Geico cavemen could star in TV series

[Intrepid]

Geico cavemen could star in TV series - CNN.com

NEW YORK (AP) -- Those Geico "cavemen" shouldn't be so upset after all -- they may get their own television series.

ABC said Friday it had ordered a pilot for a comedy, tentatively titled "Cavemen," that features the characters used in a series of ads by the insurance company.

In the ads, cavemen appear insulted by a Geico pitchman's claim that the company's Web site is so easy to use that "even a caveman can do it."

The potential series, one of 14 pilots that will be produced by Touchstone Television this spring, features the cavemen as they "struggle with prejudice on a daily basis as they strive to live the lives of normal thirty-somethings in 2007 Atlanta."

It's unusual for characters from an advertising campaign to move into shows of their own, but not unprecedented. The CBS comedy "Baby Bob" featured a talking baby that had been used in several advertisements, according to Daily Variety.

The advertising copywriter who helped create the "cavemen" ads is writing the pilot, the studio said.

A pilot order is no guarantee a show will make it on the air; in fact, the majority of pilots don't make it that far.

[BailJumper]

SNL skits maybe. Series/sitcom? I smell a disaster. I mean how many caveman jokes will the audience want to hear week after week 30-minutes at a time?

[Karried]

I know of a perfect actor.

Wouldn't even be a stretch!

[mranderson]

If that happens I will excersis my right of free speech. I will turn the channel. PErsonally, I am sick of that caveman... And growing sick of the actors with civilians. I have been tired of the Gecco for a long time.

What advertising needs is what is lacks... Talent.

[drumsncode]

You just never know how creative and funny a show can be until you try it. I'd try a caveman over all the crime and gore shows anyday, but I'm obviously in the minority.

And who would have thought that years ago "I Dream of Jeannie" would be a hit.

Barbara Eden versus David Caruso, the choice is up to you.

[CMSturgeon]

Yeah, I might try the show but I definitely don't have my hopes up. The commercials are amusing at times but usually don't generate an "LOL." This sounds about as bad as a spin off of Rosie O'Donnell's short lived character from Nip Tuck. Speaking of Nip Tuck, I wonder if there will be another season.

[Martin]

i enjoy the commercials... but i'm also a bit skeptical about a half-hour sitcom based around the concept... -M

[mranderson]

"And who would have thought that years ago "I Dream of Jeannie" would be a hit."

Sidney Sheldon, for one.

[jbrown84]

I doubt it gets picked up. Gimmicky is out these days.

[SoonerDave]

Yeah, I have to admit I'm not a big fan of the caveman commercials. I mean, okay, yeah, it was a chuckle the first time or two, but geez its been pounded into the ground.

I'm actually amazed no one from a competing insurance company hasn't come up with an advertisement of the theme "I'm SICK of buying INSURANCE from a LIZARD" and has a car run over an effigy of that putrid little green menace....

-soonerdave

[Angelicfly]

I'm about sick of seeing Insurance, Lawyer, and Cash Loan commercials. That is ALL there is on daytime TV. At least with car commercials there's something pretty to look at, hehe.

If the Caveman series makes it to television I think I'll stop watching television.

[SoonerDave]

I think the tacky commercials that dominate daytime TV is an outgrowth of the way television is evolving; a more selective "user community" is starting to pay for precisely what it wants to watch, and as a result the broader, cheaper, daytime ad spaces are attracting the lowest-common-denominator kind of advertising.

That's kinda the trend for conventional network TV, I fear. People are sick of commercials, they're willing to pay for the ability to select content (and omit commercials in the process). That's got the "traditional" networks and affiliates more than a little scared - their business model is eroding from beneath them. That's part of why Hearst/Argyle is fighting with Cox over HD rebroadcast rights for stations like Channel 5; they're running out of "traditional" revenue streams because advertiser-based broadcasting, while prevalent, is no longer a "growth" medium...and why TiVo is trying to convince people to buy a version of its box upcoming that will *force* viewers to watch commercials. No, I'm not kidding.

-soonerdave