Geico Cavemen Sitcom? ABC Takes the Clan to Primetime

Yes, it's true. ABC has announced that "Caveman", a sitcom based on the popular caveman characters from the GEICO insurance television ads, will be on their fall schedule. While spinning off a television commercial into a sitcom may appear to be a violation of FCC rules by some, there has been precedent.

The most recent example is "Baby Bob", a very short-lived 2002 sitcom starring a talking man-baby character that had starred in a series of ads for FreeInternet.com. Although the high-profile company died after the infamous dotcom crash, the talking baby emerged unscathed with his own CBS sitcom, "Baby Bob." When the network cancelled the show after only nine episodes, Bob emerged one more time to star in a series of TV commercials for Quiznos Subs. In 2007, he was even too creepy for Quiznos and his character was pulled from all further ads. But, don't feel too sorry for Bob. He still has his own web page on the Quiznos site.

From a critic's standpoint, "Baby Bob" serves as additional proof that what has worked in the 30-second ad format has been difficult to sustain in a much longer sitcom or motion picture format.

Of course, there are exceptions to every rule.

Jim Varney's brilliant "Hey Vern!" character, Ernest P. Worrell, not only translated well into a children's television show, but also became a successful series on the big screen.

In 1980, a Nashville-based advertising agency, Carden & Cherry, cast struggling comic actor Jim Varney as Ernest P. Worrell in a series of Southern regional TV ads for a variety of products. His Ernest character was a talkative nosy neighbor whose catchphrase was "know whut I mean?" The ads caught on and the Ernest P. Worrell character then began appearing in various commercials across the country. In 1988, CBS brought "Hey, Vern! It's Ernest!" to their Saturday children's television line-up. Although the series lasted only a year, the Ernest P. Worrell character next made a successful transition to the big screen, starring in a series of profitable low-budget movie comedies including "Ernest Goes to Camp", "Ernest Saves Christmas", and six others.