It seems the Geico cavemen have upset some minority rights groups LOS ANGELES - The producers of ABC's "Cavemen" pilot, hammered by critics for relying on offensive stereotypes with strong echoes of those aimed at African-Americans, said they intended no such parallels. Moreover, they said, the pilot wouldn't air until four or five episodes into the series. "In terms of them standing in for any one group, that's not our intention," executive producer Josh Gordon, who co-directed the original Geico ads, told members of Television Critics Association. The "Cavemen" pilot, though, was described and denounced by critics as presenting its hairy heroes as sexually potent and aggressive, athletically gifted, relatively unmotivated and potentially violent. "We're aware that the pilot seems to lean a little bit more in that direction," Gordon said. "But in the episodes that we're sort of coming up with now, we never saw them as a stand-in for one group." Executive producer Mike Schiff raised the question of how how people might associate with cavemen if they existed in this world - a world in which most would look down at cavemen. "You know: thickheaded, primal, not as sophisticated or cultured as us," he said answering his own question. "And then, of course, what we want to show in the show is that all those stereotypes are incorrect." Schiff said that the pilot - which writer Joe Lawson (author of the original Geico ads) admitted was a rush job to be finished in time for pilot season and consideration by ABC for fall - may indeed have leaned too heavily on familiar stereotypes. "Is that something that concerns us?" Schiff asked. "Of course ... we want to make sure that we're not saying anything offensive with the show." Delaying the broadcast of the pilot until other episodes have been televised, he said, would help establish the show's characters and tone more effectively - and less offensively. "I actually didn't know," Lawson admitted, "we would catch so much hell."
wait, I thought I was now though of as minority group, I thought they were pretty funny. But go figure some group is going to freak out about it. But yet no one says a word about the "ED" commercials that are on all day long!!
"The producers of ABC's "Cavemen" pilot, hammered by critics for relying on offensive stereotypes with strong echoes of those aimed at African-Americans," The "Cavemen" pilot, though, was described and denounced by critics as presenting its hairy heroes as sexually potent and aggressive, athletically gifted, relatively unmotivated and potentially violent." So what's wrong with this picture? Some people see these traits being portrayed and assume that it is a slam to Blacks? (I refuse to hyphenate any American). Who is being racist there? If I were a Black American I would be po'd at the critics, not ABC.
Good point Funny.... I've been refusing the same for years now, and until everybody starts calling me German-Irish-Scottish-Cherokee-American instead of just white, I'll continue refusing. That is except for Native-American. I use that one just to avoid confusion with the word Indian.
I guess we need a German-Irish-Scottish-Cherokee-American caucus in Congress. And a German-Irish-Scottish-Cherokee-American think tank, with a German-Irish-Scottish-Cherokee-American college with an endowed Chair in German-Irish-Scottish-Cherokee-American studies.
A guy showed me a news article in which a black man killed another man and he was identified as a African American.....the only hitch, it was in France and he was a French black!
That would be P-I-A I think. Welcome to the National P-I-A membership. (actually, the German-Irish-Scottish-Cherokee-American-P-I-A league) We are a large and shrinking majority, we need political representation and action to preserve our heritage.
Now THAT is funny, I don't care who you (or the ignorant news weenie) are. I'd like to see the article so I could flame the twit in a letter to his editor, and maybe a few others as well.
The "Cavemen" pilot, though, was described and denounced by critics as presenting its hairy heroes as sexually potent and aggressive, athletically gifted, relatively unmotivated and potentially violent. TOO FUNNY NOOB
the problem with these critics and whiners is they do not have enough hard work to occupy their time .
Seems o me that the critics who are saying these characteristics are related to blacks are the racists in the situation, just like when they decided that the one species in the Starwars movie (Jar-Jars people) represented blacks and so were racist. The characters dont represent anyone so if they are claimig they do then its by their own views not others.
It was back when or before the movie came out and some of the anti racism groups came out whineing that those critters (the species like Jar-Jar) were based on blacks and that it was therefore a racist slur. I also have to wonder though if it isnt just some kind of publisity stunt FOR the show. You know they always say any press is good press and as far as I know, the show hasnt even aired yet. So how would these folks know anything more about the cavemen than just the omercials?