Saturday, March 03, 2007

Are you as sick of the GEICO caveman commercials as we are?

From the get-go, Mama and I have thought those overly made-up, waxy looking men pretending to be cave dwellers were pointless. Maybe we're just too old to fit the demographic that GEICO is trying to reach. Thank goodness for the remote control, although I thought the one where the caveman was being interviewed on some network like on CNN or MSNBC or FOX was somewhat entertaining.

When the latest commercial just came on, I looked up in time to see the caveman on the psychiatrist's couch, holding a doll? It went by too quick for me to be sure. What's that about? I also don't understand why he tells the psychiatrist in the other commercial in her office that he'll put his mother on speakerphone, when she calls him on his cell phone. Who is that woman playing the psychiatrist? Talia Shire from "Rocky"? Then I started to wonder what y'all think about the commercials. And I got to wondering if I could find a blog or some such where folks are sounding off about the cavemen, so I went to Google.

First I typed in "geico caveman." Complete shock flew all over me when I saw "News results for Geico caveman" and a two-hour-old headline from the Washington Post: "Geico's Cavemen May Get Own TV Series" Of course, it's just a pilot that's been ordered, so it's just a possibility. I do hope it's a slim possibility.

And get this, according to the article, the characters would be 30-somethings living in 2007 Atlanta! Why the South for Pete's sake? Is it stereotyping? What do you think? Here's the quote: "The potential series, one of 14 pilots that will be produced by Touchstone Television this spring, features the cavemen as they "struggle with prejudice on a daily basis as they strive to live the lives of normal thirty-somethings in 2007 Atlanta."

Of course, I found all sorts of comments at You Tube and awfulcommercials.com, both of which followed Wikipedia and came in ahead of geico.com on the first page of the Google Search results. Opinions vary.

Next, still wondering if I could find out who that is in the psychiatrist's chair, I typed in "psychiatrist geico caveman." The first hit is KPIX TV in San Francisco. They're reporting about the sitcom possibility, and there at the end of the short piece, I found "In one commercial that is currently airing, actress Talia Shire stars as a psychiatrist who counsels one of the cavemen struggling with prejudice." Hooray! My brain remains functional!

Oh, well, I just noticed that in about 15 minutes, on Food, "Roker on the Road" will re-run the episode where Al visits a drive-in in Portland (as part of the show entitiled "Blast from the Past"), so I've decided to ignore the commercials and watch Al. I think that's the one where he goes to that place up on Skyline, the one I just had to drive up the steep, winding road to see.
I'll keep you posted. OMG. I think just got why putting stuff on a blog or the Web is called posting! Am I right? Is that it? Somebody who knows, please tell me. Take pity on a senior citizen.

P.S. Mama just asked what I was doing, and when I told her I was blogging, I mentioned the sitcom possibility with the three 30-something cavemen living in Atlanta, dealing with caveman prejudice. She looked up at me from her jigsaw puzzle and said a stunned, "Gawd knows!"

1 comment:

Brian Johnson said...

I'm sorry, Lynette, but I have to admit that I like the cavemen commercials. I should admit, first of all, that I don't have a TV, so I don't see them so much that they drive me crazy. That said, I find the commercials charming even if they are stupid. I think of the one where the caveman is on the walkway at the airport and he sees an offensive ad. He is such a sophisticated business traveler/yuppie, and here is this stereotypical ad about cavemen being primitive. His exasperation makes me smile every time. It's so absurd that I just can't help but like it.