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Cavemen (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Cavemen is an American comedy-drama
show which ran on ABC
from October 2, 2007 to November 13, 2007. The show was created by Joe Lawson and set in San Diego, California
. Based on the GEICO Cavemen
advertisements made for the American vehicle insurance
company GEICO
that were written by Lawson, the show is described by the network as a "unique buddy comedy that offers a clever twist on stereotypes and turns race relations on its head".
Produced by ABC Studios and Management 360, the series originally aired alongside Carpoolers
on Tuesday nights at 8:00PM Eastern/7:00PM Central. The series was placed on hiatus
during the Writers Guild of America strike
, and canceled before the strike ended. Episodes 7-12 never aired in US markets.
, their facial appearance and physical anatomy is reminiscent of the Neanderthal
. (Cro-Magnon is actually not a different species of human ancestors. It refers to a specific group of archaeological discoveries near the Cro-Magnon rock formation in France, which are representative of early anatomically modern humans.) The writer and producers clearly intended to portray the protagonists as (or like) Homo neanderthalensis, which is anatomically different from modern humans, but sufficiently closely related that they are usually, but not always, classed as a separate species.
Cavemen have prominent brow ridges and more body hair than Homo sapiens, but beyond superficial differences in appearance they actually are not that much different from modern humans in terms of behavior or physical abilities. Male Cavemen are very hairy, have thick long beards and wear their head-hair shoulder-length. A Cavewoman that appeared on the show also had a prominent brow ridge and comparatively more body hair than a modern human female. Some Cavemen attempt to pass as Homo sapiens by shaving 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".
The series focuses on three Cavemen who are roommates that 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
.
Recurring
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, Josh Gordon, Daniel Rappaport and Will Speck
. Gordon and Speck directed the pilot
. Later in the same month, Bill Martin and Mike Schiff joined the staff as executive producers. ABC gave the series an early pick-up and a 13-episode order on May 11, 2007.
and Ben Weber
, who played the cavemen in the advertisements, were going to be part of the series. 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. Dash Mihok
and Stephanie Lemelin
were respectively cast in April as Jamie, Joel's younger brother, and Thorne, a party girl. John Heard rounded out the regular cast when he was chosen to play Trip in the same month. Mihok was replaced by Sam Huntington
and the character of Jamie was re-named Andy in July. Tony Award
winner, Julie White
, was also promoted to a regular cast member as Kate's mother in the same month.
In July 2007 it was announced that Jeff Daniel Phillips had been cast for the series. He subsequently appeared in the first broadcast episode playing Maurice, a friend of the three main characters.
to San Diego, California
. The pilot episode has remained unaired on ABC.
listed it as one of the 25 worst TV shows ever, and Adam Buckman of the New York Post declared the show "extinct on arrival." 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."
Other critics were more forgiving: H.T. Strong ("Hercules The Strong"), a regular columnist at Ain't It Cool News
declared that the show's third episode "made me laugh aloud a number of times!" Pulitzer Prize
-winning columinst Dorothy Rabinowitz
also 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."
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.
in which two cavemen watched television, switched it off, and had an exchange about Cavemen:
"Huh. A TV show. About us." (disbelievingly)
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 The following week, the Nielsen numbers from TVWeek.com. Additional ratings information, including the 18–49 rating, comes from BroadcastingCable and finally weekly overall ratings come from ABC Medianet
:
+ Information is current as of January 7, 2008.
The show was pulled off the ABC Network following the airing of the 6th Episode "Rock Vote" due to the sliding ratings. According to the IMDB, the show stated that the remaining 7 episodes of the show would begin airing on February 13, 2008, but on that date the show was neither aired nor mentioned.
Comedy-drama
Comedy-drama is a genre of theatre, film and television programs which combines humorous and serious content.-Theatre:Traditional western theatre, beginning with the ancient Greeks, was divided into comedy and tragedy...
show which ran on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
from October 2, 2007 to November 13, 2007. The show was created by Joe Lawson and set in San Diego, California
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
. Based on the GEICO Cavemen
GEICO Cavemen
The GEICO Cavemen are trademarked characters of GEICO in a series of television advertisements for the auto insurance company GEICO, that have aired from 2004 to present. The campaign was created by Joe Lawson of The Martin Agency. In 2004, GEICO began an advertising campaign featuring...
advertisements made for the American vehicle insurance
Vehicle insurance
Vehicle insurance is insurance purchased for cars, trucks, motorcycles, and other road vehicles. Its primary use is to provide financial protection against physical damage and/or bodily injury resulting from traffic collisions and against liability that could also arise therefrom...
company GEICO
GEICO
The Government Employees Insurance Company is an auto insurance company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway that as of 2007 provided coverage for more than 10 million motor vehicles owned by more than 9 million policy holders. GEICO writes private passenger automobile insurance...
that were written by Lawson, the show is described by the network as a "unique buddy comedy that offers a clever twist on stereotypes and turns race relations on its head".
