''The Flintstones'' is an American
animated sitcom
An animated sitcom is a subgenre of the sitcom that is animation, animated instead of live action and is generally made or created for adult animation, adult audiences in most cases. ''SpongeBob SquarePants'', ''The Simpsons'', ''South Park'', and ...
produced by
Hanna-Barbera Productions
Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...
. The series takes place in a romanticized
Stone Age
The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with t ...
setting and follows the activities of the titular family, the Flintstones, and their next-door neighbors, the Rubbles. It was originally broadcast on
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
from September 30, 1960, to April 1, 1966, and was the first animated series to hold a
prime-time
Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...
slot on television.
The show follows the lives of Fred and Wilma Flintstone and their pet dinosaur Dino, eventually seeing the addition of baby Pebbles. Barney and Betty Rubble are their neighbors and best friends. They adopt a super strong baby named Bamm-Bamm and acquire a pet hopparoo named Hoppy.
Producers
William Hanna
William Denby Hanna (July 14, 1910 – March 22, 2001) was an American animator and cartoonist who was the creator of ''Tom and Jerry'' as well as the voice actor for the two title characters. Alongside Joseph Barbera, he also founded the ani ...
and
Joseph Barbera
Joseph Roland Barbera ( ; ; March 24, 1911 – December 18, 2006) was an American animator, director, producer, storyboard artist, and cartoon artist who co-founded the animation studio and production company Hanna-Barbera.
Born to Italian im ...
, who earned seven
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
s for ''
Tom and Jerry
''Tom and Jerry'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated media franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Best known for its 161 theatrical short films by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the series c ...
'', and their staff faced a challenge in developing a thirty-minute animated program with one storyline that fit the parameters of family-based domestic situation comedy of the era. After considering several settings and selecting the Stone Age, one of several inspirations was ''
The Honeymooners
''The Honeymooners'' is an American television sitcom which originally aired from 1955 to 1956, created by and starring Jackie Gleason, and based on a recurring comedy sketch of the same name that had been part of Gleason's variety show. It fol ...
'' (in itself traceable to ''
The Bickersons
''The Bickersons'' was a radio comedy sketch series that began September 8, 1946, on NBC, moving the following year to CBS where it continued until August 28, 1951. The show's married protagonists, portrayed by Don Ameche (later by Lew Parker) a ...
'' and
Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy were a British-American Double act, comedy duo act during the early Classical Hollywood cinema, Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–19 ...
), which Hanna freely praised as one of the finest comedies on television. The show's animation required a balance of visual as well as verbal storytelling that the studio created and others imitated.
The continuing popularity of ''The Flintstones'' rests heavily on its juxtaposition of modern everyday concerns in the Stone Age setting. ''The Flintstones'' was the most financially successful and longest-running network animated television series for three decades, until ''
The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...
'' surpassed it in 1997. In 2013, ''
TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...
'' ranked ''The Flintstones'' the second-greatest TV cartoon of all time (after ''The Simpsons'').
Overview
The show is set in a comical version of the
Stone Age
The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with t ...
, with added features and technologies that resemble mid-20th-century suburban America. The plots deliberately resemble the
sitcom
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...
s of the era, with the
caveman
The caveman is a stock character representative of primitive humans in the Paleolithic. The popularization of the type dates to the early 20th century, when Neanderthals were influentially described as " simian" or "ape-like" by Marcellin ...
Flintstone and Rubble families getting into minor conflicts characteristic of modern life.
The show is set in the Stone Age town of
Bedrock
In geology, bedrock is solid Rock (geology), rock that lies under loose material (regolith) within the crust (geology), crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet.
Definition
Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface mater ...
(pop. 2,500).
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...
s and other prehistoric creatures are portrayed as co-existing with cavemen,
saber-toothed cat
Machairodontinae is an extinct subfamily of carnivoran mammals of the family Felidae (true cats). They were found in Asia, Africa, North America, South America, and Europe from the Miocene to the Pleistocene, living from about 16 million until ...
s, and
woolly mammoth
The woolly mammoth (''Mammuthus primigenius'') is an extinct species of mammoth that lived during the Pleistocene until its extinction in the Holocene epoch. It was one of the last in a line of mammoth species, beginning with '' Mammuthus subp ...
s.
Animation historian Christopher P. Lehman considers that the series draws its humor in part from creative uses of
anachronism
An anachronism (from the Ancient Greek, Greek , 'against' and , 'time') is a chronology, chronological inconsistency in some arrangement, especially a juxtaposition of people, events, objects, language terms and customs from different time per ...
s. The main one is the placing of a "modern", 20th-century society in
prehistory
Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...
. This society takes inspiration from the
suburban sprawl
Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city." Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted growt ...
developed in the first two decades of the postwar period. This society has modern home appliances which work by employing animals. They have automobiles, but they hardly resemble the cars of the 20th century. These cars are large wooden and rock structures, powered by people who run while inside them. This depiction varies; on some occasions, the cars appear to have engines (with appropriate sound effects), requiring ignition keys and some representation of gasoline. Fred might pull into a gas station and say, "Fill 'er up with
Ethel
Ethel (also '' æthel'') is an Old English word meaning "noble", today often used as a feminine given name.
Etymology and historic usage
The word means ''æthel'' "noble".
It is frequently attested as the first element in Anglo-Saxon names, b ...
", which is pumped through the trunk of a woolly mammoth marked "ETHEL". Whether the car runs by foot or by gas varies according to the needs of the story. Finally, the stone houses of this society are
cookie-cutter homes positioned into neighborhoods typical of mid-20th-century American suburbs.
[Lehman (2007), p. 25]
Characters
The Flintstones
*
Fred Flintstone
Fred Flintstone is the main character of the animated sitcom '' The Flintstones'', which aired during prime-time on ABC during the original series' run from 1960 to 1966. Fred is the husband of Wilma Flintstone and father of Pebbles Flintsto ...
– The main character of the series and the husband and father in the title family, Fred is an accident-prone operator of a bronto-crane (a Brontosaurus used as an excavating machine) at the Slate Rock and Gravel Company who is overweight and likes to eat copious amounts of marginally healthy or unhealthy food. He is quick to anger (usually over trivial matters) but is a very loving husband and father. He is also good at bowling and is a member of the fictional "Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes" Lodge No. 26 (originally called the Loyal Order of Dinosaurs in Season 1), a men-only club paralleling real-life fraternities such as the
Loyal Order of Moose
The Loyal Order of Moose is a fraternal and service organization founded in 1888 and headquartered in Mooseheart, Illinois.
Moose International supports the operation of Mooseheart Child City & School, a community for children and teen ...
. His famous
catchphrase
A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...
is "Yabba Dabba Doo!".
*
Wilma Flintstone
Wilma Flintstone is a fictional character in the television animated series ''The Flintstones''. Wilma is the red-headed woman married to caveman Fred Flintstone, daughter of Pearl Slaghoople, and mother of Pebbles Flintstone. Her best friend is ...
– Fred's wife and Pebbles's mother, she is more intelligent and level-headed than her husband, though she often has a habit of spending money (with Betty's and her catchphrase being "
Da-da-da duh da-da CHARGE it!!"). She often is a foil to Fred's poor behavior, but is a very loyal wife to him. She is also a very jealous woman, who is easily angered if even a hint exists of another woman (especially a pretty one) having anything to do with Fred.
*
Pebbles Flintstone
Pebbles Flintstone (also known as Pebbles Flintstone-Rubble as an adult) is a fictional character in the ''Flintstones'' franchise. The red-haired daughter of Fred and Wilma Flintstone, Pebbles is born near the end of the third season. She is mos ...
– The Flintstones' infant daughter, is born near the end of the third season. She normally wears a bone in her hair holding up her ponytail, and a light green and black colored shirt with a turquoise and black diaper. She (much like her family) does not wear shoes or pants.
*
Dino (pronounced "dee-no") – The Flintstones' pet dinosaur, acts like a dog. A running gag in the series involves Fred coming home from work and Dino getting excited and knocking him down and licking his face repeatedly.
* Baby Puss – The Flintstones' pet
saber-toothed cat
Machairodontinae is an extinct subfamily of carnivoran mammals of the family Felidae (true cats). They were found in Asia, Africa, North America, South America, and Europe from the Miocene to the Pleistocene, living from about 16 million until ...
is rarely seen in the actual series, but is always seen throwing Fred out of the house during the end credits, causing Fred to pound repeatedly on the front door and yell "Wilma!", waking the whole neighborhood in the process.
Relatives of the Flintstones
* Pearl Slaghoople – Wilma's hard-to-please mother, Fred's mother-in-law and Pebbles's grandmother, she is constantly disapproving of Fred and his behavior. She did not have a last name in her first appearances in season two and three. They briefly reconciled in the episode "Mother-in-Law's Visit", which originally aired on February 1, 1963, until she found out that she became Fred's "nice fat pigeon" when he suckered her out of money that he needed to buy a baby crib for Pebbles. They are reconciled again at the end of the 1993 TV movie ''I Yabba Dabba Do''. Their disastrous first meeting was recounted in flashback in the episode "Bachelor Daze", which originally aired on March 5, 1964. In the episode, her last name was identified as "Mrs. Slaghoople." The first name of "Pearl" was created after the original series ended in 1966.
* Uncle Tex Hardrock – Fred's maternal uncle, Wilma’s uncle-in-law and Pebbles‘s great-uncle who’s a member of the
Texarock Rangers, he constantly holds Fred's future inheritance over his head.
The Rubbles
*
Barney Rubble
Barney Rubble is a fictional character who appears in the television animated series ''The Flintstones''. He is the diminutive, blond-haired caveman husband of Betty Rubble and adoptive father of Bamm-Bamm Rubble. His best friend is his next d ...
– The secondary main character and Fred's best friend and next-door neighbor, he is nearly six inches shorter and also overweight; his occupation is, throughout most of the series, unknown, though later episodes depict him working in the same quarry as Fred. He shares many of Fred's interests, such as bowling and golf, and is also a member of the Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes. Though Fred and Barney frequently get into feuds with one another (usually due to Fred's short temper), their deep fraternal bond remains very evident.
