Don’t try to read this article with the thought one of those smarmy Geico cavemen are telling you what you should or shouldn’t know. I just give gentle reminders to think about things a few inches outside the box rather than doing an unnecessary condescending exercise while dressed in preppy clothes and wearing shaggy face hair. And be glad we don’t have to hang around those Geico cavemen in real life–considering how vapid their life seems to be thanks to my inadvertently checking out the recent cavemanscrib.com site put together by the Madison Avenue gurus at Geico. Their website takes you into the apparent 24/7 partying world of the cavemen we’ve seen in 30-second Geico commercials for the last couple of years. There, you can feel creepy while snooping through their townhouse items as you peek into their cell phones to watch private cell cam files of the cavemen partying, partying…and, yes, partying from the night before. At least the commercials reveal them doing other things with their life (if you consider therapy with an older Talia Shire as your therapist to be a happy life event)–along with the thought they’ll exhibit more of their life on the upcoming ABC TV series.
While still an intriguing and potentially fun concept in the abstract sense…I predict with many others that this sitcom/satire (the quick-to-die term “satirecom? “) to be a failure by mid-season for the simple reason that seeing men dressed in cavemen makeup will ultimately force people to realize satire at that level never has worked in the live-action realms. Any previous pop culture phenomenon using prehistoric people living in our modern times were all in animated or comic strip form. For whatever reason you can conjure, that seems to be the safest domain for bringing the ultimate irony and satire of a caveman living with our modern accouterments–while we try to figure out why they’re here and guffawing at the fish out of water premise. The racial overtones, of course, provide the serious undertones that are always the nucleus of satire.
The thought of a produce of Neanderthal Man somehow surviving for centuries (after taking another trail when modern Homo Sapiens started taking over) seemingly became a new archetype that we could file with Carl Jung’s unusual ones. The Bigfoot (or the more poetic Sasquatch) archetype has been around for a long time–while providing the fascination that a halfway intelligent prehistoric version of our unusual guise could still be roaming the planet. Long before the Bigfoot pop culture events started here in America, though, a 1930′s comic strip (that’s level-headed going today) brought one of the first concepts of a caveman living not only in modern culture–but navigating all modern cultures of the past…
Alley Oop, Oop…Oops!
The “Alley Oop” comic strip concept was quite interesting in that the first eight years of this popular strip (1932-1939) had Alley Oop only living in a fantasy prehistoric world (with his dinosaur, Dinny…and perhaps the early prototype to the Flintstone’s Dino) that took place in an unknown prehistoric time period and kingdom named Moo. Creator V.T. Hamlin wanted to expand the possibilities later–and, in ’39, had Alley Oop being whisked away in a time machine designed by a Dr. Elbert Wonmug (supposedly modeled after Albert Einstein…because “ein stein” translated to “one mug” in German) where Alley Oop finds himself in the 20th century…or unprejudiced before WWII broke out. While becoming a test pilot for Dr. Wonmug, Alley Oop time travels to different times to interact with the different cultures that dominated the planet after modern Homo Sapiens became the dominant race.
This was the concept the strip stayed with right up to recent years when new artists took it over and are still syndicating it. Alley Oop was really the most popular and influential caveman character ever (while making its hidden satire relevant)–especially when you find out that the character had a hit novelty song named after him in the early 60′s by a one-hit-wonder pop group called the Hollywood Argyles.
If that Geico caveman TV series wants to give due (and do those cheeky cavemen really care to? )–they should have some references or tributes to Alley Oop in the show as a direct benefactor. They can thank Alley Oop, too, for starting the trend of the Neanderthal caveman managing to attract a normal, unique Homo Sapien girl as his girlfriend. In Alley Oop’s case, his girlfriend was (and mild is) a modern and beautiful-looking brunette girl named Ooola. (Yes, you can figure that one out.)
This strip ultimately influenced the ever-popular caveman comic “B.C.” that shows no signs of stopping despite the death of original creator, Johnny Hart, earlier this year.