Produced by ABC Studios and Management 360, the series originally aired alongside Carpoolers
Carpoolers
Carpoolers is an American single-camera comedy series, which ran on ABC from October 2, 2007 to March 4, 2008. The show was created by Bruce McCulloch, who also executive produced alongside Justin Falvey, Darryl Frank, David Miner, Marsh McCall, Joe Russo and Anthony Russo . Joe and Anthony Russo...
on Tuesday nights at 8:00PM Eastern/7:00PM Central. The series was placed on hiatus
Hiatus (television)
In television scheduling, a hiatus refers to a break of at least several weeks in the normal schedule of a broadcast programming. It can occur during a season of a television program, or can be between television seasons .- Planned hiatus :Many times television stations will implement a hiatus...
during the Writers Guild of America strike
2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike
The 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, more commonly referred to as simply the Writers' Strike, was a strike by the Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, West ....
, and canceled before the strike ended. Episodes 7-12 never aired in US markets.
Synopsis
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-MagnonCro-Magnon
The Cro-Magnon were the first early modern humans of the European Upper Paleolithic. The earliest known remains of Cro-Magnon-like humans are radiometrically dated to 35,000 years before present....
, their facial appearance and physical anatomy is reminiscent of the Neanderthal
Neanderthal
The Neanderthal is an extinct member of the Homo genus known from Pleistocene specimens found in Europe and parts of western and central Asia...
. (Cro-Magnon is actually not a different species of human ancestors. It refers to a specific group of archaeological discoveries near the Cro-Magnon rock formation in France, which are representative of early anatomically modern humans.) The writer and producers clearly intended to portray the protagonists as (or like) Homo neanderthalensis, which is anatomically different from modern humans, but sufficiently closely related that they are usually, but not always, classed as a separate species.
Cavemen have prominent brow ridges and more body hair than Homo sapiens, but beyond superficial differences in appearance they actually are not that much different from modern humans in terms of behavior or physical abilities. Male Cavemen are very hairy, have thick long beards and wear their head-hair shoulder-length. A Cavewoman that appeared on the show also had a prominent brow ridge and comparatively more body hair than a modern human female. Some Cavemen attempt to pass as Homo sapiens by shaving 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".
The series focuses on three Cavemen who are roommates that 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
Newport News, Virginia
Newport News is an independent city located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia. It is at the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula, on the north shore of the James River extending southeast from Skiffe's Creek along many miles of waterfront to the river's mouth at Newport News...
, due to its proximity to the water. The setting then changed to Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
and finally San Diego, California
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
.
Characters
- Joel - The responsible straight-man of the group, a successful assistant-manager at a fashionable Norwegian furniture store (a parody of IKEAIKEAIKEA is a privately held, international home products company that designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture such as beds and desks, appliances and home accessories. The company is the world's largest furniture retailer...
). However, in the pilot episode, Joel starts dating a Homo sapiens woman named Kate, and through subsequent episodes Joel tries to handle the hangups that come with inter-species dating. - Andy - Joel's weak-willed and childish, though well-meaning, brother. Andy is a trained accountant but is typically between jobs during the time period of the series, and he is perpetually morose about being dumped by his ex-girlfriend and hoping she will take him back. Andy is very timid, but ironically he is prone to outbursts of road rageRoad rageRoad rage is an aggressive or angry behavior by a driver of an automobile or other motor vehicle. Such behavior might include rude gestures, verbal insults, deliberately driving in an unsafe or threatening manner, or making threats. Road rage can lead to altercations, assaults, and collisions...