*
Betty Rubble
Betty Rubble is a fictional character in the television animated series ''The Flintstones'' and its spin-offs and live-action motion pictures. She is the black-haired wife of caveman Barney Rubble and the adoptive mother of Bamm-Bamm Rubble. Her ...
– Barney's wife and Wilma's best friend, like Wilma she has a habit of spending money and also is highly jealous of other pretty women being around her husband.
*
Bamm-Bamm Rubble
Bamm-Bamm Rubble (sometimes spelled Bam-Bam Rubble) is a fictional character in the ''Flintstones'' franchise, the adopted son of Barney and Betty Rubble. He is most famous in his infant form on the animated series, but has also appeared at vari ...
– The Rubbles' abnormally strong adopted son, they adopt him during the fourth season; his name comes from the only phrase he ever speaks as a baby: "Bamm, Bamm!"
* Hoppy – The Rubbles' pet hopparoo (a kangaroo/dinosaur combination creature), they purchase him at the beginning of the fifth season. When he first arrives, Dino and Fred mistake him for a giant mouse and are frightened of him, but they eventually become best friends after Hoppy gets help when they are in an accident. He babysits the kids as he takes them around in his pouch, which also serves as a shopping cart for Betty.
Other characters
Over 100 other characters appeared throughout the program. Below are those who have made more than one appearance:
* Mr. George Slate – Fred and Barney's hot-tempered boss at the gravel pit, he fires Fred on several occasions throughout the series, only to give him his job back by the end of the episode. A running gag is Slate's ever-changing first name, which was revealed to be Sylvester, Seymour, Nate, Oscar, and George as the series progressed. In the episode "The Long, Long, Long Weekend", which originally aired on January 21, 1966, he is shown as being the founder of "Slate Rock and Gravel Company"; still in business two million years later, the company is operated by his descendant, "George Slate the Eighty-thousandth". In the early Flintstones episodes, the more recognized "Mr. Slate" character was known as "Mr. Rockhead" and was a supervisor of Fred. Mr. Slate was a short character. During the course of the cartoon, the two men switched identities and the shorter character faded away.
* Arnold – The Flintstones'
paperboy
A paperboy is someoneoften an older child or adolescentwho distributes printed newspapers to homes or offices on a regular route, usually by bicycle or automobile. In Western nations during the heyday of print newspapers during the early 20th ...
, Fred absolutely despises him, mainly because Arnold is frequently able to best and outsmart Fred at a number of tasks and also because he often ("unintentionally") throws the newspaper in Fred's face. Arnold's parents are mentioned in the series, but his mother Doris, a friend of Wilma and Betty (as evidenced in the episode "The Little Stranger", which originally aired on November 2, 1962), is referenced in name only, never actually appearing onscreen. Arnold's father, however, did appear in the episode "Take Me Out to the Ball Game", which originally aired on April 27, 1962, though his name is never mentioned.
* Joe Rockhead – A mutual friend of Fred and Barney, Fred usually mentions doing something (such as going to a baseball game) with Joe when Fred and Barney have some kind of falling out. Joe was, at some point, the
fire chief
A fire chief or fire commissioner is a top executive rank or commanding officer in a fire department.
Nomenclature
Various official English-language titles for a fire chief include ''fire chief'', ''chief fire officer'' and ''fire commissioner' ...
of the Bedrock Volunteer Fire Department as shown on the episode "Arthur Quarry's Dance Class", which originally aired on January 13, 1961. His appearance varied throughout the run of the series, but his appearance in the episode "The Picnic", which originally aired on December 15, 1961, was the one most commonly used.
* Sam Slagheap – The
Grand Poobah
Grand Poobah is a satirical term derived from the name of the haughty character Pooh-Bah in Gilbert and Sullivan's ''The Mikado'' (1885). In this comic opera, Pooh-Bah holds numerous exalted offices, including "First Lord of the Treasury, Lord C ...
of the Water Buffalo Lodge.
* The Hatrocks – A family of
hillbillies
Hillbilly is a term (often derogatory
A pejorative or slur is a word or grammatical form expressing a negative or a disrespectful connotation, a low opinion, or a lack of respect toward someone or something. It is also used to express critici ...
. They originally feuded with the Flintstones' Arkanstone branch in the style of the
Hatfield–McCoy feud
The Hatfield–McCoy feud, also described by journalists as the Hatfield–McCoy conflict, involved two rural American families of the West Virginia–Kentucky area along the Tug Fork of the Big Sandy River in the years 1863–1891. The Hatfie ...
. Fred and Barney reignite a feud with them in "The Bedrock Hillbillies" when Fred inherits San Cemente from the late Zeke Flintstone where the dispute was over who made the portrait of Fred's great-great-uncle Zeke. The Hatrocks later returned in "The Hatrocks and the Gruesomes" where they bunk with the Flintstones during their trip to Bedrock World's Fair and their antics start to annoy them while guilt-tripping Fred into extending their stay. It is also revealed that the Hatrocks dislike bug music. The Flintstones, the Rubbles, and the Gruesomes were able to drive them away by performing the Four Insects song "She Said Yeah Yeah Yeah". When they found that the Bedrock World's Fair was having the Four Insects performing, the Hatrocks fled back to Arkanstone.
** Jethro Hatrock – The patriarch of the Hatrock Family. He had brown hair in "The Hatrocks and the Flintstones" and taupe-gray hair in "The Hatrocks and the Gruesomes".
** Gravella Hatrock – Jethro's wife.
** Zack Hatrock – Jethro and Gravella's oldest son.
** Slab Hatrock – The youngest son of Jethro and Gravella.
** Granny Hatrock – The mother of Jethro and grandmother of Zack and Slab.
** Benji Hatrock – Jethro's son-in-law.
** Percy – The Hatrock's pet dogasaurus.
* The Gruesomes – A creepy but friendly family, they move in next door to the Flintstones in later seasons.
** Weirdly Gruesome – The patriarch of the Gruesome family who works as a reality-show host.
** Creepella Gruesome – Weirdly's tall wife.
** Goblin "Gobby" Gruesome – Weirdly and Creepella's son.
** Uncle Ghastly – The towering uncle of Gobby from Creepella's side of the family, he is mostly shown as a large furry hand with claws coming out of a small door, a well, or a wall. His shadow was also seen in their debut episode giving the viewers an idea on what he might look like. Uncle Ghastly wasn't named until his second appearance.
** Occy – The Gruesome family's pet giant octopus.
** Schneider – Gobby's pet giant spider.
*
The Great Gazoo
The Great Gazoo or simply Gazoo is a character (arts), fictional character from the animated series ''The Flintstones''. He first appeared on the show on October 29, 1965. The Great Gazoo was voiced by actor Harvey Korman.
Fictional biography
...
– An
alien
Alien primarily refers to:
* Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country
** Enemy alien, the above in times of war
* Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth
** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...
from the planet Zetox who was exiled to Earth. He helps Fred and Barney with his reality-warping abilities, often against their will. The Great Gazoo is actually from the future and is quite dismayed when he realizes he has been sent back to "the Stone Age". He can be seen only by Fred, Barney, Pebbles, Bamm-Bamm, other small children, Dino, and Hoppy. Gazoo appeared in the final season only.
Voice cast
*
Alan Reed
Alan Reed (born Herbert Theodore Bergman; August 20, 1907 – June 14, 1977) was an American actor, best known as the original voice of Fred Flintstone on ''The Flintstones'' and various spinoff series. He also appeared in many films, includin ...
–
Fred Flintstone
Fred Flintstone is the main character of the animated sitcom '' The Flintstones'', which aired during prime-time on ABC during the original series' run from 1960 to 1966. Fred is the husband of Wilma Flintstone and father of Pebbles Flintsto ...
, Uncle Ghastly
*
Jean Vander Pyl
Jean Thurston Vander Pyl (October 11, 1919 – April 10, 1999) was an American voice actress. Although her career spanned many decades, she is best known as the voice of Wilma Flintstone for the Hanna-Barbera cartoon ''The Flintstones''. In a ...
–
Wilma Flintstone
Wilma Flintstone is a fictional character in the television animated series ''The Flintstones''. Wilma is the red-headed woman married to caveman Fred Flintstone, daughter of Pearl Slaghoople, and mother of Pebbles Flintstone. Her best friend is ...
,
Pebbles Flintstone
Pebbles Flintstone (also known as Pebbles Flintstone-Rubble as an adult) is a fictional character in the ''Flintstones'' franchise. The red-haired daughter of Fred and Wilma Flintstone, Pebbles is born near the end of the third season. She is mos ...
*
Mel Blanc
Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank ; May 30, 1908July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for comedy ra ...
–
Barney Rubble
Barney Rubble is a fictional character who appears in the television animated series ''The Flintstones''. He is the diminutive, blond-haired caveman husband of Betty Rubble and adoptive father of Bamm-Bamm Rubble. His best friend is his next d ...
,
Dino, Zack Hatrock
*
Daws Butler
Charles Dawson Butler (November 16, 1916May 18, 1988) was an American voice actor. He worked mostly for the Hanna-Barbera animation production company where he originated the voices of many familiar characters, including Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Ho ...
– Barney Rubble (Season 2; episodes 1, 2, 5, 6 and 9 only)
*
Bea Benaderet
Beatrice Benaderet ( ; April 4, 1906 – October 13, 1968) was an American actress and comedienne. Born in New York City and raised in San Francisco, she began performing in Bay Area theatre and radio before embarking on a Hollywood career that ...
–
Betty Rubble
Betty Rubble is a fictional character in the television animated series ''The Flintstones'' and its spin-offs and live-action motion pictures. She is the black-haired wife of caveman Barney Rubble and the adoptive mother of Bamm-Bamm Rubble. Her ...
