Cavemen (TV series)

Cavemen is a sitcom that aired on ABC in late 2007, running from October 2 to November 20. It was created by Joe Lawson, Josh Gordon, and Will Speck, and it drew from the GEICO Cavemen commercials that Lawson had written. The show was widely panned by critics and is often listed among the worst television series ever made.

The premise imagines that cavemen were never fully replaced by modern humans but instead persisted as a distinct subgroup within Homo sapiens society. They appear as a small but widespread minority, present in all historical civilizations—shown in the opening credits in Egyptian hieroglyphs, with George Washington, alongside Abraham Lincoln, and in the space program. Cavemen face prejudice from humans, who sometimes call them by derogatory terms like "Smoothies" (for their relative lack of hair) or "Sapes." The cavemen identify as Cro-Magnon, though their appearance resembles Neanderthals. Some cavemen try to pass as human by shaving their body hair, earning them the label "Shavers." The humor comes from the fact that these characters are not brutish but are instead refined, white-collar city dwellers who endure slurs like "Magger" (a pun on Cro-Magnon). The story centers on three cavemen roommates in a condo: Joel, his brother Andy, and their cynical friend Nick. Producer Joe Lawson noted that the show was originally set in Newport News, Virginia, then changed to Atlanta, Georgia, before settling on San Diego, California.

The main cast includes Bill English as Joel Claybrook, Nick Kroll as Nick Hedge, Sam Huntington as Andy Claybrook, Kaitlin Doubleday as Kate McKinney, Jeff Daniel Phillips as Maurice, Stephanie Lemelin as Thorne, and Julie White as Leslie McKinney. Recurring roles were played by John Heard, Evan Shafran, J. P. Manoux, Kim Director, and Stephanie Courtney.

In March 2007, ABC ordered a pilot based on Lawson’s script, with Lawson, Guymon Casady, Daniel Rappaport, Will Speck, and Josh Gordon as executive producers. Gordon and Speck also directed the pilot. Later that month, Bill Martin and Mike Schiff joined as executive producers. ABC gave the series an early 13-episode order on May 11, 2007. When the pilot was approved, it was unclear if the original commercial actors Jeff Daniel Phillips and Ben Weber would appear; they did not. Nick Kroll, Kaitlin Doubleday, and Bill English were cast in March, followed by Dash Mihok