when he is driving. - Nick - Joel and Andy's roommate, is cynical, self-absorbed, and narcissistic, as well as pathologically lazy. Nick has no real job, though he claims to be "working on my dissertation", and tends to just mooch money off Joel. Nick's dissertation On Beyond Dualism: The Evolution of Symbology in a post-Primitive Society argues that modern popular culture is all just a ripoffRipoffA ripoff is a bad financial transaction. Usually it refers to an incident in which a person overpays for something. A ripoff is distinguished from a scam in that a scam involves wrongdoing such as fraud; whether or not something is a ripoff, on the other hand, is a matter of opinion.In a related...
of things that Cavemen have already done, and appears to have no real merit. Nick doesn't actually spend much time writing his dissertation, and "tends to just sit around watching TV and editing wikipediaWikipediaWikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
". Nick has very effete and cultured tastes, believing himself to be intellectually superior to most people he meets, and overlooks the fact that he is simply lazy and does not believe in doing real work. Typically, Nick will blame his own failures (which are due to his innate laziness) on Caveman-based prejudice; case in point, when he filed an unlawful-termination lawsuit against Joel's furniture store when they fired him after he worked there a few days, claiming that they were prejudiced against him as a Caveman, but the store then revealed security camera footage which shows that Nick sat around listening to music all day and not working. - Kate - Joel's Homo sapiens girlfriend whom he starts dating in the first episode. Joel is initially worried that she is embarrassed to tell her friends that she is dating a Caveman, and then is left with the fear that she might like him only because she has a fetishSexual fetishismSexual fetishism, or erotic fetishism, is the sexual arousal a person receives from a physical object, or from a specific situation. The object or situation of interest is called the fetish, the person a fetishist who has a fetish for that object/situation. Sexual fetishism may be regarded, e.g...
for Cavemen. Nonetheless, Kate and Joel seem to have developed a stable relationship. - Leslie - Kate's eccentric mother is not on good terms with her husband, and each of them is actually cheating on the other without Kate's knowledge (Kate's father with the local weather-report girl, Kate's mother with a pool boy). Kate's mother is also the landlord of the condo complex that Joel, Andy, and Nick live in. A running gag is that in a parody of stereotypes of racism, Kate's mother cannot tell the difference between individual Cavemen. She does not try intentionally to be racist and is embarrassed that she appears to "think all Cavemen look the same", but nonetheless she does.
- Maurice - another Caveman-about-town who is a friend of Joel, Andy, and Nick and frequently plays squashSquash (sport)Squash is a high-speed racquet sport played by two players in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball...
with them, as well as cruising around in his sports car trying to pick up women. Maurice is played by actor Jeff Daniel PhillipsJeff Daniel PhillipsJeff Daniel Phillips is an American actor, best known for playing a caveman in a popular series of GEICO commercials. He played the part of Maurice in the short lived Cavemen sitcom on ABC...
who was one of the cavemen in the original GEICO Caveman commercials that inspired the series. - Thorne - Kate's feisty roommate and best friend. She appeared to be developing a relationship with Joel's brother Andy.
Cast
Main Cast- Bill EnglishBill English (actor)Bill English, birth name William Andrew English, , an American actor. He is best known as playing the role of "Joel" in the ABC television series Cavemen.-Personal:...
- Joel Claybrook - Nick KrollNick KrollNick Kroll is an American actor and comedian best known for appearing in television shows such as Best Week Ever, Cavemen and Sit Down, Shut Up. He co-stars in the shows The Life & Times of Tim and The League....
- Nick Hedge - Sam HuntingtonSam HuntingtonSam Huntington is an American actor, best known for his role as Mimi-Siku in the 1990s film "Jungle 2 Jungle" and as Jimmy Olsen in "Superman Returns". He now stars in the TV series Being Human.- Personal life :...
- Andy Claybrook - Kaitlin DoubledayKaitlin DoubledayJan Kaitlin Len Doubleday is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in the films Waiting..., Catch Me If You Can and Accepted....
- Kate McKinney - Jeff Daniel PhillipsJeff Daniel PhillipsJeff Daniel Phillips is an American actor, best known for playing a caveman in a popular series of GEICO commercials. He played the part of Maurice in the short lived Cavemen sitcom on ABC...
- Maurice - Stephanie LemelinStephanie LemelinStephanie Lemelin is a Canadian actress. She appeared in the American TV series Cavemen. Other past credits include The 40-Year-Old Virgin, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Me, Myself and Irene, the last in which she appears with her mother, Rona. Her father is former NHL goalie Reggie Lemelin...