(Seasons 1–4), Gravella Hatrock
*
Gerry Johnson – Betty Rubble (Seasons 5–6), Granny Hatrock (in "The Hatrocks and the Gruesomes")
*
Don Messick
Donald Earle Messick (September 7, 1926 – October 24, 1997) was an American voice actor. He was best known for his performances in Hanna-Barbera cartoons.
His best-remembered vocal creations include Scooby-Doo, Bamm-Bamm Rubble and Hoppy in ...
–
Bamm-Bamm Rubble
Bamm-Bamm Rubble (sometimes spelled Bam-Bam Rubble) is a fictional character in the ''Flintstones'' franchise, the adopted son of Barney and Betty Rubble. He is most famous in his infant form on the animated series, but has also appeared at vari ...
, Hoppy, Arnold, Gobby Gruesome
*
John Stephenson – Mr. Slate, Joe Rockhead, Sam Slagheap
*
Verna Felton
Verna Arline Felton (July 20, 1890December 14, 1966) was an American actress, best known for providing many voices in numerous Disney animated films.
She also provided the voice for Fred Flintstone's mother-in-law, Pearl Slaghoople in Hanna-Bar ...
–
Wilma's mother (Seasons 2 and 3)
*
Janet Waldo
Janet Waldo (born Jeanette Marie Waldo; February 4, 1919 – June 12, 2016) was an American radio and voice actress. In animation, she voiced Judy Jetson in various Hanna-Barbera media, Nancy in ''Shazzan'', Penelope Pitstop, Princess from ''Batt ...
– Pearl Slaghoople (Season 4)
*
Harvey Korman
Harvey Herschel Korman (February 15, 1927May 29, 2008) was an American actor and comedian who performed in television and film productions. His big break was being a featured performer on CBS' ''The Danny Kaye Show'', but he is best remembered f ...
– The Great Gazoo
Guest stars
*
Hoagy Carmichael
Hoagland Howard Carmichael (November 22, 1899 – December 27, 1981) was an American musician, composer, songwriter, actor and lawyer. Carmichael was one of the most successful Tin Pan Alley songwriters of the 1930s, and was among the first ...
- Himself (in "The Hit Songwriters")
*
Tony Curtis
Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz; June 3, 1925September 29, 2010) was an American actor whose career spanned six decades, achieving the height of his popularity in the 1950s (Kansas Raiders, 1950) and early 1960s. He acted in more than 100 f ...
- Stony Curtis (in "The Return of Stony Curtis")
*
Ann-Margret
Ann-Margret Olsson (born April 28, 1941) is a Swedish–American actress, singer, and dancer. As an actress and singer, she is credited as Ann-Margret.
She is known for her roles in ''Pocketful of Miracles'' (1961), ''State Fair'' (1962), ''B ...
- Ann-Margrock (in "Ann-Margrock Presents")
*
Elizabeth Montgomery
Elizabeth Victoria Montgomery (April 15, 1932 – May 18, 1995) was an American actress whose career spanned five decades in film, stage, and television. She is best remembered for her leading role as the witch Samantha Stephens on the televisi ...
- Samantha (in "Samantha")
*
Jimmy O'Neill - Himself (in "Shinrock-A-Go-Go")
*
Willard Waterman
Willard Lewis Waterman (August 29, 1914 – February 2, 1995)Cox, Jim (2008). ''This Day in Network Radio: A Daily Calendar of Births, Debuts, Cancellations and Other Events in Broadcasting History''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . was an American ...
(in "The Long Long Weekend")
*
Dick York
Richard Allen York (September 4, 1928 – February 20, 1992) was an American radio, stage, film, and television actor. He was the first actor to play Darrin Stephens on the ABC fantasy sitcom ''Bewitched''. He played teacher Bertram Cates in the ...
- Darrin (in "Samantha")
Additional voice cast
*
Henry Corden
Henry Corden (born Henry Cohen; January 6, 1920 – May 19, 2005) was a Canadian-born American actor, best known for taking over the role of Fred Flintstone after Alan Reed's death in 1977. His official debut as Fred's new voice was in the 1 ...
*
Walker Edmiston
Walker Edmiston (February 6, 1926 – February 15, 2007) was an American radio, television and voice actor.
Early years
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Edmiston participated in local theater productions during his high school years. He later stud ...
*
June Foray
June Foray (born June Lucille Forer; September 18, 1917 – July 26, 2017) was an American voice actress. She was best known as the voice of such animated characters as Rocky the Flying Squirrel, Natasha Fatale, Nell Fenwick, Lucifer from Disney' ...
– Granny Hatrock (in "The Bedrock Hillbillies")
*
Sandra Gould
Sandra Gould (July 23, 1916 – July 20, 1999) was an American actress, perhaps best known for her role as Gladys Kravitz on the sitcom ''Bewitched''. Gould was the second actress to portray the role, debuting at the start of the third season.
Li ...
* Naomi Lewis – Creepella Gruesome
*
Howard McNear
Howard Terbell McNear (January 27, 1905 – January 3, 1969) was an American stage, screen, and radio character actor. McNear is best remembered as the original voice of Doc Adams in the radio version of ''Gunsmoke'' and as Floyd Lawson, the ...
- Doctor, appeared in 3 episodes
*
Allan Melvin
Allan John Melvin (February 18, 1923 – January 17, 2008) was an American actor and impressionist, who was cast in hundreds of television episodes from the 1950s to the early 1990s, often appearing in recurring roles on various series. Some of th ...
*
Howard Morris
Howard Jerome Morris (September 4, 1919 – May 21, 2005) was an American actor, comedian, and director. He was best known for his role in ''The Andy Griffith Show'' as Ernest T. Bass, and as "Uncle Goopy" in a celebrated comedy sketch on Sid Cae ...
– Weirdly Gruesome, Schneider, Jethro Hatrock, Slab Hatrock, Percy
*
Hal Smith
*
Ginny Tyler
Merrie Virginia Eggers (née Erlandson; August 8, 1925 – July 13, 2012), known professionally as Ginny Tyler, was an American voice actress who performed on dozens of cartoons and animated films from 1957 to 1993. In 2006, she was named a Disne ...
*
Paula Winslowe
Paula Winslowe (born Winifred Reyleche; March 23, 1910 – March 6, 1996) was an American television, radio and voice actress, best known for her role as the voice of Bambi's mother in the 1942 movie ''Bambi''.
Career
In the early 1930s, ...
*
Doug Young – Benji Hatrock
Voice-actor details
Fred Flintstone physically resembles both the first voice actor who played him,
Alan Reed
Alan Reed (born Herbert Theodore Bergman; August 20, 1907 – June 14, 1977) was an American actor, best known as the original voice of Fred Flintstone on ''The Flintstones'' and various spinoff series. He also appeared in many films, includin ...
, and
Jackie Gleason
John Herbert Gleason (February 26, 1916June 24, 1987) was an American actor, comedian, writer, composer, and conductor known affectionately as "The Great One." Developing a style and characters from growing up in Brooklyn, New York, he was know ...
, whose series, ''
The Honeymooners
''The Honeymooners'' is an American television sitcom which originally aired from 1955 to 1956, created by and starring Jackie Gleason, and based on a recurring comedy sketch of the same name that had been part of Gleason's variety show. It fol ...
'', inspired ''The Flintstones''. The voice of Barney Rubble was provided by voice actor Mel Blanc, except for five episodes during the second season (the first, second, fifth, sixth, and ninth); Hanna-Barbera regular
Daws Butler
Charles Dawson Butler (November 16, 1916May 18, 1988) was an American voice actor. He worked mostly for the Hanna-Barbera animation production company where he originated the voices of many familiar characters, including Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Ho ...
filled in and provided the voice of Barney while Blanc was incapacitated by a near-fatal car accident. Blanc was able to return to the series much sooner than expected, by virtue of a temporary recording studio for the entire cast set up at Blanc's bedside. Blanc's Barney voice varied from nasal to deep before his accident, as he and Barbera (who directed the sessions with Alan Dinehart) explored the right level in relation to the comedy and the other characters. Blanc uses both Barney voices in one of the earliest episodes, "The Prowler."
Reed was insistent on playing Fred in a relatively natural speaking voice, rather than a broad, "cartoony" style. Few animated short cartoons used this "straightforward" method, except for experimental studios like UPA and feature films with more realistic characters. The performances of Reed and the cast (as well as the writing) helped ground the animated world of The Flintstones in a relatable reality. The dialogue style of The Flintstones set a precedent for acting in animation that continues to exist today, sometimes falsely attributed in modern animated productions as "revolutionary."
In a 1986 ''
Playboy
''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother.
K ...
'' interview, Gleason said Alan Reed had done voice-overs for Gleason in his early movies and that he had considered suing Hanna-Barbera for copying ''The Honeymooners'', but decided to let it pass.
According to
Henry Corden
Henry Corden (born Henry Cohen; January 6, 1920 – May 19, 2005) was a Canadian-born American actor, best known for taking over the role of Fred Flintstone after Alan Reed's death in 1977. His official debut as Fred's new voice was in the 1 ...
, a voice actor and a friend of Gleason's, "Jackie's lawyers told him he could probably have ''The Flintstones'' pulled right off the air. But they also told him, 'Do you want to be known as the guy who yanked Fred Flintstone off the air? The guy who took away a show so many kids love and so many parents love, too?'"
Henry Corden first spoke for Fred Flintstone on the 1965 record album ''Songs From Mary Poppins'', then continued doing the voice for most of the other Flintstone records on the label. At roughly the same time, Corden was providing Fred's singing voice in two films being produced at the studio: the 1966 special ''
Alice in Wonderland, or What's a Nice Kid Like You Doing in a Place Like This?'' and the 1966 feature film ''
The Man Called Flintstone
''The Man Called Flintstone'' is a 1966 American animated musical comedy film produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and distributed by Columbia Pictures. The second film by Hanna-Barbera following ''Hey There, It's Yogi Bear!'' (1964), it was dir ...
''. Corden assumed the role completely after Reed's death in 1977, starting with the TV special, ''
A Flintstone Christmas
''A Flintstone Christmas'' is a 1977 animated Christmas television special featuring characters from ''The Flintstones'' franchise. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera and is the second Christmas-themed animated work in the franchise, after the 1964 ...
