A trio of Neanderthals struggles to live in modern-day America.
A trio of Neanderthals struggles to live in modern-day America.
Question: Is it just me, or was last week's Cavemen actually kinda-sorta funny? The actress playing the cavewoman was a riot! What's her name? Answer: Her name is Kim Director and I totally agree: She was some kind of hysterical. ABC should seriously consider changing the show's name to Cavewomen and making her the star. That I'd watch.
It is, until the moment the Caveman walks in, just another Tuesday night at Ford's Filling Station, a moderately upscale and oh-so-modern bistro in Culver City, California, the kind of place that caters to middle managers out on the town. There are lots of guys with beepers on their belts, ordering blood-orange margaritas and brick-oven flatbreads, steak tartare with pickled fennel and truffle chips ($14), passing time after work or before they head over to the multiplex for a night at the movies. You can dine outside by the sidewalk, or in the dim-lit dining room with exposed beams and brick walls, fresh flowers and lit candles at every table, the salt and pepper in tiny wooden bowls with tiny wooden spoons. All very tasteful, in a suburban-chic kind of way.They get a stray celebrity in here every now and then, the Sony Pictures Lot being just a few blocks away, but they've never seen a Caveman before, strolling in from Culver Boulevard in all his hairy-faced, r
ABC's lightning-rod Cavemen sitcom has undergone more than a cast tweak and pilot reshoot. The titular Cro-Mags also are no longer braving Atlanta, and will instead call San Diego home, the Associated Press reports. Does Cali offer better car-insurance rates? Nah, it was simply a matter of not being able to "fake" Atlanta with a Los Angeles shoot. As previously reported, the original pilot — in which the wonderfully snarkastic Nick and his hirsute homies crash an upper-crust country club — has been scrapped, and the first episode out of the gate now will concern the revelation that one of the guys is dating a (gasp!) Homo sapien. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
According to a TV Dailies poll of 3,100 people, NBC's Bionic Woman reboot and ABC's Cavemen com are the highest-rated fall debuts in terms of viewer buzz, awareness and intent to watch. Among the 18-to-49 crowd, Jaime Sommers boasts the most awareness and intent to watch, while the GEICO-inspired Cro-Mags are tops in buzz. (I know Ausiello and I disagree on this, but I think Cavemen is kinda cute, with the Nick character being a real scene-stealer.)Placing third were Kid Nation (in awareness and buzz) and Kitchen Nightmares (in intent to watch). Coming in fourth were Pushing Daisies (awareness and buzz) and Private Practice (intent to watch).
The producers of the ABC sitcom Cavemen insist their show is not about race relations. But the reporters at the Television Critics Association were troubled at how nearly every stereotype the characters are tagged with in the pilot episode is associated with African-Americans. "We're aware that the pilot seems to lean a little bit more in that direction," said executive producer Josh Gordon. "We never saw them again as a stand-in for one group." Future episodes won’t come off that way, the producers said. But reporters remained dubious when they heard plotlines about one of the cavemen being lazy and another fearful about how his friends will react to him dating outside his genus. — Reporting by Stephen Battaglio
8:54 am: We're in the homestretch, folks, and that can only mean one thing: Critics have begun recycling their old underwear. That explains the wall of stank I just walked through entering the Beverly Hilton's ballroom.8:58 am: As we wait for ABC president Stephen McPherson to take the stage for the exec session, let me take a moment to extend a big thank-you to the generous folks at ABC Studios who had a case of Diet Raspberry Snapple shipped to my room yesterday afternoon. Just for that, I'm going to take it easy on Big Shots. I was planning to call it a charmless piece of fecal matter; now I'm merely calling it unwatchable. Behold the power of Snapple!EXECUTIVE SESSION9:10 am: The first question... does not include the words "Isaiah" or "Washington." Darn. 9:13 am: On Lost's game-changing season finale, McPherson says it really "opened up a new world" for the show, adding that Team Darlton "pitched us where they're going this year, and where they're going the next two years." He ...
Lucy Hale has joined NBC's Bionic Woman as Jaime Sommers' younger sister, replacing Mae Whitman (who filled the role in the pilot). Hale is best known (by me) as Robin's kid sis on How I Met Your Mother. Definitely more of a "family resemblance" now. Also, as rumored and since confirmed in the Ausiello Report, the sibling is no longer deaf, and has also gained mad hacking skills.Also per the Reporter, Julie White has been upped to series-regular status on ABC's Cavemen, where she plays nice Cro-Mag Joel's (Bill English) prospective (and WASPy) mother-in-law, while Drive's Kristin Lehman has been cast as a police detective's wife in Backyards & Bullets, an NBC pilot (formerly known as The Watch) about a neighborhood-watch program gone extreme.
