'Cavemen' May Face Early Extinction Without The Evolution Of Better Ratings

After tonight's episode, 'Cavemen' could slink back to the cave.

Or it could hang around for years like ABC's amazingly durable but critically unloved 'According to Jim,' which is coming back later this season. ABC apparently will tolerate mediocre ratings for a mediocre series.

The fate of 'Cavemen' will be decided by the ratings, which were just so-so for the debut this past week.

The series, based on the characters from the Geico insurance commercials, didn't bomb. But it wasn't a breakout surprise, either.

ABC has bragged that the first outing with the Cro-Magnon hairballs was a 'hit' with ages 18 to 35.

In total households, 'Cavemen,' which airs at 8 p.m. Tuesdays, tied with the first half-hour of CBS' 'NCIS.' 'NCIS' had more of the older viewers.

The big winner this past Tuesday was Fox's 'House,' which was the most-watched program in prime time that night. It airs at 9 p.m.

The big loser was CBS' 'Cane,' which will be history soon. It airs at 10.

Will Viewers Return?

I suspect most of the 'Cavemen' audience was young, male Homo sapiens, probably the same crowd that thinks Will Ferrell is hilarious. The big question is: How many of the 9 million who watched will come back for a second helping of dumb?

'Cavemen' is followed at 8:30 p.m. by 'Carpoolers,' featuring another group of goofball males who seem even less evolved than the cave men.

Tom Shales of The Washington Post joked that ABC could easily combine them into 'Carpooling Cavemen.'

Critically speaking, it was hard to find a good word for 'Cavemen,' which arrived as the most-maligned of any new network series. The very concept of a TV series starring characters from TV commercials is an artistic transgression.

Television critics were thinking: How dare they turn to advertising icons for inspiration? What's next, a drama starring the Aflac duck?

Meanwhile, serious fans of the Geico commercials (yes, there are such people) were blogging that the creative folks who had made such wonderfully hip commercials had 'sold out.' Who knew there would be a backlash for tampering with the artistic integrity of a TV commercial?

Television critics also questioned just how far the series could stretch what is basically a one-joke commercial.

Modern-day Cro-Magnons resent being stereotyped as not being the sharpest knives in the drawer. They dispute the Geico slogan, 'so easy a Caveman can do it,' because they gave up caves long ago.

The original 'Cavemen' TV pilot stretched the stereotyping jokes to include various kinds of racial and cultural bias that real minorities have faced. Some TV critics questioned whether 'Cavemen' might offend people who don't find humor in bigotry.

The pilot was reworked. Some characters were recast. The locale changed from Atlanta to San Diego (where we must assume bigotry against cave men is somehow less offensive). The racial jokes were toned down. But it didn't get any smarter.

You know it's in trouble when the biggest guffaws on the laugh track follow the line: 'Keep your penis in your genus,' a reference to a cave man dating a 'sape.'

Same Ol' Sitcom Guys

The series follows the lives of two Cro-Magnon brothers and their friend, who share an apartment. Without makeup and protruding headgear, they would be the typical sitcom guy characters.

Joe (Bill English) is the responsible one trying to assimilate and marry outside his genus. His brother Andy (Sam Huntington) is the shy, sensitive type. Roommate Nick (Nick Kroll) is the radical party animal with the biggest chip on his shoulder.

According to the producers, the concept is that there are about 2,000 cave men in this fictional sitcom world. But we only will see three or four at first because it costs about $40,000 to make one of those headpieces. Supposedly, a female Cro-Magnon will be in later episodes.

There's another problem with the series. The producers call these characters Cro-Magnons, but they really look like Neanderthals. I don't want to split hairs, but shouldn't there be some anthropological accuracy on sitcoms?