''.
Since 2000,
Jeff Bergman
Jeffrey Bergman (born July 10, 1960) is an American voice actor and impressionist who has provided the modern-day voices of various classic cartoon characters, most notably with ''Looney Tunes'' and Hanna-Barbera.
Bergman was the first to repla ...
,
James Arnold Taylor
James Arnold Taylor (born July 22, 1969), also known by his initials JAT, is an American voice actor, writer, producer and podcaster. He is known for portraying Ratchet in the ''Ratchet & Clank'' franchise, the main character Tidus in '' Final Fa ...
, and
Scott Innes
Scott Innes (born October 1, 1966) is an American voice actor, author, songwriter and radio personality. He is best known for his voice over work in various Warner Bros. and Hanna-Barbera animated films, television shows, video games and commerci ...
(performing both Fred and Barney for
Toshiba
, commonly known as Toshiba and stylized as TOSHIBA, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure system ...
commercials) have performed the voice of Fred. Since Mel Blanc's death in 1989, Barney has been voiced by
Jeff Bergman
Jeffrey Bergman (born July 10, 1960) is an American voice actor and impressionist who has provided the modern-day voices of various classic cartoon characters, most notably with ''Looney Tunes'' and Hanna-Barbera.
Bergman was the first to repla ...
,
Frank Welker
Franklin Wendell Welker (born March 12, 1946) is an American voice actor. He began his career in the 1960s, and holds over 860 film, television, and video game credits as of 2022, making him one of the most prolific voice actors of all time. With ...
, and
Kevin Michael Richardson
Kevin Michael Richardson (born October 25, 1964) is an American actor. Known for his distinctively deep voice, he has mostly voiced villainous characters in animation and video games. In film, Richardson voiced Goro in ''Mortal Kombat'' (1995) ...
. Various additional character voices were created by
Hal Smith,
Allan Melvin
Allan John Melvin (February 18, 1923 – January 17, 2008) was an American actor and impressionist, who was cast in hundreds of television episodes from the 1950s to the early 1990s, often appearing in recurring roles on various series. Some of th ...
,
Janet Waldo
Janet Waldo (born Jeanette Marie Waldo; February 4, 1919 – June 12, 2016) was an American radio and voice actress. In animation, she voiced Judy Jetson in various Hanna-Barbera media, Nancy in ''Shazzan'', Penelope Pitstop, Princess from ''Batt ...
, Daws Butler, and
Howard Morris
Howard Jerome Morris (September 4, 1919 – May 21, 2005) was an American actor, comedian, and director. He was best known for his role in ''The Andy Griffith Show'' as Ernest T. Bass, and as "Uncle Goopy" in a celebrated comedy sketch on Sid Cae ...
, among others.
Episodes
Music
The opening- and closing-credits theme during the first two seasons was called "Rise and Shine", a lively instrumental underscore accompanying Fred on his drive home from work. .
Starting in season three, episode three ("Barney the Invisible"), the opening- and closing-credits theme was the familiar vocal "Meet the Flintstones". This version was recorded with a 22-piece
big band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s an ...
conducted by composer Hoyt Curtin and performed by the
Randy Van Horne
Harry Randell Van Horne Jr. (February 10, 1924 – September 26, 2007) was an American singer and musician. Van Horne's musical group, the Randy Van Horne Singers, performed the theme songs for many classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons including ''Th ...
Singers. The melody is derived from part of the 'B' section of
Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 17 Movement 2, composed in 1801/02. The "Meet the Flintstones" opening was later added to the first two seasons for syndication. The musical underscores were credited to
Hoyt Curtin
Hoyt Stoddard Curtin (September 9, 1922 – December 3, 2000) was an American composer and music producer, the primary musical director for the Hanna-Barbera animation studio from its beginnings with ''The Ruff & Reddy Show'' in 1957 until his ret ...
for the show's first five seasons;
Ted Nichols
Theodore Nicholas Sflotsos (born October 2, 1928), known professionally as Ted Nichols, is an American composer, conductor, arranger, educator, and minister of music. He is best known for his work at Hanna-Barbera Productions from 1963 to 1972, ...
took over in 1965 for the final season.
Many early episodes used the underscores composed for ''Top Cat'' and ''The Jetsons''. Episodes of the last two seasons used the underscore of ''Jonny Quest'' for the more adventurous stories.
History and production
The idea of ''The Flintstones'' started after Hanna-Barbera produced ''
The Huckleberry Hound Show
''The Huckleberry Hound Show'' is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, and the second series produced by the studio following ''The Ruff and Reddy Show''. The show first aired in syndication on September 2 ...
'' and ''
The Quick Draw McGraw Show
''The Quick Draw McGraw Show'' is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, and their third television series overall after ''The Ruff and Reddy Show'' and ''The Huckleberry Hound Show''. Voice actor Daws But ...
''. Although these programs were successful, they did not have the same wide audience appeal as their previous theatrical cartoon series ''
Tom and Jerry
''Tom and Jerry'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated media franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Best known for its 161 theatrical short films by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the series c ...
'', which entertained both children and the adults who accompanied them. Since children did not need their parents' supervision to watch television, though, Hanna-Barbera's output became labeled "kids only". Barbera and Hanna wanted to recapture the adult audience with an animated
situation comedy
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...
.
[The Flintstones, season 2 DVD documentary]
Barbera and Hanna considered making the two families hillbillies (a hillbilly theme was later incorporated into two ''Flintstones'' episodes, "The Bedrock Hillbillies" and "The Hatrocks and the Gruesomes"),
ancient Romans
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom ...
(Hanna-Barbera eventually created ''
The Roman Holidays
''The Roman Holidays'' is a half-hour Saturday morning animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and broadcast on NBC from September 9 to December 2, 1972. It ran for 13 episodes before being cancelled, and reruns were later shown on t ...
''),
pilgrims, or
American Indians before deciding on a Stone Age setting. According to Barbera, they settled on that because "you could take anything that was current, and convert it to stone-age".
[Leonard Maltin interviews Joseph Barbera, 1997] Under the working title ''The Flagstones'', a treatment was written by
Harry Winkler. The family originally consisted of Fred, Wilma, and their son, Fred, Jr. A brief demonstration film was also created to sell the idea of a "modern stone-age family" to sponsors and the network.
It was a difficult sell, and required eight weeks of daily presentations to networks and ad agencies.
[ ]June Foray
June Foray (born June Lucille Forer; September 18, 1917 – July 26, 2017) was an American voice actress. She was best known as the voice of such animated characters as Rocky the Flying Squirrel, Natasha Fatale, Nell Fenwick, Lucifer from Disney' ...
and Hanna-Barbera regular Daws Butler
Charles Dawson Butler (November 16, 1916May 18, 1988) was an American voice actor. He worked mostly for the Hanna-Barbera animation production company where he originated the voices of many familiar characters, including Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Ho ...
voiced the characters for the demonstration film, but Foray was dropped without warning before production began; Foray was upset about the rejection and refused to work with Hanna-Barbera for many years afterward, despite Barbera's efforts to offer her other work. Animator Kenneth Muse
Kenneth Muse (July 26, 1910 – July 26, 1987) was an American animator best known for his work on the ''Tom and Jerry'' series at MGM.
Biography
Muse worked briefly at Walt Disney Productions, where he was Preston Blair's assistant on '' Fa ...
, who worked on the ''Tom and Jerry'' cartoons, also worked on the early seasons of ''The Flintstones''.
William Hanna
William Denby Hanna (July 14, 1910 – March 22, 2001) was an American animator and cartoonist who was the creator of ''Tom and Jerry'' as well as the voice actor for the two title characters. Alongside Joseph Barbera, he also founded the ani ...
was honest about the inspiration, saying, "At that time, ''The Honeymooners'' was the most popular show on the air, and for my bill, the funniest. The characters, I thought, were terrific. Now, that influenced greatly what we did with ''The Flintstones'' ... ''The Honeymooners'' was there, and we used that as a kind of basis for the concept." Joseph Barbera
Joseph Roland Barbera ( ; ; March 24, 1911 – December 18, 2006) was an American animator, director, producer, storyboard artist, and cartoon artist who co-founded the animation studio and production company Hanna-Barbera.
Born to Italian im ...
disavowed these claims in a separate interview, though, stating, "I don't remember mentioning ''The Honeymooners'' when I sold the show, but if people want to compare ''The Flintstones'' to ''The Honeymooners'', then great. It's a total compliment. ''The Honeymooners'' was one of the greatest shows ever written."
Jackie Gleason, creator of ''The Honeymooners'', considered suing Hanna-Barbera Productions, but decided that he did not want to be known as "the guy who yanked Fred Flintstone off the air". Gleason himself was sued because ''The Honeymooners'' was similar to ''The Bickersons
''The Bickersons'' was a radio comedy sketch series that began September 8, 1946, on NBC, moving the following year to CBS where it continued until August 28, 1951. The show's married protagonists, portrayed by Don Ameche (later by Lew Parker) a ...
'', as critics noted at the time, and the lawsuit served by ''Bickersons'' creator Philip Rapp
Philip Rapp (March 26, 1907 – January 23, 1996) was a film and television director and screenwriter. He wrote for Eddie Cantor and, for a brief period, wrote film scripts for Danny Kaye. Rapp is perhaps best known as the creator of Baby Snooks ...
was settled out of court. Another influence was noted during Hanna-Barbera's tenure at MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...
, where they were in a friendly competition with fellow cartoon director Tex Avery
Frederick Bean "Tex" Avery (February 26, 1908 – August 26, 1980) was an American animator, cartoonist, animation director, director, and voice actor. He was known for directing and producing animated cartoons during the golden age of American a ...
. In 1955, Avery directed a cartoon entitled ''The First Bad Man
''The First Bad Man'' is an American animated cartoon directed by Tex Avery, and features narration by singing cowboy Tex Ritter. It was released by MGM on September 30, 1955.
