Comedy that's sort of okay but not awesome either

Against my better judgment I watched the pilot for Cavemen.

First of all, there's absolutely no reason they should be cavemen. Honestly they're just guys with lots of matted hair, but there's no other inherent difference so the gimmick lies a little flat.

It does feature Nick Kroll, a staple on Best Week Ever. So there's that.

Here's the thing: I shocked myself by actually laughing several times during the show. Cavemen is actually a little funny. Not Arrested Development funny and not Friends funny, but maybe King of Queens funny. Not funny enough to see you rolling on the floor unable to breathe, but funny enough to give you and occasional unexpected chuckle. But the handful of laughs just wasn't enough to get me through the fact that the story was pretty generic once you take away all the facial hair. Just like we all suspected.

Then, since I'd already spent some time on that, I didn't stop myself from watching Carpoolers. First of all, why didn't anybody ever tell me Jerry O'Connell was going to be on this show? I guess first someone would have had to tell me this show existed. I actually did laugh out loud at the parking rage and a few other lines. It would appear that the issues they discuss in the car serve as the fodder for the entire episode. I'm just not sure it's enough to support a whole sitcom.

The absurdity level is pretty high. Not Arrested Development absurd or Scrubs absurd, but more like King of Queens absurd. It is better than Cavemen, but it's still not going on my regular schedule.

So neither show sucked as much as I thought they would, but I admit my expectations were pretty low. They're just good enough to meet the Kevin James bar. Just what every show should aspire to.

Now for some excellent comedic absurdity, don't forget about Pushing Daisies. It's on Wednesday night on ABC and it's neither sucky nor mediocre, but instead is awesome.