- Thorne - Julie WhiteJulie WhiteJulie White is an American actress. She is known for her role in Grace Under Fire and for her role as Judy Witwicky in the Transformers film series.-Personal life:...
- Leslie McKinney, Kate's mother
Recurring
- John Heard - Tripp McKinney, Kate's father
- Evan Shafran - Nathan
- J. P. Manoux - Glen
- Kim DirectorKim Director-Biography:Director was born in Florida, graduated from Upper St. Clair High School, in Upper St. Clair Township, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, in 1993 and attended Carnegie Mellon University where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting...
- Heather - Tim AllenTim AllenTim Allen is an American comedian, actor, voice-over artist, and entertainer, known for his role in the sitcom Home Improvement...
- Himself - Stephanie CourtneyStephanie CourtneyStephanie Courtney is an American actress and comedienne, best known for playing the advertising character Flo in television commercials for Progressive Insurance and is noted for her recurring roles on several television shows, including the voices of Renee the Receptionist and Joy Peters on the...
- Diane (ironically, Courtney is the spokeswomanFlo (Progressive Insurance)Flo is a fictional character that appears in commercials for Progressive Insurance. The character was created by the Boston-based agency Arnold Worldwide, specifically copywriter John Park and art director Steve Reepmeyer...
for Progressive CorporationProgressive CorporationThe Progressive Corporation , known as the Progressive Casualty Insurance Company through its subsidiaries, provides personal automobile insurance, and other specialty property-casualty insurance and related services in the United States....
, a competitor to GEICO)
Conception
In March 2007, ABCAmerican Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
gave a pilot order to a script written by Joe Lawson which was inspired by the GEICO Cavemen
GEICO Cavemen
The GEICO Cavemen are trademarked characters of GEICO in a series of television advertisements for the auto insurance company GEICO, that have aired from 2004 to present. The campaign was created by Joe Lawson of The Martin Agency. In 2004, GEICO began an advertising campaign featuring...
advertisements. Lawson would be executive producer alongside Guymon Casady, Josh Gordon, Daniel Rappaport and Will Speck
Will Speck
- Filmography :*The Switch *Blades of Glory *Culture *Angry Boy -External links:...
. Gordon and Speck directed the pilot
Television pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...
. Later in the same month, Bill Martin and Mike Schiff joined the staff as executive producers. ABC gave the series an early pick-up and a 13-episode order on May 11, 2007.
Casting
When the pilot was approved by the network in March, it was unclear if the original actors, Jeff Daniel PhillipsJeff Daniel Phillips
Jeff Daniel Phillips is an American actor, best known for playing a caveman in a popular series of GEICO commercials. He played the part of Maurice in the short lived Cavemen sitcom on ABC...
and Ben Weber
Ben Weber (actor)
Ben Weber is an American film and television actor. He has appeared in TV series including Sex and the City and in films such as Kissing Jessica Stein and Coach Carter. Weber also played David on the ABC Family television series The Secret Life of the American Teenager along with Molly Ringwald...
, who played the cavemen in the advertisements, were going to be part of the series. This was not to be when it was later reported that Nick Kroll
Nick Kroll
Nick Kroll is an American actor and comedian best known for appearing in television shows such as Best Week Ever, Cavemen and Sit Down, Shut Up. He co-stars in the shows The Life & Times of Tim and The League....
, Kaitlin Doubleday
Kaitlin Doubleday
Jan Kaitlin Len Doubleday is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in the films Waiting..., Catch Me If You Can and Accepted....
, and Bill English
Bill English (actor)
Bill English, birth name William Andrew English, , an American actor. He is best known as playing the role of "Joel" in the ABC television series Cavemen.-Personal:...
had all landed roles in the series in the same month. Dash Mihok
Dash Mihok
Dashiell "Dash" Mihok is an American actor.-Life and career:Mihok was born in New York City, New York, the son of actors Andrea and Raymond Thorne . He attended the Bronx High School of Science and was raised in Greenwich Village. While at the Bronx High School of Science, Dash played baseball as...
and Stephanie Lemelin
Stephanie Lemelin
Stephanie Lemelin is a Canadian actress. She appeared in the American TV series Cavemen. Other past credits include The 40-Year-Old Virgin, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Me, Myself and Irene, the last in which she appears with her mother, Rona. Her father is former NHL goalie Reggie Lemelin...