Plot
An unnamed narrator tells a story about the history of Texas set o ...
'' (narrated by cowboy legend Tex Ritter
Woodward Maurice Ritter (January 12, 1905 – January 2, 1974) was a pioneer of American country music, a popular singer and actor from the mid-1930s into the 1960s, and the patriarch of the Ritter acting family (son John, grandsons Jason and ...
). The cartoon concerned the rowdy antics of a bank robber in stone-age Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
. Many of the sight gag
In comedy, a visual gag or sight gag is anything which conveys its humour visually, often without words being used at all. The gag may involve a physical impossibility or an unexpected occurrence. The humor is caused by alternative interpretation ...
s from that series antedated similar situations used by Hanna-Barbera in the Flintstones series by many years. Some students of American animation point to this cartoon as a progenitive seed of the Flintstones.
The concept was also antedated by the "Stone Age Cartoons
''Stone Age Cartoons'' is a 1940 American series of twelve animated short films from Fleischer Studios. The films are set in the stone-age era, much like the 1960s series ''The Flintstones''. When they did not get the anticipated reception, Fleis ...
" series of 12 animated cartoons released from January to September 1940 by Fleischer Studios
Fleischer Studios () is an American animation studio founded in 1929 by brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, who ran the pioneering company from its inception until its acquisition by Paramount Pictures, the parent company and the distributor of i ...
. These cartoons show stone-age people doing modern things with primitive means. One example is "Granite Hotel
''Granite Hotel'' is a 1940 American animated short film directed by Dave Fleischer. Released in April of that year, it was the fourth in the ''Stone Age Cartoons'' series. The film is now in public domain.
Plot summary
Set in a modern stone-ag ...
" including characters such as a newsboy, telephone operator, hotel clerk, and a spoof of Edgar Bergen
Edgar John Bergen (born Edgar John Berggren; February 16, 1903 – September 30, 1978) was an American ventriloquist, actor, comedian, vaudevillian and radio performer, best known for his proficiency in ventriloquism and his characters Ch ...
and Charlie McCarthy.
Barbera explained that selling the show to a network and sponsors was not an easy task.
When the series went into production, the working title ''The Flagstones'' was changed, possibly to avoid confusion with the Flagstons, characters in the comic strip ''Hi and Lois
''Hi and Lois'' is an American comic strip about a suburban family. Created by Mort Walker and illustrated by Dik Browne, both of whose offspring currently work on the strip, it debuted on October 18, 1954, distributed by King Features Syndicate.Ro ...
''. After spending a brief period in development as ''The Gladstones'' (GLadstone being a Los Angeles telephone exchange
A telephone exchange, telephone switch, or central office is a telecommunications system used in the public switched telephone network (PSTN) or in large enterprises. It interconnects telephone subscriber lines or virtual circuits of digital syst ...
at the time), Hanna-Barbera settled upon ''The Flintstones'', and the idea of the Flintstones having a child from the start was discarded, with Fred and Wilma starting out as a childless couple. However, some early ''Flintstones'' merchandise, such as a 1961 Little Golden Book
Little Golden Books is a series of children's books, published since 1942.
''The Poky Little Puppy'', the eighth release in the series, is the top-selling children's book of all time in the United States.. Many other Little Golden Books have b ...
, included "Fred Jr".
Despite the animation and fantasy setting, the series was initially aimed at adult audiences, which was reflected in the comedy writing, that as noted, resembled the average primetime sitcoms of the era, with the usual family issues resolved with a laugh at the end of each episode, as well as the inclusion of a laugh track
A laugh track (or laughter track) is a separate soundtrack for a recorded comedy show containing the sound of audience laughter. In some productions, the laughter is a live audience response instead; in the United States, where it is most common ...
. Hanna and Barbera hired many writers from the world of live-action, including two of Jackie Gleason's writers, Herbert Finn and Sydney Zelinka, as well as relative newcomer Joanna Lee, while still using traditional animation story men such as Warren Foster
Warren Foster (October 24, 1904 – December 13, 1971) was an American writer, cartoonist and composer for the animation division of Warner Brothers and later with Hanna-Barbera.
Early life
He was born in Brooklyn, New York to Marion B. Fos ...
and Michael Maltese
Michael Maltese (February 6, 1908 – February 22, 1981) was an American story man for classic animated cartoon shorts. He is best known for working in the 1950s on a series of ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoons with director Chuck Jones, notably "Wha ...
.
''The Flintstones'' premiered on September 30, 1960, at 8:30 pm Eastern time, and quickly became a hit. It was the first American animated show to depict two people of the opposite sex (Fred and Wilma; Barney and Betty) sleeping together in one bed, although Fred and Wilma are sometimes depicted as sleeping in separate beds. For comparison, the first live-action depiction of this in American TV history was in television's first-ever sitcom: 1947's ''Mary Kay and Johnny
''Mary Kay and Johnny'' is an American situation comedy starring real-life married couple Mary Kay and Johnny Stearns. It was the first sitcom broadcast on a network television in the United States. ''Mary Kay and Johnny'' initially aired live o ...
.''
The first two seasons were co-sponsored by Winston cigarettes
Winston is an American brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by ITG Brands, subsidiary of Imperial Tobacco in the United States and by Japan Tobacco outside the U.S. The brand is named after the town where R. J. Reynolds started ...
and the characters appeared in several black-and-white television commercials for Winston (dictated by the custom, at that time, that the star(s) of a TV series often "pitched" their sponsor's product in an "integrated commercial" at the end of the episode).
During the third season, Hanna and Barbera decided that Fred and Wilma should have a baby. Originally, Hanna and Barbera intended for the Flintstone family to have a boy, but the head of the marketing department convinced them to change it to a girl since "girl dolls sell a lot better than boy dolls". Although most ''Flintstones'' episodes were stand-alone storylines, Hanna-Barbera created a story arc
A story arc (also narrative arc) is the chronological construction of plot in a novel or story. It can also mean an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, board games, vide ...
surrounding the birth of Pebbles. Beginning with the episode "The Surprise", aired midway through the third season (January 25, 1963), in which Wilma reveals her pregnancy to Fred, the arc continued through the time leading up to Pebbles's birth in the episode "Dress Rehearsal" (February 22, 1963), and then continued with several episodes showing Fred and Wilma adjusting to the world of parenthood. Around this time, Winston pulled out their sponsorship and Welch's
Welch Foods Inc., commonly known as Welch's, is an American company, headquartered in Concord, Massachusetts. It has been owned by the National Grape Cooperative Association, a co-op of grape growers, since 1956.Hays, Constance LHow Too Much P ...
(grape juice and grape jellies) became the primary sponsor, as the show's audience began to shift younger. The integrated commercials for Welch's products feature Pebbles asking for grape juice in her toddler dialect, and Fred explaining to Pebbles Welch's unique process for making the jelly, compared to the competition. Welch's also produced a line of grape jelly packaged in jars that were reusable as drinking glasses, with painted scenes featuring the Flintstones and characters from the show. In Australia, the Nine Network
The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...
ran a "Name the Flintstones' baby" competition during the 'pregnancy' episodes—few Australian viewers were expected to have a U.S. connection giving them information about past ''Flintstone'' episodes. An American won the contest and received an all-expenses-paid trip to tour Hanna-Barbera Studios.
Another arc occurred in the fourth season, in which the Rubbles, depressed over being unable to have children of their own (making ''The Flintstones'' the first animated series in history to address the issue of infertility
Infertility is the inability of a person, animal or plant to reproduce by natural means. It is usually not the natural state of a healthy adult, except notably among certain eusocial species (mostly haplodiploid insects). It is the normal state ...
, though subtly), adopt Bamm-Bamm. The 100th episode made (but the 90th to air), "Little Bamm-Bamm Rubble" (October 3, 1963), established how Bamm-Bamm was adopted. Nine episodes were produced before it, but aired afterward, which explains why Bamm-Bamm was not seen again until episode 101, "Daddies Anonymous" (Bamm-Bamm was in a teaser on episode 98, "Kleptomaniac Pebbles"). Another story arc, occurring in the final season, centered on Fred and Barney's dealings with the Great Gazoo (voiced by Harvey Korman).
After Pebbles's birth, the audience demographic had become wider and the series was marketed as a family series rather than the "adult" animated show of the earlier seasons. Between a wider number of viewers every year in the country, more children watching and competition from TV's trend toward fantasy shows, the episodes varied from family comedy and fantasy/adventure, but there were still stories about the couple dynamic. The last original episode was broadcast on April 1, 1966.
The first three seasons of ''The Flintstones'' aired Friday nights at 8:30 Eastern time on ABC, with the first two seasons in black-and-white. Beginning with the third season in 1962, ABC televised the ''Flintstones'' in color, one of the first programs in color on that network. Season four and part of season five aired Thursdays at 7:30. The rest of the series aired Fridays at 7:30.
In the U.S., besides being part of NBC Saturday mornings from 1966 to 1970, the syndicated reruns of the series were offered to local stations until 1997, when E/I regulations and changing tastes in the industry led to the show's move to cable television. From the time of Ted Turner
Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III (born November 19, 1938) is an American entrepreneur, television producer, media proprietor, and philanthropist. He founded the Cable News Network (CNN), the first 24-hour United States cable news, cable news ch ...
's purchase of Hanna-Barbera in 1991, TBS, TNT
Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...
, and Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...
aired the program. On April 1, 2000, the program moved to Boomerang
A boomerang () is a thrown tool, typically constructed with aerofoil sections and designed to spin about an axis perpendicular to the direction of its flight. A returning boomerang is designed to return to the thrower, while a non-returning b ...
, where it aired until March 6, 2017 (in its last years on the channel, it had been relegated to a graveyard slot
A graveyard slot (or death slot) is a time period in which a television audience is very small compared to other times of the day, and therefore broadcast programming is considered far less important. Graveyard slots are usually in the early mor ...
) and returned to the channel on July 30, 2018. Online, the series was made available on the In2TV
In2TV was a website offering ad-supported streaming video of classic TV shows in the USA only. It was operated by AOL Time Warner as an outlet for the company's archival television programming.
