"Cavemen" Story Evolves

I can't say I'm surprised. An ABC rep tells me that the network will not be releasing an advance disc of the re-shot "Cavemen" pilot for review. "Still adding finishing touches" is the "reason," although just maybe the extremely negative reception by critics of the original pilot has a little something to do with it.

Or maybe the fact that I'm writing this blog entry right now has something to do with it. By not releasing an advance of the first episode of "Kid Nation" to critics last week, CBS got an enormous amout of free publicity as news outlets buzzed about the withheld premiere.

The original "Cavemen" pilot was sent to critics last spring, and it wasn't very good. And I'm not saying that because the series takes its inspiration from Geico commercials; TV shows have come from stranger sources. The half-hour was just a relentless reiteration of one not very clever idea -- that the cavemen are discriminated against, like real minorities. And then there was an uncomfortable way in which the pilot's caveman stereotypes echoed some of our culture's stereotypes about black people.

But during the summer, ABC announced that the first pilot would be re-shot, and that one of the lead cavemen would be recast. That's the pilot that some of us -- likely, very few of us -- will be watching Tuesday night.