The Cavemen Return

Apparently the Geico Cavemen are going to have a comedy series on ABC:

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."

This is absolutely great. I love the commercials, I love their attitude. There is such great potential in this premise. All you have to do is steal some of the situations from Frasier and you've got it made.

What I like about the Cavemen is that they refuse to be condescended to which is such a turn from ordinary sitcoms in which the character wallow in a kind of funky stupidity or callow naivete. Over the years, my favorite sticoms have always had in common the main characters' sense of dignity and importance, even when faced with their own confusion. From Fred Flintstone to Marlo Thomas in That Girl to Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt in 'Mad About You'. They were smart, serious people.

I kinda think 'Mad About You' wouldn't succeed today. Smart, serious people can't be funny on TV nowadays. They're all crawling around crime scenes or otherwise being paranoid.

Let's hope the Cavemen change all that.