NPR: Geico Cavemen Getting Primetime Series?

Geico Cavemen Getting Primetime Series?

When I first read about this, I thought of screenwriter William Goldman's main rule about TV and filmmaking: In Hollywood, nobody knows anything.

Apparently, someone at ABC, desperate to pull a rabbit out of his or her programming hat, picked up the pilot in March for a show starring the cavemen from the Geico insurance commercials. Well, the Defamer blog wrote early in May that the first reviews were in, and they weren't pretty. In fact, the pilot was "astoundingly awful," according to this review posted at Ain't It Cool News.

But the reviews didn't matter, because TV Week Blog reported Friday that ABC has picked up "Cavemen" (now, there's an original name) to be a full-fledged show.

OK, I'm willing to go with this. One thing I know about Hollywood is that a successful idea will be copied endless times until it's beaten into the ground. Keeping in mind the "commercial" nature of the origins of this show, here are my ideas for other TV ad-based series:

* A "Pirates of the Caribbean" rip-off starring Cap'n Crunch.

* "CSI: McDonaldland," starring Ronald as a crack crime scene investigator looking into the mysterious deaths of people at McDonald's restaurants.

* A remake of "Green Acres" with Jim Perdue of the chicken company.

* A new duster that will tell the season-long story of the EDS cowboys herding all those cats across the prairies in the Old West.

* An ecology-based comedy starring Bill Nye and the Aflac duck as a globe-hopping scientist and his loveable talking duck sidekick.

11:23 AM ET | 05-14-2007 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

I've got one to top 'em all. This lady should be on TV! The tales she tells. I wrote her up at http://consilience.typepad.com/teachers_lounge/2007/05/dances_with_gho.html

I followed up yesterday, and because she told me so many wild stories, I had to write her up in a poem at http://consilience.typepad.com/teachers_lounge/2007/05/rather_than_try.html

Quick, somebody grab her before she disappears.

Sent by Jeffrey Field | 12:09 PM ET | 05-14-2007

I just hope the Aflac duck show never does a crossover promotion episode with Perdue's Green Acres.

Sent by andy carvin | 2:22 PM ET | 05-14-2007

After having spent 24 years in TV news as a reporter, nothing surprises me any more about what network programers will pick for ideas for TV shows. God forbid someone should show some imagination instead of ripping off an idea from a TV ad campaign or creating some new (and equally unimaginative) "reality" show.

I've been out of the business since June of 200, and stories such as this make me all the more glad I am out of it.

Sent by Stu Nicholson | 4:41 PM ET | 05-14-2007

Why not have a Gecko lizard show or cartoon? My 18 mo. old granddaughter will be playing and running until the Gecko lizard commerical comes on. Then she abruptly stops in her tracks until it's over. Then she goes back to her playing.

Sent by Kay | 11:32 PM ET | 07-22-2007

I've seen the pilot. Imagine going to the dentist and trying to picture a happy memory while the drill is slicing into your nerve.

Sent by Adam | 5:38 AM ET | 07-29-2007

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