were respectively cast in April as Jamie, Joel's younger brother, and Thorne, a party girl. John Heard rounded out the regular cast when he was chosen to play Trip in the same month. Mihok was replaced by Sam Huntington
Sam Huntington
Sam Huntington is an American actor, best known for his role as Mimi-Siku in the 1990s film "Jungle 2 Jungle" and as Jimmy Olsen in "Superman Returns". He now stars in the TV series Being Human.- Personal life :...
and the character of Jamie was re-named Andy in July. Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
winner, Julie White
Julie White
Julie White is an American actress. She is known for her role in Grace Under Fire and for her role as Judy Witwicky in the Transformers film series.-Personal life:...
, was also promoted to a regular cast member as Kate's mother in the same month.
In July 2007 it was announced that Jeff Daniel Phillips had been cast for the series. 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 because some critics thought the Cavemen were being used as a metaphor for blacks and other minorities. The series subsequently underwent a major creative "retooling", which included changing the show's venue from Atlanta, GeorgiaAtlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
to San Diego, California
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
. The pilot episode has remained unaired on ABC.
Reception
In terms of reception from the media the show was "critically savaged". The Chicago TribuneChicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
listed it as one of the 25 worst TV shows ever, and Adam Buckman of the New York Post declared the show "extinct on arrival." 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."
Other critics were more forgiving: H.T. Strong ("Hercules The Strong"), a regular columnist at Ain't It Cool News
Ain't It Cool News
Ain't It Cool News is a website founded and run by Harry Knowles, dedicated to news, rumors and reviews of upcoming and currently playing films and television projects, with an emphasis on science fiction, fantasy, horror, comic-book and action genres...
declared that the show's third episode "made me laugh aloud a number of times!" Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
-winning columinst Dorothy Rabinowitz
Dorothy Rabinowitz
Dorothy Rabinowitz is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American conservative journalist and commentator. She was born in New York City, and was educated at Queens College and New York University...
also 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."
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.
Post-cancellation
After the show's cancellation, a Geico commercial was aired during Super Bowl XLIISuper Bowl XLII
Super Bowl XLII was an American football game on February 3, 2008 that featured the National Football Conference champion New York Giants and the American Football Conference champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League champion for the 2007 season...
in which two cavemen watched television, switched it off, and had an exchange about Cavemen:
"Huh. A TV show. About us." (disbelievingly)
- "What was the deal with that makeup?"
- "Exactly! Why not just use real cavemen?"
- "Well, I thought their diction was good. You could hear everything they were saying. At least they didn't say 'It's so easy a...'"
- "Yeah. Yeah. At least there's that."
Season 1: 2007
| № | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Prod. code |
|---|
Weekly ratings
In the following summary, ratingNielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
is the percentage of all households with televisions that tuned to the show, and "share
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
" 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 The following week, the Nielsen numbers from TVWeek.com. Additional ratings information, including the 18–49 rating, comes from BroadcastingCable and finally weekly overall ratings come from ABC Medianet
| # | 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 | #4 | #84 |
Seasonal ratings
Seasonal ratings based on average total viewers per episode of Cavemen on ABCAmerican Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
:
| Season | Timeslot (EDT) | Season Premiere | Season Finale | TV Season | Rank | Viewers (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tuesday 8:00 P.M. (October 2, 2007 - November 13, 2007) | October 2, 2007 | November 13, 2007 | 2007-2008 | #107 | 6.6 |
+ Information is current as of January 7, 2008.
The show was pulled off the ABC Network following the airing of the 6th Episode "Rock Vote" due to the sliding ratings. According to the IMDB, the show stated that the remaining 7 episodes of the show would begin airing on February 13, 2008, but on that date the show was neither aired nor mentioned.
Worldwide premieres
- 2007: USA, CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, U.K., AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, New ZealandNew ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and Republic of IrelandRepublic of IrelandIreland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,... - 2008: FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, SwedenSwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, MexicoMexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, GreeceGreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, ThailandThailandThailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
and Dominican RepublicDominican RepublicThe Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
Overseas distribution
- Aired on Channel SevenSeven NetworkThe Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...
in AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
in 2008. - Aired on Comedy CentralComedy CentralComedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
in the Netherlands in 2008.