Published at: Oct. 3, 2007, 3:18 p.m. CST by hercules
I am – Hercules!!
There’s an early pilot for “Cavemen,” the new sitcom based on the memorable Geico Insurance commercials, that’s been floating around the Internets for months, but will never appear on ABC. It was circulated to critics back in May. More than half of the TV critics polled by Broadcasting & Cable last month picked it as the worst new show of the fall season. Worse than “K-Ville,” “Big Shots,” “Private Practice," "Moonlight” and “Carpoolers.”
The first episode airing tonight, which features new cast members and an entirely new plot, was not made available to TV critics.
I’ll be tuning in. Though the original pilot was hobbled by substantial tonal deficiencies, I maintain a lot of affection for one of the lead cavemen, the pissed-off, sarcastic Nick. Nick most closely resembled the exasperated “primitive” in Geico’s airport commercials, and actor Nick Kroll did a dryly hilarious job of underplaying the Cro-Magnon’s barely managed contempt for idiocy.
Happily, Kroll was not one of the actors recast. If the producers managed to carry over the venomous Nick while damping down some of the original pilot’s broader elements (its roadtrip sing-along was excruciating), they might have something I, at least, might keep TiVoing.
8 p.m. Tuesday. ABC.