Skip to main content

ABC's "Cavemen"

I have to be upfront and tell you that I sat down to watch "Cavemen" because my close friend, Tony Gardner, designed the makeup for the cavemen characters both in the popular Geico commercials and the television series. Tony is a master at what he does, having been in the effects business for over 25 years. Most recently, he and his company transformed John Travolta into a woman for the hit movie, "Hairspray" (although you wouldn't know it by the way New Line promoted the film). Like I said, Tony is a friend. I want him to succeed.

That said, I anticipated the worst after each and every review I read for the show stated that "Cavemen" is terrible. Julie and I hunkered in for a long half hour. We analyzed the makeup for about 5 minutes (it was stellar, of course), but you know what, we both got caught up in the first episode and laughed a lot. The show was very funny.

I'm not saying it's the next "Arrested Development" or even "Two and a Half Men", but I laughed much more at the jokes in "Cavemen" than I did at the over hyped Fox sitcom, "Back to You" (starring Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton). "Back to You" was supposed to be the "return of the sitcom". Yeah, well, I loved that one so much that I didn't miss it when I forgot to TiVo last week episode.

The negative reviews of "Cavemen", I believe, were clearly a case of TV writers hating an idea and not giving it a chance. While a show like "Brothers and Sisters", which was dreadful in it's first, like, five episodes, was allowed room to grow and given some leeway, a series based on a commercial is deemed horrible and not worthy of a second look. Well, I'm here to say that I'll be checking in on "Cavemen" next week and it's not because I know the guy who does the make up effects.

Comments

Johnny P said…
Amen! I LOOOOOVE Cavemen! I was worried too at the start...but lots of dry humor. as good as I'd hoped it would be. Hope it makes it!

Popular posts from this blog

MARATHON FOOTNOTES (for those who didn't think I would really footnote a stream of consciousness thought): Footnote #1 Academy Award Winning Best Picture Films from 1969 to the Present: Midnight Cowboy, Patton, The French Connection, The Godfather, The Sting, The Godfather II, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Rocky, Annie Hall, The Deer Hunter, Kramer Vs. Kramer, Ordinary People, Chariots of Fire, Gandhi, Terms of Endearment, Amadeus, Out of Africa, Platoon, The Last Emperor, Rain Man, Driving Miss Daisy, Dances With Wolves, The Silence of the Lambs, Unforgiven, Schindler’s List, Forrest Gump, Braveheart, The English Patient, Titanic, Shakespeare in Love, American Beauty, Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind, Chicago, Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Footnote #2 Members of the band YES, from 1969 to the present: In 1969, Yes is formed with Jon Anderson on vocals Peter Banks on guitar, Bill Bruford on drums, Tony Kaye on keyboards and Chris Squire playing bass. This group records...

A Trip Through the "My 90's Tapes" Collection Pt. 9: Mötley Crüe, "Girls, Girls, Girls"

Column 3, Row 13: Mötley Crüe , Girls Girls Girls. I was never a big fan of Mötley Crüe. I liked their radio hits, but I never listened to one of their albums in their entirety until 1989’s Dr. Feelgood , which was orchestrated in a way to dominate radio stations and suck in casual fans, like me, who had trouble getting past the Crüe’s purposeful sleaziness. That said I always admired them more than the other Sunset Strip bands. Bassist Nikki Sixx and drummer Tommy Lee were such a formidable rhythm section and laid down a solid groove to all their music. Guitarist Mick Mars had a knack for making his guitar hiss sinister, matching his perpetual scowl. Vince Neil was nothing to write home about as a vocalist, which made his unpolished singing just a little more intriguing than most of the other front then who dominated mainstream rock in the mid-late 80’s. Girls Girls Girls was released in May of 1987, just in time for a long summer of Mötley Crüe taking over the mi...

Here We Go Again

This is what happens when I'm working on a book, or in the past a screenplay: As I become a part of the world I’m creating, all other forms of writing get relegated to the way, way back of my mind. In this case it's a new novel, a supernatural romantic comedy that's been in collecting dust in my head since the late teens. I pulled it out in March when I felt I hit an wall on the other novel I've been writing since 2020. That one is a story I’m very passionate about, tracking the life and career of a woman DJ from the 1960s through the early 1990s and the popularization of alternative rock. After five years and hundreds of pages, I needed a mental break. That's how I started working on adapting an abandoned screenplay into a book. I had to write something. Through years of therapy, I've discovered that if I'm not writing, even if it's a journal entry, I'm filled with anxiety and question my purpose. That's not to say that I feel my purpose in li...