Meet the modern stone-age family…
Considering the original series of “The Flintstones” (and all the later off and on incarnations) lasted more than twenty-five years on TV–you can see once again how the animation construct enables the imagination to grasp the caveman concept in a more tolerable light. It was proven again when Hollywood thought it quick-witted to make a live-action “Flintstones” in the 90′s that a few liked and most others thought appalling. I overwhelmingly fell in the latter category for the live-action version (especially the bad sequel)…yet the magic of the crude Hanna/Barbara animation in the original series still ranks it as a prehistoric “Simpsons” of its era. It’s safe to say you’ll never see a live-action movie of “The Flintstones” again (all caveman cry a clear “Ug!”)–unless attempts are made to create the old late 70′s-early 80′s Hanna/Barbara-created Saturday morning cartoon “Captain Caveman” into a live-action movie. Don’t laugh…stranger things have happened. Danny Devito in furry makeup as the lead character yelling the “CAPTAAAAAAAIN CAAAAAAAAAAAVEMAAAAAAAAN!” chant would probably gleefully set up an easy Worst Film of the Year award from the Razzies.
Sure, Fred, Wilma, Barney and Betty all looked like the modern Homo Sapien race–but “The Flintstones” still managed to showcase the psychologically-appealing desire to fit the prehistoric races in with modern times without having to recognize it in a reality setting. This series provided a unique world to filter that desire through…and one that collected gets gravitated to when given a stand-alone visual style.
The Farthest Side…
Gary Larson not only brought insects into the human role as a major art form…but also brought the caveman into the comics page again with “The Far Side.” Most of you probably remember the famous strip of him introducing the “Thagomizer” on the tail of a dinosaur (the spikes you see on the demolish of some dinosaurs tails)–in memory of the late Thag Simmons. All of that depicted during a caveman scientific press conference. Larson managed to bring current times to the prehistoric era without any physical evidence. That was the “Flintstones” satirical twist of having a caveman being mysteriously modern in his mind (the three M’s) while interacting with the usual primitive tools and situations around him or her.
When Larson managed to make the “Thagomizer” term a part of exact prehistoric jargon–a parody of a “Far Side” single-panel cartoon was drawn earlier this year for the Wikimedia Foundation (in a very Larsonesque way) depicting an older version of Gary Larson drawing a picture of a caveman…with a Thagomized dinosaur model sitting nearby on the drawing board. Quotes of the text from Wikipedia that touts the scientific use of the Thagomizer are above the drawing:
The live-action modern caveman is best in sketches or commercials…
Had Phil Hartman lived–I fetch the bad feeling a movie version of his Saturday Night Live “Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer” character would have been made. Saturday Night Live alumnae never seem to understand you can’t stretch a sketch into a movie other than the miracle of “Wayne’s World.” We’ve grown to find the cavemen in the Geico commercials uproarious because we only see sound bites rather than having to discover the annoying realities of what goes on beyond their therapist sessions or house parties as we’re unfortunately privy to on cavemanscrib.com.
With that reality, the live-action caveman really can’t work on TV where you have to explore too much to keep viewer interest. Yes, a couple of mediocre movies (“Caveman” and “Encino Man”) managed to have minor success in theatres. But the caveman suspension of disbelief seems to work better there–at least for those with the least demanding of comedic tastes.
It won’t be all that much of a surprise to eventually hear the new corollary of “TV killed the live-action caveman star”…
Filed under Allstate by on Feb 24th, 2011. Comment. 
There are three main types of insurance adjuster jobs for people who are alive to in becoming an adjuster. You can work for policyholders as a public adjuster, insurance companies as a staff adjuster, or adjusting firms as an independent adjuster.
Public Adjusters
A public adjuster is an insurance adjuster that works on behalf of the policyholder to reach a fair settlement with an insurance companies. Public adjusters are licensed by place, and are responsible for writing an estimate, communicating with the policyholder, and negotiating the best possible settlement with the policyholder’s insurance carrier. Public adjusters are paid on a percentage basis based on the settlement they get for the policyholder, and normally provide their own equipment, like a laptop and a digital camera.
