Monday, March 05, 2007

The Geico Cavemen ink deal for sitcom pilot

I knew Geico ads were clever, but I didn't they would end up potentially spawning a new television series.

Now this isn't the first time a advertising personality has made the leap from commercials to a full-length show,(Baby Bob was the first), but I still don't feel entirely comfortable with this turn of events.

In addition to the whole promotional aspect of the show, as it would essentially be a 22 minute advertisement for Geico every week, I don't think it will work too well conceptually either, and that is my real concern.

I mean, when Phil Hartman played the Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer, it was comedy gold, but it had two things going for it: the sketches were short and the premise was that the character had actually lived like a caveman before becoming frozen. When you watch the commercials, the first advantage is there, but the second is most certainly not.

Since the Geico cavemen are thoroughly modern individuals who only look like an early stage in the development of man, I just don't think there will be much of a premise for the sitcom here. It is a gimmick that can't possibly last and have legs... at least the way I foresee them writing it, because the funniest angle is also the most controversial.

The show is supposed to deal with the prejudices they face in Atlanta, Georgia, and I doubt that the producers are going to be gung ho to take on the powerful enemies of the cavemen/evolution... the fundamentalist Christians. That would be bad for Geico, and perhaps poison for ABC and Disney as well. But that is where the best comedy would probably be. So in the end, it is probably going to try to be bland and inoffensive to everyone, and it really won't last.

2 comments:

Becca said...

Those cavemen were funny at first but now they are just kind of too stuck up.

And why Atlanta Georia? Is it just the epitome of conservative intollerence?

MC said...

I don't know why they have chosen Atlanta... part of me thinks it is because it is a rapidly growing city more than anything else.