History
In2TV was announced in November 2005 as ...
service beginning in 2006, then the online version of Kids' WB
Kids' WB (stylized as Kids' WB!) was an American children's programming service and brand of The WB that aired on the network from September 9, 1995, to September 16, 2006. The block moved to The CW (a result of the merger of Time Warner's The WB ...
until that service was discontinued in 2015. As of 2017, full episodes are only available in the U.S. on Boomerang's subscription video-on-demand
Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...
service, with select clips made available on the official YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
account tied to the revamped Kids' WB website. In 2019, MeTV
MeTV, an acronym for Memorable Entertainment Television, is an American broadcast television network owned by Weigel Broadcasting. Marketed as "The Definitive Destination for Classic TV", the network airs a variety of classic television program ...
acquired rerun rights to the series, returning the show to broadcast television for the first time in over 20 years. All seasons of this series can currently be streamed on HBO Max
HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Netw ...
, a streaming service Warner Bros. Discovery
Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (WBD) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at 230 Park Avenue South in New York City. It was formed after the spin-off of WarnerMedia by AT&T, and its merger with D ...
's and Tubi
Tubi is an American over-the-top content platform and ad-supported streaming service owned by Fox Corporation. The service was launched on April 1, 2014, and is based in Los Angeles, California. In January 2021, Tubi reached 33 million monthly ...
, a streaming service owned by Fox Corporation
Fox Corporation (stylized in all-caps as FOX Corporation) is a publicly traded American mass media company operated and controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in New York City. Incorporated ...
.
Reception
The night after ''The Flintstones'' premiered, ''Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' called it "a pen-and-ink disaster", and the series was among many that debuted in a "vast wasteland
"Television and the Public Interest" was a speech given by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Newton N. Minow to the convention of the National Association of Broadcasters on May 9, 1961. The speech was Minow's first major speech afte ...
" of a 1960–61 television season considered one of the worst in television history up to that point. As late as the 1980s, highbrow critics derided the show's limited animation and derivative plots. Animation historian Michael Barrier
Michael J. Barrier (born June 15, 1940) is an American animation historian.
Work
Barrier was the founder and editor of ''Funnyworld'', the first magazine exclusively devoted to comics and animation. It began as a contribution to the CAPA-Alpha a ...
disliked the series, calling it a "dumb sitcom" and stated that "I can readily understand why someone who as a small child enjoyed, say, ''The Flintstones'' might regard that show fondly today. I have a lot more trouble understanding why anyone would try to defend anything about it on artistic grounds." To put this in perspective, after AP’s movie-TV writer Bob Thomas bemoaned the quality of ''The Flintstones'' in papers of November 11, and television viewing at the time was overall. it was after he condemned another current series, Rod Serling's ''The Twilight Zone
''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology television series created by Rod Serling. The episodes are in various genres, including fantasy, science fiction, absurdism, dystopian fiction, suspense, horror, su ...
.''
Despite the mixed critical reviews following its premiere, ''The Flintstones'' has generally been considered a television classic and was rerun continuously for five decades after its end. In 1961, ''The Flintstones'' became the first animated series to be nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series
The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series is an annual award given to the best television comedy series of the year. From 1960 to 1964, this category was combined with the Comedy Specials (one time programs) category so that both type ...
, but lost out to ''The Jack Benny Program
''The Jack Benny Program'', starring Jack Benny, is a radio-TV comedy series that ran for more than three decades and is generally regarded as a high-water mark in 20th century American comedy. He played one role throughout his radio and televis ...
''. In January 2009, IGN named ''The Flintstones'' as the ninth-best in its "Top 100 Animated TV Shows". The first season of the series received an approval rating of 100% on review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, based on five reviews. Common Sense Media
Common Sense Media (CSM) is an organization that reviews and provides ratings for media and technology with the goal of providing information on their suitability for children. gave the series a three out of five stars, saying: "Still a classic, but times have changed."
Nielsen ratings
Films and subsequent television series
Following the show's cancellation in 1966, a film based upon the series was created. ''The Man Called Flintstone
''The Man Called Flintstone'' is a 1966 American animated musical comedy film produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and distributed by Columbia Pictures. The second film by Hanna-Barbera following ''Hey There, It's Yogi Bear!'' (1964), it was dir ...
'' was a musical
Musical is the adjective of music.
Musical may also refer to:
* Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance
* Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...
spy caper that parodied James Bond
The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...
and other secret agents. The movie was released to theaters on August 3, 1966, by Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
. It was released on DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
by Warner Home Video
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc. (formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the home video distribution division of Warner Bros.
It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video ...
in Canada in March 2005 and in United States in December 2008.
The show was revived in the early 1970s with Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm having grown into teenagers, and several different series and made-for-TV movies (broadcast mainly on Saturday mornings, with a few shown in primetime), including a series depicting Fred and Barney as police officers, another depicting the characters as children, and yet others featuring Fred and Barney encountering Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...
superhero The Thing and Al Capp
Alfred Gerald Caplin (September 28, 1909 – November 5, 1979), better known as Al Capp, was an American cartoonist and humorist best known for the satirical comic strip ''Li'l Abner'', which he created in 1934 and continued writing and (wi ...
's comic strip character The Shmoo—have appeared over the years. The original show also was adapted into a live-action film
Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video ga ...
in 1994, and a prequel, ''The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas
''The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas'' (also known as ''The Flintstones 2'' or ''The Flintstones 2: Viva Rock Vegas'' in a working title) is a 2000 American romantic comedy film directed by Brian Levant, written by Jim Cash, Harry Elfont, Debor ...
'', which followed in 2000. Unlike its sister show ''The Jetsons
''The Jetsons'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. It originally aired in prime time from September 23, 1962, to March 17, 1963, on ABC, then later aired in reruns via syndication, with new episodes produced f ...
'' (the two shows appeared in a made-for-TV crossover movie in 1987), the revival programs were not widely syndicated or rerun alongside the original series.
Television series
Original runs:
* ''The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show
''The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show'' is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions that originally aired for one season on CBS Saturday morning from September 11, 1971, to January 1, 1972. With an ensemble voice ...
'' (1971–72) (one season)
* ''The Flintstone Comedy Hour
''The Flintstone Comedy Hour'' is an American animated television series and a spin-off of ''The Flintstones'' and ''The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show'', produced by Hanna-Barbera, which aired on CBS from September 9, 1972, to September 1, 1973. It w ...
'' (1972–73) (one season)
* ''The New Fred and Barney Show
''The New Fred and Barney Show'' is an American animated television series revival and spin-off of ''The Flintstones'' produced by Hanna-Barbera that aired on NBC from February 3 to October 20, 1979. The series marked the first time Henry Corden ...
'' (1979) (two seasons)
* ''The Flintstone Comedy Show
''The Flintstone Comedy Show'' is an American animated television series revival and spin-off of ''The Flintstones'' produced by Hanna-Barbera that aired on NBC from November 22, 1980 to October 24, 1981. Outside North America, the show was rele ...
'' (1980–82) (two seasons)
* ''The Flintstone Kids
''The Flintstone Kids'' is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera. It is an alternative incarnation of the studio's original animated series ''The Flintstones''. The series depicts juvenile versions of the main characte ...
'' (1986–88) (two seasons)
* ''What a Cartoon!
''What a Cartoon!'' (later known as ''The What a Cartoon! Show'' and ''The Cartoon Cartoon Show'') is an American animated anthology series created by Fred Seibert for Cartoon Network. The shorts were produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions; by the ...
'' – featuring '' Dino: Stay Out!'' (1995) and '' Dino: The Great Egg-Scape'' (1997)
* ''Cave Kids
''Cave Kids'' (also known as ''Cave Kids Adventures'' or ''Cave Kids: Pebbles & Bamm-Bamm'') is an American animated children's television series produced by Hanna-Barbera, and a spin-off of ''The Flintstones''. The show aired in syndication on ...
'' (1996) (one season)
* ''The Rubbles
''Los Mármol'' (''The Rubbles'' in English, ''Os Rubbles'' in Portuguese) is a series of 6 animated shorts spin-off (media), spun-off from ''The Flintstones'' that aired during Television advertisement, commercial breaks on the Cartoon Network ( ...
'' (2002) (shorts)
* ''Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs
''Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs'' is an American animated television series, animated streaming television series and a Spin-off (media), spin-off of the original series, ''The Flintstones''. Like ''Cave Kids'', the series focuses on the lives of best f ...
'' (2021–22) (two seasons)
* ''Bedrock'' (TBA)
Compilation shows:
* ''The Flintstone Comedy Show
''The Flintstone Comedy Show'' is an American animated television series revival and spin-off of ''The Flintstones'' produced by Hanna-Barbera that aired on NBC from November 22, 1980 to October 24, 1981. Outside North America, the show was rele ...
'' (1973–74)
* ''Fred Flintstone and Friends
''Fred Flintstone and Friends'' is an American animated anthology wheel series and a spin-off of ''The Flintstones'' produced by Hanna-Barbera and Columbia Pictures Television that aired in daily first-run syndication from September 12, 1977 to ...
'' (1977–78)
* '' Fred and Barney Meet the Thing'' (1979) (the only original content on this show was not related to the Flintstones)
* ''Fred and Barney Meet the Shmoo
''Fred and Barney Meet the Shmoo'' is an American animated package show and a spin-off of ''The Flintstones'' produced by Hanna-Barbera which aired on NBC from December 8, 1979 to November 15, 1980. The 90-minute show is a repackaging of episodes ...
'' (1979–80) (the only original content on this show was not related to the Flintstones)
* ''The Flintstone Funnies
''The Flintstone Funnies'' is an American Saturday-morning cartoon, animated package show produced by Hanna-Barbera that aired on NBC from September 18, 1982 to September 8, 1984. This is the final incarnation of ''The Flintstones'' that premiered ...