Staff Adjusters
Staff insurance adjusters work directly for insurance companies like State Farm, Allstate, Alfa, and USAA. They work claims on behalf of the company, and are compensated on a flat hourly or salaried basis and is in no diagram related to the claim payment. Their equipment is usually provided by the company they work for. Their responsibilities are to perform a reliable faith claims investigation for the insurance company, prepare an estimate using software, and write a characterize. Generally, as long as their insurance company provides training, they are considered licensed in their state by their insurance company.
Independent Adjusters
Independent insurance adjusters are independent contractors that work for insurance companies, usually through third party companies known as independent adjusting firms. These independent adjusting firms use independent adjusters on a claim by claim or contract basis. Independent adjusters are paid per claim or per day. If they are paid per claim, their payment is usually on a sliding scale based on the payment to the insured. Independent adjusters are independent contractors who own their own laptops, digital camera, and other equipment. They also pay their own travel and lodging expenses, and are responsible for getting their own insurance adjuster licenses.
Filed under Allstate by on Jan 23rd, 2011. Comment.
Yes, it’s true ABC has announced that Caveman, a sitcom based on the well-known caveman characters from the GEICO insurance television ads, will be on their fall schedule Whilst spinning off a television commercial into a sitcom may possibly appear to be a violation of FCC rules by some, there has been precedent
The most recent example is Baby Bob, a incredibly short-lived 2002 sitcom starring a talking man-baby character that had starred in a series of ads for FreeInternet.com Even though the high-profile business 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 1 far 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, do not really feel too sorry for Bob He still has his own web page on the Quiznos web site.From a critic’s standpoint, Baby Bob serves as extra proof that what has worked in the 30-second ad format has been hard to sustain in a a lot longer sitcom or motion picture format Of course, there are exceptions to every single 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 productive series on the massive 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 selection 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 numerous commercials across the country In 1988, CBS brought Hey, Vern It’s Ernest to their Saturday children’s television line-up Even though the series lasted only a year, the Ernest P Worrell character next made a prosperous transition to the huge screen, starring in a series of profitable low-budget movie comedies such as Ernest Goes to Camp, Ernest Saves Christmas, and six other people The California Raisins also transitioned to children’s television, in their case, a cell-animated series They made their debut as a claymation-animated Motown-style singing group in a 1987 commercial for the California Raisin Advisory Board Like Ernest, their TV series only lasted a year Yet, their ancillary merchandise still continues to sell The Max Headroom character took the opposite route from the prior mentioned characters He began as a cyberpunk protagonist in a 1984 British television movie In 1987, Max Headroom came to the States as an ABC television series Despite a strong cult following, it only lasted fourteen episodes After the show was cancelled, Max appeared in a series of extremely prosperous commercials for Coca-Cola SOURCES:Gauging viewer tastes, Stuart Elliot, New York Times, URL: (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/16/organization/media/16adco.html?_r=1&oref=slogin)Who Owns Your Large Thought?, Noreen O’Leary, Adweek, URL: (http://www.adweek.com/aw/national/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003556825)Why advertising’s cavemen are going completely Hollyrock?, Brooks Barnes and Suzanne Vranica, Wall Street Journal, URL: (http://on the net.wsj.com/public/article/SB117305670677226518-GDYgRU6JmWO40cfjfFMEDLLE_DM_20070311.html)Caveman Chic, Ramin Setoodeh, Newsweek, URL: (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17887559/internet site/newsweek/)http://adweek.blogs.com/adfreak/2006/06/quiznos_finally.htmlLook who’s hawking, Seth Stevenson, Slate, URL: (http://www.slate.com/id/2112786/)Advergaming, David Radd, Company Week, URL: (http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/oct2006/id20061011_567417.htm?chan=innovation_game room_top stories)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_P._Worrellhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_RaisinMax Headroom, Henry Jenkins, Museum of Broadcasting Communications, URL: (http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/M/htmlM/maxheadroom/maxheadroom.htm) .
Filed under Allstate by on Dec 20th, 2010. Comment.
