It's only been on the air for a little over a month, but already ABC's Cavemen has clubbed America's patience over the head and dragged it by the hair into a forest somewhere. The ratings for the show are declining each week, which makes sense considering that the best thing that can be said about the show is that it's not that bad. Cro-mag jokes only go so far.
But according to this article in USA Today, Cavemen doesn't just lack viewers and entertainment value, it also lacks another crucial element for any sitcom: Neanderthal realism.
The guys in ABC's Cavemen look the part from the neck up, but that's where their similarity to Neanderthals ends, and that's too bad, says a professor who has spent almost 20 years teaching students about the real thing.
"The commercials were clever, but the sitcom is just a tremendously missed opportunity," says John Barthelme, a professor at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y. "They're just young guys with hair that talk about chicks."
Seriously, Prof. If there's one thing I expect from my sitcoms, it's scientific accuracy. When will Hollywood create a Neanderthal character that is true-to-life?
Just think: every time one of Cavemen's three dozen viewers laughs at a "Magger" joke, they are helping to perpetuate terrible cavemen stereotypes, which is ironic because the show is about cavemen stereotypes (also being hairy, and talking about chicks).
If only there was a course that college students could take to teach them about the real cavemen.
