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).

"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).

"The Flintstones" was so dead-on satirical in its view of a prehistoric suburban world that I don't really understand it when people tell me they liked "The Jetsons" better. There's nobody I can relate to on "The Jetsons", no character who exudes any warmth or wit. The characters here (Fred, Barney, Wilma, Betty, Dino, Pebbles, Bamm-Bamm, Mr. Slate, Mrs. Slaghoople, etc.) have expressions and personalities which are instantly recognizable to an audience. They're a very funny bunch, and they often find each other greatly amusing as well (each character has a sense of humor--and their friendships really do seem like a bond). I don't know why the Hanna-Barbera team weren't able to duplicate the quality of this show in terms of its writing and voice-casting (perhaps it was all a fluke?), but "The Flintstones" has it all: great writing and voices which bring one-dimensional drawings to life, terrific plots, fantastic music by Hoyt Curtin. Not a kiddie show...not a sitcom...not a child-pacifier. "The Flintstones" is a minor miracle.

Joseph Barbera and the late William Hanna are responsible for giving us many many hours of cartoon fun over the years with fantastic shows such as The Flinstones, The Jetsons, Top Cat, Penelope Pitstop and Scooby Doo. The Flinstones is my favourite along with Scooby-Doo.

For starters, who can forget the theme song? I've never ever been able to get it out of my head-it will stick with me for a long time.

The premise itself is interesting-a comedy series about a stone age family who lead simple and carefree lives. The funniest thing was how the Flinstones used to use animals as everyday objects.

Who can forget the chemistry between Fred and Barney Rubble? Two good friends who would do anything for each other and whose friendship meant the world to them both. Two friends who were devoted to their wives and children even if they were buffoons at times. Two good friends whose hearts were always in the right place. Hey, I've got to be honest-the world would be a better place if we all lived like the Flinstones.

A great cartoon show. Hanna and Barbera have given us enough great cartoon memories to last a lifetime.

A lot of people don't remember that The Flintstones was the first prime time cartoon series, and what a success it was.

I think the fact that it was written for prime time, with writing meant to appeal to old and young alike, is why the series holds up so well into these times. Of course, it was also based on the solid foundation of copying The Honeymooners, and that didn't hurt either.

I learned a lot of lessons from the Flintstones. I don't have misunderstandings with my friends, and I don't sneak out to do things my wife doesn't know about. LOL I also buy dogs that are too small to knock me down when I get home.

Almost every story is a little morality play with a lesson, large or small learned. Fred is obviously not a character to pattern your life after, and this is another important lesson.

Lessons aside, the shows are uniformly amusing, and the clever turns of names into stone age words, and modern conveniences into useful animals, is always clever and will bring chuckles when first you see them.