieved 2007-11-04.
  19. ↑ Chris Kaltenbach. "Will 'Cavemen' have more than 30 seconds of laughs?". The Baltimore Sun. Archived from the original on 2008-10-11. Retrieved 2007-10-02.
  20. ↑ ABC's "Cavemen" Retooled, SciFi Wire, July 9, 2007.
  21. ↑ Media Life Magazine - ABC's 'Cavemen' falls to a season low Archived 2012-03-23 at the Wayback Machine
  22. ↑ Buckman, Adam (October 3, 2007). "It's A Cave-In!". New York Post.
  23. ↑ Rabinowitz, Dorothy (October 19, 2007). "Strange Days at 10 Downing". The Wall Street Journal.
  24. ↑ "Cavemen" and "Carpoolers" on Indefinite Hiatus Archived 2007-11-23 at the Wayback Machine, Comedy Centric, November 20, 2007
  25. ↑ "When do our shows come back?". USA Today. 2008-02-11. Retrieved April 28, 2010.
  26. ↑ https://www.vulture.com/2008/04/cavefans_rejoice_cavemen_comin.html Caveman DVD Release
  27. ↑ "TV Ratings on Zap2it". Zap2it. Archived from the original on 2014-03-28. Retrieved 2006-11-14.
  28. ↑ "TVWeek.com". Archived from the original on 2006-11-11. Retrieved 2006-11-14.
  29. ↑ "TV Ratings on BroadcastingCable". Retrieved 2006-11-14.
  30. ↑ ABC Medianet Archived October 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  31. ↑ Kissell, Rick (November 14, 2007). "Dramas rule on Tuesday". Variety.
  32. ↑ Televisionista: TV Ratings: 2007-2008 Season Top-200
  33. ↑ ABC Medianet Archived 2008-05-04 at the Wayback Machine
  34. ↑ "Seven - Cavemen No1 in 18-49s". ebroadcast. Archived from the original on 4 October 2007. Retrieved 6 October 2007.
  35. ↑ "Comedy Central: Shows - Cavemen". Comedy Central. Archived from the original on 31 January 2008. Retrieved 3 February 2008.
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