Kevin Pollak, with whom James Woods shared the silver screen in Casino, is joining Shark in the recurring role of new Los Angeles District Attorney Lloyd Cutler. Another new face coming on board CBS' hit drama is Kevin Alejandro (you say Ugly Betty, I say Drive), playing a street-smart prosecutor who specializes in organized crime. Sounds like the "Sam Page replacement" Ausiello scooped a ways back, yes?Also per the Reporter, ABC's Cavemen — namely, Cro-Mag Joel's younger brother — is getting a makeover. Sam Huntington (Superman Returns' Jimmy Olsen) is in as Andy, while Dash Mihok is out as Jamie. What's more, the pilot screened at the upfronts will not kick off the series in the fall. Instead, a new opener is being filmed, one which better (meaning at all) addresses the cavemen's existence in modern society. Small detail, that.
Even with all the success ABC has had on Sunday and Thursday (thanks to the bold move of Grey's Anatomy to that night), there are plenty of other time periods throughout the week where the network simply wasn't competitive this past season. But while the struggling NBC cautiously put together a schedule that seemed designed to retain its diminished share of advertiser dollars, ABC is being much more aggressive. In the new lineup presented to advertisers Wednesday at Alice Tully Hall, entertainment president Stephen McPherson threw a lot of stuff against the scheduling board in the hope that something will stick.Determined to get back into the comedy game, ABC gave Sam I Am with Christina Applegate the benefit of a Dancing with the Stars lead-in on Monday. Not a bad bet, since ABC's appeal is strongest among women 35-plus — and Applegate is now one of them, believe it or not. Two new comedies with a male skew will lead off Tuesday, in an attempt to get some ratings traction by t...
Scheduled to debut next season are four new comedy entries — Carpoolers, Cavemen, Miss/Guided and Sam I Am; along with seven new drama series — Big Shots, Cashmere Mafia, Dirty Sexy Money, Eli Stone, Private Practice, Pushing Daisies and Women's Murder Club. Oprah's Big Give is also slated to debut.In addition to the new series, ABC previously announced season renewals for Brothers & Sisters, Men in Trees, Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy, Lost, Desperate Housewives, Boston Legal, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Dancing with the Stars, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, The Bachelor, Supernanny, America's Funniest Home Videos and Wife Swap. October Road and Notes from the Underbelly will also return for second seasons.As previously announced, Saturday Night College Football will return for a second season on Saturday, September 1 (8:00 pm, ET).ABC's fall prime-time schedule is as follows (all times listed are Eastern, with new shows in bold):MONDAY: 8 pm Dancing with the Stars9:30 pm Sam I ...
The latest pre-upfronts news:ABCDrama pickups: Dirty Sexy Money and Eli Stone (both from Everwood's Greg Berlanti); the Grey's Anatomy spin-off Private Practice, the Sex and the City-esque Cashmere Mafia; Pushing Daisies, Women's Murder Club; Big Shots (Dylan McDermott, Michael Vartan, Christopher Titus and Joshua Malina as CEOs/wannabes). Comedies: Cavemen; Sam I Am (Christina Applegate as an amnesiac); Carpoolers. Other notes: October Road and Notes from the Underbelly will return mid-season with 13-episode runs. (Today's News)FOXDrama pick-ups: The Terminator-inspired sci-fi-er The Sarah Connor Chronicles; K-Ville (concerning cops in post-Katrina New Orleans); New Amsterdam (about an immortal homicide detective). Comedies: Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton's Back to You (FKA Action News); Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman-Palladino's The Return of Jezebel James (starring Parker Posey); The Rules of Starting Over (courtesy of the Farrelly Brothers) (Today's News).NBCDrama pick-up...
Upfronts week — the near-euphoric annual event where television enthusiasts such as you and I anticipate the new and returning fare heading our way — is upon us. Though some scheduling news has started to leak out — NBC has renewed Medium and fan-fave bubble show Friday Night Lights but is possibly crossing Jordan off its list — the official presentation of each network's fall schedule begins Monday with the Peacock showcasing its feathers, and concludes Thursday when the CW answers such questions as, "What will fill Gilmore Girls' void?"This here blog, my friends, is one to bookmark, as it will serve as a veritable clearinghouse for any and all news coming out of the upfronts. Each morning we will hurry to the fore the latest unveiling of network lineups, then throughout the day supplement it with expert insight from the likes of Matt Roush, Stephen Battaglio and Michael Ausiello.With the fun about to start, I leave you with these burning questions, which will, ...