'' (1982–84)
Theatrical animated feature
* ''The Man Called Flintstone
''The Man Called Flintstone'' is a 1966 American animated musical comedy film produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and distributed by Columbia Pictures. The second film by Hanna-Barbera following ''Hey There, It's Yogi Bear!'' (1964), it was dir ...
'' (1966, released by Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
)
* '' Space Jam: A New Legacy'' (2021) - The Flintstones, the Rubbles, the Great Gazoo, a purple Bronto-Crane, and a blue Bronto-Crane make cameos watching the basketball game between the Tune Squad and the Goon Squad.
Television specials
* '' The Flintstones on Ice'' (1973)
* ''A Flintstone Christmas
''A Flintstone Christmas'' is a 1977 animated Christmas television special featuring characters from ''The Flintstones'' franchise. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera and is the second Christmas-themed animated work in the franchise, after the 1964 ...
'' (1977)
* '' The Flintstones: Little Big League'' (1978)
* ''The Flintstones' New Neighbors
''The Flintstones' New Neighbors'' is a 1980 Animation, animated television special and the first of ''The Flintstone Primetime Specials, The Flintstone Special'' limited-run prime time revival of ''The Flintstones'' produced by Hanna-Barbera, Han ...
'' (1980)
* ''The Flintstones Meet Rockula and Frankenstone
''The Flintstones Meet Rockula and Frankenstone'' is a 1979 Animation, animated Halloween television special featuring The Flintstones. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera and first aired on Tuesday, October 30, 1979 on NBC.
In addition to the regul ...
'' (1980)
* '' The Flintstones: Fred's Final Fling'' (1980)
* '' The Flintstones: Wind-Up Wilma'' (1981)
* '' The Flintstones: Jogging Fever'' (1981)
* ''The Flintstones' 25th Anniversary Celebration
''The Flintstones' 25th Anniversary Celebration'' is a 1986 American live-action/animated television special produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions in association with Robert Guenette Productions, which premiered on CBS on May 20, 1986. Hosted b ...
'' (1986)
* ''The Flintstone Kids' "Just Say No" Special
''The Flintstone Kids' "Just Say No" Special'' is a 1988 animated television special featuring The Flintstone Kids and produced by Hanna-Barbera that aired on ABC on September 15, 1988. Nine days later, ABC aired the show again on ''ABC Weekend ...
'' (1988)
* '' Hanna-Barbera's 50th: A Yabba Dabba Doo Celebration'' (1989)
* ''A Flintstone Family Christmas
''A Flintstone Family Christmas'' (known in a working title as ''The Flintstones: Christmas Misdemeanors'') is a 1993 Animation, animated Christmas by medium, Christmas television special featuring characters from ''The Flintstones'' franchise. ...
'' (1993)
Television films
* ''The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones
''The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones'' is a 1987 animated crossover made-for-television film produced by Hanna-Barbera for syndication as part of the '' Hanna-Barbera Superstars 10'' series. The two-hour special stars the cast of the Hanna-Barbe ...
'' (1987)
* ''I Yabba-Dabba Do!
''I Yabba-Dabba Do!'' is a 1993 American animated made-for-television film based on the 1960s animated series, ''The Flintstones'' and is a continuation of the series’ spin-off,''The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show''. It premiered on ABC on February ...
'' (1993)
* ''Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby
''Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby'' (known in a working title as ''Hollyrock or Bust!'') is a 1993 American animated made-for-television film based on the 1960s series classic, ''The Flintstones''. It first aired on ABC on December 5, 1993. It is the sequel ...
'' (1993)
* ''A Flintstones Christmas Carol
''A Flintstones Christmas Carol'' (also known as ''The Flintstones: A Christmas Carol'', or ''The Flintstones: in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol'') is a 1994 American animated made-for-television film featuring characters from ''The Flintstone ...
'' (1994)
* '' The Flintstones: On the Rocks'' (2001)
Educational films
*'' The Flintstones: Library Skills Series'' (Sound Filmstrip Kit, Xerox Films)
**''Barney Borrows a Book'' (1976)
**''Barney Returns a Book'' (1976)
* '' Energy: A National Issue'' (1977)
* '' Hanna-Barbera Educational Filmstrips''
**''Bamm-Bamm: Bamm-Bamm Tackles a Term Paper'' (1978)
**''Bamm-Bamm: Information Please'' (1979)
**''The Flintstones: A Weighty Problem'' (1980)
**''The Flintstones: Fire Alarm'' (1980)
**''The Flintstones: Fire Escape'' (1980)
**''The Flintstones' Driving Guide'' (1980)
*'' Learning Tree Filmstrip Set''
**''Learning About Families with The Flintstones'' (1982)
**''Learning About Basic Needs with The Flintstones'' (1982)
*''The Flintstones: Child Guidance Show 'N Tell Picturesound Program'' (Record and Filmstrip)
**''Fred Learns to Share'' (1984)
**''Fred's Tall Tale'' (1984)
Live-action films
* ''The Flintstones
''The Flintstones'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. The series takes place in a romanticized Stone Age setting and follows the activities of the titular family, the Flintstones, and their next-door neighb ...
'' (1994)
* ''The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas
''The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas'' (also known as ''The Flintstones 2'' or ''The Flintstones 2: Viva Rock Vegas'' in a working title) is a 2000 American romantic comedy film directed by Brian Levant, written by Jim Cash, Harry Elfont, Debor ...
'' (2000)
Direct-to-video films
* '' The Flintstones & WWE: Stone Age SmackDown!'' (2015)
Other media
Canceled Seth MacFarlane reboot
In 2011, it was announced ''Family Guy
''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom originally conceived and created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show centers around the Griffin family, Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter Griff ...
'' creator Seth MacFarlane
Seth Woodbury MacFarlane (; born October 26, 1973) is an American actor, animator, filmmaker, comedian, and singer. He is the creator and star of the television series ''Family Guy'' (since 1999) and ''The Orville'' (since 2017), and co-creator ...
would be reviving ''The Flintstones'' for the Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
network, with the first episode airing in 2013. After Fox Entertainment president Kevin Reilly read the pilot script and "liked it but didn't love it", MacFarlane chose to abandon work on the project rather than restarting it.
Concept art of the series was posted on background artist Andy Clark’s website.
''Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs''
''Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs'' is an American animated web television
Streaming television is the digital distribution of television content, such as TV shows, as streaming media delivered over the Internet. Streaming television stands in contrast to dedicated terrestrial television delivered by over-the-air aer ...
series spin-off of ''The Flintstones'' that premiered in 2020, the first to feature them since they appeared in the 2002 series ''The Rubbles
''Los Mármol'' (''The Rubbles'' in English, ''Os Rubbles'' in Portuguese) is a series of 6 animated shorts spin-off (media), spun-off from ''The Flintstones'' that aired during Television advertisement, commercial breaks on the Cartoon Network ( ...
'', and produced by Warner Bros. Animation
Warner Bros. Animation Inc. is an American animation studio which is part of the Warner Bros. Television Studios division of Warner Bros., a flagship of Warner Bros. Discovery. As the successor to Warner Bros. Cartoons, which was active from 1 ...
. It was produced by Mark Marek and Marly Halpern-Graser.
Like ''Cave Kids'', the show focuses on the lives of best friends Pebbles Flintstone and Bamm-Bamm Rubble, who are joined by Dino for many adventures in the Stone Age. The show was scheduled to be released as a part of the Boomerang IPTV subscription service. On August 19, 2021, it was announced the series would instead be released on HBO Max
HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Netw ...
on September 30, 2021. The series was set to first air on Teletoon
Teletoon (stylized as TELETOON) is a Canadian English-language specialty channel owned by Teletoon Canada, Inc., a subsidiary of Corus Entertainment. Its name is a portmanteau of "television" and " cartoon". The channel primarily broadcasts ...
as a regular television series in Canada in September 2019, but ended up airing in September 2020.
The show started airing on February 3, 2020, on Boomerang UK.
Upcoming animated film
In 2014, it was announced that Warner Bros. was developing an animated film with Chris Henchy, Will Ferrell
John William Ferrell (; born July 16, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. He first established himself in the mid-1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'', where he performed from 1995 to 200 ...
, and Adam McKay, to write the script for the project. Ferrell and McKay would also be executive producers. In 2018, it was confirmed that the project is still in development and produced by Warner Animation Group
The Warner Animation Group (WAG) is an American animation studio serving as the computer-animated feature film label of Warner Bros.' theatrical film production and distribution division, Warner Bros. Pictures. Established on January 7, 2013, th ...
, but if the crew members would still be involved is unknown.
''Bedrock''
In 2019, it was reported that a new ''Flintstones'' reboot series, directed to an adult audience, is in development by Elizabeth Banks
Elizabeth Banks (born Elizabeth Irene Mitchell; February 10, 1974) is an American actress and filmmaker. She is known for playing Effie Trinket in ''The Hunger Games'' film series (2012–2015) and Gail Abernathy-McKadden in the ''Pitch Perfe ...
and her production company Brownstone Productions
Brownstone Productions is an American film and television production company founded by actress, director and producer Elizabeth Banks and Max Handelman. It is known for producing the ''Pitch Perfect (franchise), Pitch Perfect'' franchise; ''Pitc ...
. In 2021, the series was now co-produced by Fox Entertainment
Fox Entertainment is an American production company owned by Fox Corporation. The company was formed in 2019 after The Walt Disney Company's acquisition of 21st Century Fox. The programming is created for the Fox Broadcasting Company, MyNetwor ...
and Warner Bros. Animation
Warner Bros. Animation Inc. is an American animation studio which is part of the Warner Bros. Television Studios division of Warner Bros., a flagship of Warner Bros. Discovery. As the successor to Warner Bros. Cartoons, which was active from 1 ...
along with Brownstone and received the title ''Bedrock''. The new series takes place two decades after the original series with Fred Flintstone on the verge of retirement and a twenty-something Pebbles (voiced by Banks) trying to find her way in life as the Stone Age comes to an end and the Bronze Age arrives.
