This is pretty funny... I guess making fun of cavemen is somehow juxtaposed into making fun of black people. Not that all this matters much, because I give it 10 episodes before it gets canceled anyways.

http://www.miamiherald.com/213/story/183028.html

LOS ANGELES --
The producers of ABC's new sitcom Cavemen, based on a series of popular advertisements for the insurance company Geico, were ready to defend themselves against charges of rampant commercialism. But the charge that their show about put-upon Cro-Magnons in the modern world has racist undertones took them by surprise.

''I actually didn't know we would catch so much hell,'' Cavemen writer Joe Lawson ruefully told a room full of highly critical critics at a gathering of North American television writers here Wednesday. ``That's a pleasant surprise.''

Cavemen, which features shaggy Cro-Magnons trying to make their way through a hostile Homo Sapiens world, won't even air until October but is already drenched in its second wave of controversy.

The first came in May when ABC announced it was converting a handful of 30-second insurance commercials into a half-hour series. The Cavemen producers had to endure a seemingly endless round of cracks like the one on Saturday Night Live's satirical Weekend Update newscast, which announced NBC would counter with a new drama called 1-800-Mattress.

But as the show's pilot episode began circulating in Hollywood, so did a new round of criticism: that Cavemen trafficked in the very racial caricatures it was supposed to be lampooning. By depicting the Cro-Magnons as good dancers, great athletes and grand sexual partners, the show's detractors argued, Cavemen was using black stereotypes for cheap racist laughs. ''We finally get to laugh at all the stereotypes in the world directed at cavemen, without feeling guilty,'' wrote one Hollywood blogger. ABC's decision to reshoot the pilot didn't exactly help.

Wednesday's panel discussion here was the first time Cavemen producers have discussed the show in public, and they said people are reading too much into what they called a ''fish out of water'' story.

''Unfortunately, in our society, if you pick an offensive stereotype of any kind, it's going to bump into some ethnic group,'' said Mike Schiff, one of the executive producers. ``Is the show about race relations? No. Is that a background to the show? Yes, of course.''

Lawson, who wrote the original Geico commercials as well as the pilot, said that if the Cro-Magnons are an allegorical stand-in for anybody, it's not black people but outsiders.

''As human beings, we all have that need to fit in,'' he said. ``It's really a show about acclimation more than anything, and that's something that everybody deals with, doesn't matter if you're a minority or not.''

Not everybody -- in fact, almost nobody -- in the room was buying it, partly because some of the Cavemen story lines the producers offered as evidence the show isn't about race (for instance, one of the cavemen concealing the fact that he's dating a Homo Sapiens woman, for fear his Cro Magnon friends won't like it) sounded like race was exactly what they were about.

The cavemen are ''known for their athletic prowess, their sexual prowess, their dancing,'' complained one critic, to which director Josh Gordon deadpanned: ``They're Jewish.''

So many questions were about hot-button racial topics that the producers actually seemed relieved when anybody circled back to the subject of commercialism. When one critic sarcastically asked if the gecko lizard who stars in another group of Geico commercials would be making a guest appearance on Cavemen, Gordon replied that it ``depends on how ratings are.''

And he was sympathetic to the charge of another critic that Cavemen suffered ''a failure in anthropological verisimilitude'' by making its Cro-Magnons look more like Neanderthals and suggested that the show fire all its technical advisors.

''If we had technical advisors,'' Gordon conceded, ``we would probably fire them.''

Thats funny right there.

if it's not black it must be racist. Does the black comunity really feel this way about EVERYTHING , or is it just a few attention whores that keep trowing the race card? So now only black people can dance, play sports and have good sex? Damn i guess us white boys be fuqed YO !

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ARCHIES JUNK IS FASTER THAN SHAUNNA'S JUNK

I never saw a black caveman in the advertisements, so unless they added a few just for the show, I am not quite sure how race is even a factor.

~ Derek

quote Originally posted by ryan.hess: By depicting the Cro-Magnons as good dancers, great athletes and grand sexual partners, the show's detractors argued, Cavemen was using black stereotypes for cheap racist laughs.'

Wow.

I never knew I was black. Curly or JScott, do I spell that black or Black? Or am I just a caveman? Or is that Caveman?

(all in fun, I don't really dance that well. the rest is accurate though........)



John Stricker

I just hope it gets canceled because it was a bad idea in the first place.

As far as it making fun of black people, that's just stupid.

1st episode schedule October 2nd at 8:00pm CST.



Counting down the days. It's going to be great. At least it's a sitcom! I'm getting tired of seeing nothing but reality(staged) and crappy game shows.

