Geico Cavemen Sitcom? ABC Takes the Clan to Primetime

Yes, it's true. ABC has announced that "Caveman", a sitcom based on the popular caveman characters from the GEICO insurance television ads, will be on their fall schedule. While spinning off a television commercial into a sitcom may appear to be a violation of FCC rules by some, there has been precedent.

The most recent example is "Baby Bob", a very short-lived 2002 sitcom starring a talking man-baby character that had starred in a series of ads for FreeInternet.com. Although the high-profile company died after the infamous dotcom crash, the talking baby emerged unscathed with his own CBS sitcom, "Baby Bob." When the network cancelled the show after only nine episodes, Bob emerged one more time to star in a series of TV commercials for Quiznos Subs. In 2007, he was even too creepy for Quiznos and his character was pulled from all further ads. But, don't feel too sorry for Bob. He still has his own web page on the Quiznos site.

From a critic's standpoint, "Baby Bob" serves as additional proof that what has worked in the 30-second ad format has been difficult to sustain in a much longer sitcom or motion picture format.

Of course, there are exceptions to every rule.

Jim Varney's brilliant "Hey Vern!" character, Ernest P. Worrell, not only translated well into a children's television show, but also became a successful series on the big screen.

In 1980, a Nashville-based advertising agency, Carden & Cherry, cast struggling comic actor Jim Varney as Ernest P. Worrell in a series of Southern regional TV ads for a variety of products. His Ernest character was a talkative nosy neighbor whose catchphrase was "know whut I mean?" The ads caught on and the Ernest P. Worrell character then began appearing in various commercials across the country. In 1988, CBS brought "Hey, Vern! It's Ernest!" to their Saturday children's television line-up. Although the series lasted only a year, the Ernest P. Worrell character next made a successful transition to the big screen, starring in a series of profitable low-budget movie comedies including "Ernest Goes to Camp", "Ernest Saves Christmas", and six others.

The California Raisins also transitioned to children's television, in their case, a cell-animated series. They made their debut as a claymation-animated Motown-style singing group in a 1987 commercial for the California Raisin Advisory Board. Like Ernest, their TV series only lasted a year. However, their ancillary merchandise still continues to sell.

The Max Headroom character took the opposite route from the prior mentioned characters. He began as a cyberpunk protagonist in a 1984 British television movie. In 1987, Max Headroom came to the States as an ABC television series. Despite a strong cult following, it only lasted fourteen episodes. After the show was cancelled, Max appeared in a series of highly successful commercials for Coca-Cola.

SOURCES:

"Gauging viewer tastes", Stuart Elliot, New York Times, URL: (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/16/business/media/16adco.html?_r=1&oref=slogin)

"Who Owns Your Big Idea?", Noreen O'Leary, Adweek, URL: (http://www.adweek.com/aw/national/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003556825)

"Why advertising's cavemen are going totally Hollyrock?", Brooks Barnes and Suzanne Vranica, Wall Street Journal, URL: (http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB117305670677226518-GDYgRU6JmWO40cfjfFMEDLLE_DM_20070311.html)

"Caveman Chic", Ramin Setoodeh, Newsweek, URL: (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17887559/site/newsweek/)

http://adweek.blogs.com/adfreak/2006/06/quiznos_finally.html

"Look who's hawking", Seth Stevenson, Slate, URL: (http://www.slate.com/id/2112786/)

"Advergaming", David Radd, Business Week, URL: (http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/oct2006/id20061011_567417.htm?chan=innovation_game+room_top+stories)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_P._Worrell

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Raisin

"Max Headroom", Henry Jenkins, Museum of Broadcasting Communications, URL: (http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/M/htmlM/maxheadroom/maxheadroom.htm)