Theme parks
Three ''Flintstones''-themed amusement parks have existed in the United States. One was Bedrock City in Custer, South Dakota
Custer is a city in Custer County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 1,919 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Custer County.
History
Custer is the oldest town established by European Americans in the Black Hills. Gold ...
. It closed in 2015 when the new owner Mike Tennyson and Warner Bros. could not come to an agreement over changes. It was too expensive for the repairs and changes that Warner Brother wanted, having Tennyson closed it. The entire site was bulldozed in April 2019. The second one, near Williams, Arizona, was still open for the summer of 2019 but slated to close by 2020. It cost $5 per person to get in. Both parks had been in operation for decades.
A third park existed until the 1990s at Carowinds
Carowinds is a amusement park located adjacent to Interstate 77 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The park straddles the North Carolina-South Carolina state line, with a portion of the park located in Fort Mill, South Carolina. However, it has an of ...
in Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...
.
In Canada, Flintstone Park in Kelowna, British Columbia
Kelowna ( ) is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan Valley in the southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. It serves as the head office of the Regional District of Central Okanagan. The name Kelowna derives from the Okanagan word ''ki ...
, opened in 1968 and closed in 1998; it was notable for the "Forty Foot Fred" billboard of Fred Flintstone which was a well-known Kelowna landmark.
Another ''Flintstones'' park was located in Bridal Falls, British Columbia
Bridal Falls is a community in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia, located east of Rosedale, British Columbia, Rosedale and immediately adjacent to the on-ramps for the Agassiz-Rosedale Bridge, which connects the Trans-Canada Highway (Briti ...
, which closed in 1990. Calaway Park
Calaway Park is an amusement park and campground in Springbank, Alberta, Canada. The park occupies approximately of land, although the amusement park only occupies of it. The park is western Canada's largest amusement park, and is situated app ...
outside Calgary
Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...
, Alberta, also opened with a ''Flintstones'' theme and many of the buildings today have a caveman-like design, though the park no longer licenses the characters. The Australia's Wonderland
Wonderland Sydney (originally known as Australia's Wonderland), was an amusement park in Eastern Creek, Sydney, Australia. Officially opened in December 1985 by the Premier of New South Wales, Neville Wran, the park was the largest in the southe ...
and Canada's Wonderland
Canada's Wonderland, formerly known as Paramount Canada's Wonderland, is a amusement park located in Vaughan, Ontario, a municipality within the Greater Toronto Area. Opened in 1981 by the Taft Broadcasting Company and the Great-West Life As ...
theme parks, both featured ''Flintstones'' characters in their Hanna-Barbera-themed children's sections from 1985 until the mid-1990s. Kings Island
Kings Island is a amusement park located northeast of Cincinnati in Mason, Ohio, United States. Owned and operated by Cedar Fair, the park first opened in 1972 by the Taft Broadcasting Company. It was part of a larger effort to move and expan ...
(near Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
) and Kings Dominion (near Richmond, Virginia) had a Hanna-Barbera land, in which many Hanna-Barbera characters were featured, including the Flintstones, in the early 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s. Bedrock is one of the themed lands in the indoor Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi
Warner Bros World Abu Dhabi is the world's largest indoor theme park in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, owned and developed by Miral Asset Management at a cost of $1 billion. The park features characters from Warner Bros.'s franchises, such as Lo ...
park in Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area.
...
, United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...
, mainly home to the Flintstones Bedrock River Adventure flume ride.
Live theater
A stage production opened at Universal Studios Hollywood
Universal Studios Hollywood is a film studio and theme park
An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusemen ...
in 1994 (the year the live-action film was released), developed by Universal and Hanna-Barbera Productions
Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...
, at the Panasonic
formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Osaka P ...
Theater, replacing the ''Star Trek
''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...
'' show. The story consists of Fred, Wilma, Barney, and Betty heading for "Hollyrock". The show ran until January 2, 1997.
In popular culture
Miles Laboratories
Miles Laboratories was founded as the Dr. Miles Medical Company in Elkhart, Indiana, in 1884 by Dr. Franklin Lawrence Miles, a specialist in the treatment of eye and ear disorders, with an interest in the connection of the nervous system to ov ...
(now part of Bayer Corporation
Bayer Corporation (also known as Bayer USA) is the American subsidiary of Bayer AG. Its main offices are located in Whippany, New Jersey. In addition it has 40 fully consolidated subsidiary companies located in 19 different states.
History
Bayer ...
) and their One-A-Day vitamin brand was the alternate sponsor of the original ''Flintstones'' series during its first two seasons, and in the late 1960s, Miles introduced Flintstones Chewable Vitamins
Flintstones Chewable Vitamins are a supplemental multivitamin for children shaped like the characters of the animated sitcom ''The Flintstones''. They were introduced in 1968 by Miles Laboratories and taste sweet like candy. Miles Laboratories w ...
, fruit-flavored multivitamin tablets for children in the shape of the Flintstones characters, which are still currently being sold.
''The Simpsons'' referenced ''The Flintstones'' in several episodes. In the episode " Homer's Night Out", Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
's local convenience store clerk, Apu
APU or Apu may refer to:
Film and television
* ''The Apu Trilogy'', a series of three Bengali films, directed by Satyajit Ray, with the fictional character Apu Roy, comprising:
** ''Pather Panchali'' (''Song of the Little Road'') (1955), the first ...
, remarks "You look familiar, sir. Are you on the television or something?", to which Homer replies "Sorry, buddy, you've got me confused with Fred Flintstone." During the couch gag of the opening credits of the episode "Kamp Krusty
"Kamp Krusty" is the first episode of the fourth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on September 24, 1992. During summer vacation, the children of Spri ...
", the Simpson family arrive home to find the Flintstone family already sitting on their couch. The same couch gag was reused in syndicated episodes of "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show
"The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show" is the fourteenth episode of the eighth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 9, 1997. In the episode, ''T ...
", when ''The Simpsons'' overtook ''The Flintstones'' as the longest-running animated series. In "Lady Bouvier's Lover
"Lady Bouvier's Lover" is the twenty-first and penultimate episode of the fifth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 12, 1994. In the episode, Abe S ...
", Homer's boss, Mr. Burns
Charles Montgomery Plantagenet Schicklgruber "Monty" Burns, usually referred to as Mr. Burns, Monty, or C. Montgomery Burns, is a recurring character and the main antagonist of the animated television series ''The Simpsons'', voiced initially by ...
, appears at the family's house and says "Why, it's Fred Flintstone (referring to Homer) and his lovely wife, Wilma! (Marge
Marge is a feminine given name, a shortened form of Marjorie, Margot or Margaret (name), Margaret. Notable Marges include:
People
*Marge (cartoonist) (1904–1993), pen name of Marjorie Henderson Buell, American cartoonist
*Marge Anderson (1932 ...
) Oh, and this must be little Pebbles! (Maggie
Maggie is a common short form of the name Magdalena, Magnolia, Margaret.
Maggie may refer to:
People
Women
* Maggie Adamson, Scottish musician
* Maggie Aderin-Pocock (born 1968), British scientist
* Maggie Alderson (born 1959), Aust ...
) Mind if I come in? I brought chocolates." Homer responds by saying "Yabba-dabba-doo!" The opening of " Marge vs. the Monorail" depicts Homer leaving work in a similar way to Fred Flintstone in the opening of ''The Flintstones'', during which he sings his own version of the latter's opening theme only to slam into a chestnut tree.
On September 30, 2010, Google
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
temporarily replaced the logo on its search page with a custom graphic celebrating the 50th anniversary of ''The Flintstones'' first TV broadcast.
See also
* List of works produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
* List of Hanna-Barbera characters
The following is a list of characters created by and featured in various Hanna-Barbera productions and series:
2 Stupid Dogs (1993–1995)
;2 Stupid Dogs
* Big Dog
* Little Dog
* Mr. Hollywood
* The Kitten
* Red Riding Hood
* Grandma
* The Wo ...
* ''Hanna-Barbera's All-Star Comedy Ice Revue
''Hanna-Barbera's All-Star Comedy Ice Revue'' (onscreen title: ''Hanna-Barbera's All-Star Comedy Ice Review'') is a 1978 American live-action/animated television special produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions (in association with deFaria Productio ...
'', a 1978 special in which Hanna-Barbera characters honor Fred in an all-star celebrity roast for his birthday
* ''Alley Oop
''Alley Oop'' is a syndicated comic strip created December 5, 1932, by American cartoonist V. T. Hamlin, who wrote and drew the strip through four decades for Newspaper Enterprise Association. Hamlin introduced a cast of colorful characters an ...
'', a comic strip about a prehistoric family with commentary on American suburban life
* ''The Cavern Clan
''The Cavern Clan'' (''Piteco'') is a Brazilian comic strip created in 1961 by Mauricio de Sousa. It is part of the ''Monica's Gang'' series.
It centers around a prehistoric tribe in the Stone Age and depicts them living in the presence of dinos ...
'', a Brazilian comic strip about prehistoric life in the Stone Age
* Prehistoric Peeps, a 1890 cartoon strip depicting cavemen with modern sensibilities living with dinosaurs
Notes
References
Books
*
Further reading
* ''"The Flintstones": The Official Guide to the Cartoon Series'', by Jerry Beck, Running Press, 2011.
External links
*
*
''The Flintstones''
– Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...
Department of Cartoons (Archive)
Museum of Broadcast Communications: ''The Flintstones''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flintstones, The
1960s American adult animated television series
1960s American sitcoms
1960s American comedy television series
1960 American television series debuts
1966 American television series endings
American adult animated comedy television series
American Broadcasting Company original programming
American adult animated fantasy television series
American animated sitcoms
Animated television series about dinosaurs
Animated television series about families
English-language television shows
Fictional married couples
Prehistoric people in popular culture
Television shows adapted into comics
Television shows adapted into films
Television shows adapted into video games
Television series by Hanna-Barbera
Television series by Sony Pictures Television
Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios
Television series set in prehistory
Television series by Screen Gems
YTV (Canadian TV channel) original programming
Television series about cavemen