The Decline of Western Civilization Continues

Okay, so when I heard that they were developing a show based on those kinda, sorta, used to be amusing before being rammed down my throat Geico ads with the Kirok relatives (I like a good anachronism as much as the next guy.) I wasn't overly concerned. Dozens, hundreds of shows get put into development every year. Some get as far as making pilots but the vast majority die a lonely death in some executive meeting somewhere. Given the crap that actually makes it on the air, it's shocking but what actually gets produced is the cream of a very large crop. One more wacky pitch idea getting the greenlight isn't much to note.

But now I've come to find out that it's actually going on the air. “Thought-provoking social commentary on race relations,” my ass. This is the third or fourth sign of the apocalypse, I'm sure, and we'll soon all be enslaved by the nameless ones returning from their eons long slumber amongst the stars.

It's called, oh so imaginitively, Cavemen and it'll be on the ABC schedule this fall. I can't actually be bothered to look up exactly when. Fortunately, my response seems to be a common one, jugding from other online reactions my google-net has dredged up, so maybe it'll die a quick death and be the butt of jokes for a long, long time to come. The idea of product placement as not just a feature but the motivating force behind entertainment is really not something I want to see brought along much further. Beyond that righteous indignation, I'm really not sure that the series can work. The comercials are quirky and, at least originally, amusing but that's from 30 second bursts. I don't think that off-beat tone can work over a 30 minute episode (Well, alright, 22 minutes.) and, moreover, I'm not sure the underlying dramatic tension of “hey, it's cavemen! And they don't act like it at all!” lasts over the long haul. If you don't have that psuedo-ironic disconnect then you don't have much of a premise, at all.