You know network execs are running out of TV show ideas when they rip one from a series of Geico commercials that got a lot of play on youtube. The commercials focus on an insensitive ad that says "Geico is so easy, even cavemen can do it." Apparently, some cavemen didn't completely evolve into homosapiens, so those that didn't would really appreciate some compassion. The running joke, obviously, is that the cavemen are a representation of the ultimate underdogs: minorities, women, lower class, and adolescents. Assumptions are made about these groups that are racist, sexist, capitalist, ignorant and antagonizing--not to mention, funny.
In the first episode we are introduced to three cavemen. Bill English plays Joel, the straight-man, who just tries to skate by and blend in, working amongst sapiens and dating them. Nick Kroll plays Nick, the penniless, pessimistic downer who can find the negative in any situation and proudly spouts ignorant segregation slogans. He goes from the seemingly safe: "Remember the rule. Stick to your kind. Crave the cave," to the blatantly crude, "Keep your penis in your genus." Nick openly judges Joel for his interest in sapien girls, shaming him for first lying about it and then convincing him that his girlfriend's keeping him a secret because she's embarrassed. And once they discover that she's had plenty of cavemen boyfriends that her friends have met, Nick determines that she doesn't really like Joel, she just has a fetish.
You can compare that same train of thought or type of behavior to people in the past who have judged mixed-race or mixed-income relationships. But you can't write Nick off completely. Even though he finds Joel's little brother Andy (Sam Huntington from Superman Returns) to be a nuisance and milks him for all the money that he has, he does try to help him get over his ex-girlfriend, who he pathetically badgers on the phone, desperate to reconcile. Plus, Nick isn't the only close-minded person present. Every now and then there's a sapien who says something that's a bit questionable. Like the building realtor, who can't differentiate the three of them from one another and refuses to try, something some people may do to Asians--or really any race--and who assumed the enthusiastic Wii-playing noises that were coming from the apartment was primal grunting. Of course, the cavemen get a few jabs in too, with the help of a few extra characters who show the dummer side of our species. One of Joel's coworkers is so bad at memorizing details about the furniture they sell that when a girl asks him, "How does this fold up?," he resorts to saying "I don't speak English."
All in all, the show is pretty funny--much funnier than I thought it was going to be. Because I'm a girl, a mixed minority, not rich, and straight out of college, I can relate to all of the discrimination jokes. So I'm thoroughly amused. But not amused enough to skip Bones.
In the first episode we are introduced to three cavemen. Bill English plays Joel, the straight-man, who just tries to skate by and blend in, working amongst sapiens and dating them. Nick Kroll plays Nick, the penniless, pessimistic downer who can find the negative in any situation and proudly spouts ignorant segregation slogans. He goes from the seemingly safe: "Remember the rule. Stick to your kind. Crave the cave," to the blatantly crude, "Keep your penis in your genus." Nick openly judges Joel for his interest in sapien girls, shaming him for first lying about it and then convincing him that his girlfriend's keeping him a secret because she's embarrassed. And once they discover that she's had plenty of cavemen boyfriends that her friends have met, Nick determines that she doesn't really like Joel, she just has a fetish.
You can compare that same train of thought or type of behavior to people in the past who have judged mixed-race or mixed-income relationships. But you can't write Nick off completely. Even though he finds Joel's little brother Andy (Sam Huntington from Superman Returns) to be a nuisance and milks him for all the money that he has, he does try to help him get over his ex-girlfriend, who he pathetically badgers on the phone, desperate to reconcile. Plus, Nick isn't the only close-minded person present. Every now and then there's a sapien who says something that's a bit questionable. Like the building realtor, who can't differentiate the three of them from one another and refuses to try, something some people may do to Asians--or really any race--and who assumed the enthusiastic Wii-playing noises that were coming from the apartment was primal grunting. Of course, the cavemen get a few jabs in too, with the help of a few extra characters who show the dummer side of our species. One of Joel's coworkers is so bad at memorizing details about the furniture they sell that when a girl asks him, "How does this fold up?," he resorts to saying "I don't speak English."
All in all, the show is pretty funny--much funnier than I thought it was going to be. Because I'm a girl, a mixed minority, not rich, and straight out of college, I can relate to all of the discrimination jokes. So I'm thoroughly amused. But not amused enough to skip Bones.
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