Time to go back to the roots. Sitcom!

quote Originally posted by jstricker: Wow. I never knew I was black. Curly or JScott, do I spell that black or Black? Or am I just a caveman? Or is that Caveman? (all in fun, I don't really dance that well. the rest is accurate though........) John Stricker

Did you ever see the movie "the Jerk" starring Steve Martin?
"I was born a poor black child..."
John, it's just barely possible that you MAY be a nig.......[sound of multiple gunshots]
^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ [crickets]^^ ^^ ^^ ^^

Oh shut up!
We all need to lighten up. [no pun intended.]

[This message has been edited by NEPTUNE (edited 07-27-2007).]

I guess they should have had them unable to resist fried chicken, watermelon and malt liquor. Do they have them wearing a lot of jewelry? Teeth capped? Do they fight pit bulls? Have several children by different mothers?

I am offended by critics who would see 3 POSITIVE things, and immediately think of black people. Yeah, the majority of people who have those 3 qualities are blacks. I see.

BUT, even if that WAS really primarily identified with blacks--which I STILL contend is not--that is supposed to be negative?

It is a good thing most of you weren't alive or watching TV when Lancelot Link was a television show. And not because I have one memory of that being racist. Doesn't matter, though. Personally, I don't identify chimps or primates with blacks. Why would I? But if critics identify 3 positive characteristics as being black, they certainly are likely going to relate a chimpanzee private detective as black. "But that's just stupid." Yeah. It sure is, isn't it?

Just to point out, I don't think the "Black" community has any issue with this at all. Or even cares one way or another.
Just more silly crap for race pimps like Sharpton and Jackson to whine about.

Wow, just wow!
I would have never put all those issues together and come up with something lke the article. I guess I live in a sheltered world. I even took enough college courses in Anthropology to get a minor in that field and I would have never come up with that scenerio. BTW, I know black Americans that can't dance worth a damn, aren't terrific athletes and per their past partners aren't that good at sex, additionally, don't like fried chicken. John Stricker, I'm thinking you fall into this group. Well, except for the chicken part.

I'm also looking forward to getting away from reality TV and talent shows, didn't like them to begin with and will be glad to see it gone.
John, can you sing, you already admitted you can't dance.


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Ron
Land of the Free because of the Brave. Most gave some, some gave all. Some ran the other way.

[This message has been edited by blackrams (edited 07-27-2007).]

Duhhh. Thats the whole premis of the cavemen thing in the first place. Thats what makes it funny. People need to get a grip.........Im sooooo sick of hearing about everything being racist. You dont like it.... dont do it, dont watch it, dont go there, get out of the country. We have black colleges, but why no white colleges ? Isnt that just as racist ?

[This message has been edited by rogergarrison (edited 07-27-2007).]

quote Originally posted by rogergarrison: Duhhh. Thats the whole premis of the cavemen thing in the first place. Thats what makes it funny. People need to get a grip.........Im sooooo sick of hearing about everything being racist. You dont like it.... dont do it, dont watch it, dont go there, get out of the country. We have black colleges, but why no white colleges ? Isnt that just as racist ?

We've got white colleges... Yale, Harvard, Duke, lol

This controversy is so lame only a Caveman could have thought it up...

I feel bad for the cavemen.

Yeah, well, don't get me wrong. I mean some of my best friends are cavemen...

quote jstricker said: I never knew I was black. Curly or JScott, do I spell that black or Black? Or am I just a caveman? Or is that Caveman?

That's Paleolithic-American to you, bud.

Id feel pretty safe betting there are plenty of blacks and asians in those colleges.

I think blacks figure they have the corner on the racism market.
Besides, so they're great athletes, great dancers, and great in bed, and those are supposedly "black" stereotypes. OK. And they're complaining WHY????

Why didn't Planet of the Apes get criticized?

If they're driving Fieros..that would be funny; we'll maybe not to Fiero owners, right? If they only drive Fieros...now I'd be pissed (owner runs to ebay and sells all Fieros for a profit during the buzz- hype).

Regardless of how it's being depicted, somebody is going to be pissed. The "key" is to spread the jokes around and offend everybody and everything.

[This message has been edited by madcurl (edited 07-27-2007).]

quote Originally posted by ryan.hess: Why didn't Planet of the Apes get criticized?

That's Planet of the Simeons your racsist!

quote Originally posted by Toddster: That's Planet of the Simeons your racsist!

You put a nice Jewish twist on that one, now didn't you?

-fh

I find this show to be offensive to us cavemen. LOL Mabye it should be directed at therapists. Oh wait they did that already with Frasier.

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1988 Fiero Formula T-tops
CJB 143 of 1252 "factory T-top cars"

Can`t we all just get along?

quote Originally posted by fierohobby: You put a nice Jewish twist on that one, now didn't you? -fh

OK. I'll come out. I'm anti-simeonitic.

Blacktree--very good. Very funny.

quote Originally posted by frontal lobe: OK. I'll come out. I'm anti-simeonitic.

It's not easy being bipedally challenged. Where's the love man?