Comments on: GEICO’s Cavemen - Neandertal Prejudice or Comedy?

By: cor2879

cor2879 — Sat, 19 May 2007 21:23:19 +0000

The commercials are funny because they are in 30 second snippets… a half hour, weekly tv show based on this concept will tank. It’s a one-trick pony they get old fast.

By: Judy Green

Judy Green — Fri, 18 May 2007 01:19:43 +0000

I REALLY enjoyed your input Valst! I am going to be researching Prof. Henneberg’s work in depth, I found his theories so interesting. Thank you!

By: DVics

DVics — Thu, 17 May 2007 18:29:49 +0000

Let me clarify… The execs might bank on a series doing well if the commercials are such a hit, but there are never any guarantees. A series is not a quick, 30 second commercial spot, and it could get tired quickly.

By: DVics

DVics — Thu, 17 May 2007 18:27:21 +0000

I love the commercials, but I think a full-fledged series will bomb in a short time.

Regarding offense to possible (or supposed) relict neanderthals, let’s worry about that when, and if, actual neanderthals are found to still exist.

Also, I completely agree with Jason P. Studios show what the public demands. Note the onslaught of reality-based TV.

Examples abound. You sell what you know people will buy.

By: Jason P.

Jason P. — Thu, 17 May 2007 14:31:44 +0000

Fuzzy, you said ‘I love Mnynames’s comment, ‘…it’ll still get cancelled despite great appeal and acclaim, because it’ll be too intellectual for studio execs to figure out.’

As I’ve noted on here before, blaming ’studio execs’ for the failure of certain shows, etc. is overly-simplistic and, quite often, simply inaccurate. If more people watched shows that have ‘great appeal and acclaim,’ they wouldn’t get canceled. It’s really quite simple.

As a former entertainment industry executive myself, this is a sore spot for me, as it gets quite tiresome to hear these same complaints over and over again…

By: fuzzy

fuzzy — Thu, 17 May 2007 14:08:00 +0000

Su-u-u-re it could.

By: kittenz

kittenz — Thu, 17 May 2007 11:34:06 +0000

I think the ads are very funny, especially the interactive Caveman’s Crib online, but I don’t think that the TV show will be as funny. The people who produce and write the show will have to work really hard to come up with fresh, new, FUNNY ideas every week. I give it about a month before it tanks. I’ll watch it though, just in case I’m wrong, because in the right hands it really could be a fun show.

By: Mnynames

Mnynames — Thu, 17 May 2007 08:29:12 +0000

Sorry Lee Pierce, but he’s a day gecko, native to Madagascar and surrounding Indian Ocean Islands, although one species is known from South Africa.

Of course, they are popular pets, so he could be an emigrant to the UK…

As for my joke being off-colour (No pun intended), my point was to provide an example of how mockery can highlight the preposterousness of prejudice itself, and was certainly not meant to propagate it in any way. The emperor has power until you point out that he has no clothes…

I would hope that if any Neanderthals (Count me in the Beethoven camp on that one) are discovered, they will be accorded all of the rights we would expect of fellow human beings. Heck, I’m for giving Chimpanzees, Gorillas, and Orangutans limited rights in order to protect them better. Of course, there are tribes of humans in South America whose only contact with the outside world consists of being shot at by miners, squatters, and slash-and-burn farmers, so I don’t hold out too much hope for any newfound Hominins, let alone our “bush meat” brothers…

By: EdwardHowland

EdwardHowland — Thu, 17 May 2007 03:25:49 +0000

Tsk Tsk! We ought not to ridicule the Clan like this.

By: MattBille

MattBille — Thu, 17 May 2007 01:11:59 +0000

I, for one, would love an episode where our cavemen catch a duck and a gecko wandering in the neghborhood and catch them for the barbecue.

It’s a one-joke show, which only works if it has an unusual talent level (as Mork and Mindy did with Robin Williams.)

Real Neanderthals? Someone whould hijack them for a reality show.