12 Awful TV Shows That Were Cancelled Before You Even Saw Them

9. Cavemen

Out of all the things in the world that a network could base a sitcom on, a hopelessly meta, played out Geico commercial is probably among the worst. It might seem like common sense, but sometimes things that are funny for thirty seconds of ad time don't necessarily hold up to a weekly half-hour program, and it turns out that Cavemen is among them. The show creates a society in which cavemen have lived alongside homo sapiens throughout history, and are now akin to an ethnic minority group that is frequently discriminated against. Opportunity for bundles of LOLs, someone presumably thought. Hopefully, that person is no longer working in TV. Of course, these cavemen are nothing like their ancestors, and just as it is in the Geico commercials, the comedy comes from them being sophisticated, effete intellectuals working white collar jobs. The show lasted for just over a month, with thirteen episodes, only six of which were aired in the US, before it was binned after a critical mauling, including accusations of racism that meant the pilot was never aired. The remaining seven episodes aired in Australia, but a planned DVD release came to nothing. The sad thing is, there actually were a few clever moments on Cavemen - the world just couldn't get past the fact that basing a TV show off of a string of successful car insurance commercials is a colossally dumb thing to do. Nick Kroll, you're so much better than this.