The Flintstones

This was supposed to be the spin off version of Jackie Gleason's 1950's sitcom of The Honeymooners,but to anyone's surprise that The Flintstones was to surpassed beyond it and continues to do so to this day. After being remembered as TV longest running animated sitcom for six seasons during its run,Fred and Wilma Flintstone are still at it in re-runs(still in syndication after more than 30 years after the show went off the air) along with their neighbors Betty and Barney Rubble and the family's pet dinosaur Dino and later on during the series run a new addition was added to the Flintstone family,the birth of Peebles and also gave the Rubbles a child of their own too,Bamm-Bamm. Other characters included Wilma's mother-in-law,Fred's feuding cousins The Flintrocks,and there gruesome neighbors The Gruesomes,Fred's boss at the Slate Gravel Company,Mister Slate(where did Fred's best friend Barney worked?)not to mention that repulsive alien from another planet,Kuzoo...why was he needed on there anyway which killed the show. There may have been some changes during the show,but it still its entertaining for adults as well as for children of all ages. Where can you find good family values and still provide laughs while at the same time keep the kids tuned in to see what Fred and Barney would come up with next? Another lame hair-brained scheme?(You won't find that with The Simpsons mind you...) Only The Flintstones. Catch the classic re-runs on either Cartoon Network,Boomerang,several local stations and on Superstation TBS.

The original "Flintstones" series ran on ABC-TV from 1960-1966. It was only during the first two seasons(1960-1962)of the show that it was telecast in black and white(actually was filmed in color),and later on made the transition to color at the start of 1962-1963 season where it remained until the end of the series in 1966. The series produced an astounding 166 episodes during its entire run on the air with superior production values and the vocal talents of the great Alan Reed as Fred Flintstone,Jean Vanderpyl as Wilma,and the great Mel Blanc as Fred's best friend and bosom buddy Barney. The vocal talents for the character of Betty(Wilma's best friend and Barney lovely wife)were done by the great Bea Benederet of "Burns and Allen","The Beverly Hillbillies",and "Petticoat Junction" fame. When Benederet left the series in mid-1964 due to health issues and was doing other projects,the role of Betty went to actress Gerry Johnson and from there stay with the role until the series went off the air. Other voice characters included Hanna-Barbera regulars Don Messick and Daws Butler and John Stephenson and also from actor Harvey Korman as the voice of Kazoo. When the animated series,"The Flintstones",premiered on ABC-TV in September of 1960,the show was aimed toward an adult audience,but instead was more focus on adult situations since there were scenes where Fred or Barney for that manner are smoking a cigarette. The sponsors were at the time Winston cigarettes since there was a commercial for Winston and Salem cigarettes that featured Fred and Barney smoking continuously along with Wilma and Betty.

NOTE: There were several spinoffs of the Flintstone trilogy that succeeded very well,including the cartoons "Peebles and Bamm-Bamm"(1971) "Flintstone Comedy Hour",which featured the Frankenstones and the lovable Schmoo(1979),and three theatrical features including their first feature length cartoon"A Man Called Flintstone"(1966),and the live-action versions of The Flintstones(1998),and "The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas"(2000).

I spent my whole life watching this show and now that the first season is about to be released on DVD, theres no better time to talk about why i like 'The Flintstones' so much. I was always made fun of during my school days for being such a fan and even though i'm 28 now, my passion for 'The Flintstones' is still as strong as ever. So what is so special about this show? From episode 1 to episode 166, we are treated with laughs and clever animal gimmicks as well as good storylines. The voices are great especially Alan Reed (Fred) who has such a loud and obnoxious voice which fits Fred Flintstone's character so well. The only problem is the amount of mistakes that were made throughout the 6 seasons. They will stand out if you have watched the different episodes enough times. For example one episode will tell us that Fred and Wilma had their honeymoon in Boulder Beach, another will tell you it was Bedrock Races and another at the Rock Mountain Inn. Also do The Flintstones live on Cobblestone Lane, Stonecanyon Way or Gravelpit Terrace? There are many other mistakes like this but they don't take away the fact that 'The Flintstones' is top notch entertainment for the whole family, not just children. William Hanna and Joseph Barbera have given us some fantastic cartoons that have stood the test of time and 'The Flintstones' is my favourite out of all of them.

THE FLINTSTONES hold a special place in my memory, as I'm sure they do for many people the world over. The series started in Britain in 1960, the year I had my very first job - babysitting for a neighbor. I was just 15. The two kids were total brats, screaming, spoilt, mashed potato slam-dunked over the wallpaper...but I didn't care, I was watching Fred and Barney live out there lives of near-perfection in a world that was starting to move away from near perfection! "Yabba Dabba Doo" must surely be one of the most recognizable cries on earth - WHO would not know its origins from 4 to 90?

The success of this animated icon probably lies in the simplicity of the Flintstone and Rubble clans. Everyone on this planet is part Fred, Barney, Betty or Wilmer at some time in their lives. Events depicted in each and every episode were things that everyone can, did (and will continue) to identify with. They are Mr and Mrs Average and if we all lived our lives and never achieved anything more than the Flintstones we could justifiably be happy. The show supported family values, decency, togetherness, love, friendship, clean living, laughter and it was environmentally aware, socially responsible and able STILL to reach children.

The lives of everyone in the Western World would have been that much poorer had it not been for THE FLINTSTONES. I can't say as much for the two appalling movie spin-offs!

"The Flintstones" to me is indeed one of the greatest cartoons that was produced by Hanna-Barbera. For those who aren't familiar with this show (which I'll be shocked with if there are.) The shows premise is about a blue collar, dino crane operator in Fred Flintstone, who in each episode had a wacky situation along with his wife Wilma, and his neighbors Barney and Betty Rubble. The show is basically "The Honeymooners" except it's animated. The show also had an adult style (not porno) to it, but it was light. However, there were some things that occured that affected the show...

First off, the birth of Pebbles. Don't get me wrong, I had nothing against Pebbles, or Bam-Bamm the world's strongest baby that the Rubbles adopted, I think their appearances to the show hurt it since the show was originally a adult oriented show. What I'm saying is that now with kids on the show, it wasn't as adult oriented. The show was losing ground then, but that moment can't top the moment when the Great Gazoo came in. This was when the show really lost it. All of the life that "The Flinstones" had left was sucked dry when Great Gazoo came in. He ruined the show, and finished what was left of it off, and left it for dead basically. Sadly the show left the airwaves in 1966, but Hanna-Barbera began to beat the show to the ground in the 1970's with debacles like "The Pebbles and Bam-Bamm Show" (Possibly the WORST Hanna-Barbera spinoff show ever!), and the shows where Fred and Barney met the Thing, and that blob called "The Shmoo" (Both of these shows were CRAP!!!) were just bad. However, the original show itself is still great after 40+ years.

This show overall gets a 10/10 for the Pre-Pebbles birth episodes, a 5/10 for the Post Pebbles birth episodes, and a whomping 0/10 for the awful Great Gazoo episodes (thought there weren't a lot).

This is definitely the show that put Hanna-Barbera studios on the map. After years of producing primarily cartoons for children (Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound et ala.), this really became the first cartoon show that was geared for adults, though there still is enough to keep children interested. Fred, Wilma, Barney and Betty are all people everyone can relate to even though the show is set in the stone age. And even though I feel that in most cases the introduction of cute kids ruins a show, the introduction of Pebbles and Bamm Bamm helped to show that beneath his gruff exterior Fred was a big teddy bear. However, I do agree that when Gazoo was introduced was when the show's quality began to go down hill. Thankfully, he was never included in any of the subsequent incarnations of the "modern stone age family".