The Flintstones (Seth McFarlane reboot)

The Flintstones was a planned reboot of the classic animated sitcom by Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, announced for a release in 2013. The show was to be very similar in tone to the original series, but modernized and with more of the hallmarks associated with MacFarlane's work.

Development
On May 16, 2011, entertainment news outlet Deadline reported that Seth MacFarlane was to reboot The Flintstones for FOX. Announced officially later that day at a Fox upfront, it was to be a co-production between 20th Century Fox Television and Warner. Bros Television, with production starting in the fall for a planned 2013 release date. Accompanying the announcement was a video featuring MacFarlane discussing his plans for the reboot.

While little is known about the show's production history, Youtuber PanPizza shed some light on the series in a 2019 video about Flintstones offshoots. According to him, several storyboards were completed for the series, as well as ten minutes of test animation. The video also featured several pieces of background art made for the show, to date the only production material from the series made public.

Cancelation
In April of 2012, not even a full year since the reboot was announced, the Hollywood Reporter had learned from insiders that the series was on "life support". While at least one script was read among FOX network executives, the reaction was tepid, with FOX Entertainment president Kevin Reilly being reported as "liking it, but not loving it". Seth MacFarlane was given the option of either retooling the script or shelving it, ultimately choosing the second option, likely due to the number of other projects MacFarlane was working on. Years later, during a Reddit AMA, MacFarlane confirmed that the reboot was likely not going to happen, as he had trouble differentiating his modern take on Fred Flintstone from Peter Griffin.

Videos
Official announcement:

In popular culture

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