The Flintstones (TV series)


 * This article is about the TV series. For other uses, see The Flintstones.

The Flintstones is an American animated prehistoric sitcom television series created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. It was produced by their studio, Hanna-Barbera, for ABC in prime time. It ran from 1960 to 1966, airing 166 episodes that spanned six seasons. Every episode was also produced and directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. It was the first prime-time animated series geared towards adults, although its accessibility for the whole family ended up changing the format, thus allowing it to be frequently repeated on Cartoon Network and Boomerang in their heydays. The popularity and success of The Flintstones spawned spin-off shows, television specials, and movies. One such movie, The Man Called Flintstone, was released theatrically four months after the series had finished.

The series is set in the Stone Age town of Bedrock, where working-class man Fred Flintstone and his wife Wilma live; along with their next door neighbours and best friends, Barney & Betty Rubble. Their activities are the general focus in many episodes, with Fred constantly hatching insane schemes with Barney and eventually getting themselves and their wives in trouble. Later additions included children for both families, Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm, respectively, and an alien visitor named the Great Gazoo. In addition to Fred and company's antics, the comedy of the series also rests squarely on the juxtaposition of modern everyday concerns in the Stone Age, and the use of prehistoric animals as technology.

Screen Gems/Columbia Pictures Television, who also co-produced, put it into syndication until 1981 when The Program Exchange picked up syndication on Columbia's behalf. In the mid-1990s, syndication moved to Turner Program Services, shortly after Turner's acquisition of H-B, and its acquisition of The Flintstones from Columbia. In 1998, it transferred to Warner Bros. Television Distribution, when Time Warner bought out Turner and its HB library.

The entire series has been released on both DVD and Blu-ray Disc.

Development
The idea of The Flintstones came after Hanna-Barbera produced The Huckleberry Hound Show and The Quick Draw McGraw Show. Although these programs were successful in the ratings, they were targeted to children and did not have the same general audience appeal as their previous theatrical short series Tom and Jerry, which entertained both kids and the adults that accompanied them. Since children did not need supervision from their parents to watch television, though, Hanna-Barbera's output had begun to be labeled as "kids' only". William Hanna and Joseph Barbera wanted to reclaim an adult audience with an animated sitcom. While their previous two shows were packages of three animated shorts in a 30-minute block, the sitcom would be produced as a fully half-hour program; a first in the studio.

Several settings were considered for the series, including a pair of hillbilly families, ancient Romans, pilgrims, and Native Americans. The Stone Age was settled in the end, as Barbera stated that it was chosen because "you could take anything that was current, and convert it to stone-age". The working title for the series was The Flagstones, but a name changed occured when it went to production, possibly to avoid confusion with the Flagstons from the comic strip Hi and Lois. After a brief period in production as The Gladstones, Hanna-Barbera settled upon The Flintstones as the series' name.

The Flintstones was largely inspired on the sitcom The Honeymooners, which originally aired on CBS from 1955 to 1956. Fred & Barney were both partly based on Ralph Kramden & Ed Norton (Jackie Gleason and Art Carney), while their wives, Wilma & Betty, were modeled after Alice & Trixie (Audrey Meadows and Joyce Randolph). William Hanna 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 disavowed these claims in a separate interview, however, 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."

According to Brian Levant in his book, My Life and Toys, Hanna and Barbera were fans of the silent movie era and based Fred and Barney on comedians Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.

Casting
George O'Hanlon originally auditioned for the role of Fred, but lost out to Alan Reed, who kept on voicing the character until his passing in 1977. Reed was insistent on playing Fred in a relatively natural speaking voice, rather than a broad, "cartoony" style, since animated short cartoons rarely used this method of voice acting back then—with the exception of experimental studios like UPA and feature films with more realistic characters.

Jean Vander Pyl originally gave Wilma a voice imitating that of Alice Kramden, but decided to soften her voice a little so as to make it sound less of a mimic of Audrey Meadows.

Barney's voice was provided by Mel Blanc, who initally gave him a nasally New Jersey accent in the early half of the first season. By the later half of the season onward, Blanc used a deeper voice instead. In a few episodes of season 2, Daws Butler (who previously voiced Barney in The Flagstones pitch pilot) briefly assumed the role while Blanc recovered from a car wreck. Blanc, while in a full-body cast, was given recording equipment in his bedroom to provide Barney's lines in his recovery. According to Barbera, he explained that "The easy thing would have been to replace him, but we kept going and it worked. Sometimes we'd have as many as sixteen people crowded into his bedroom and we hung a mike in front of him."

After recording five episodes, Joseph Barbera didn't feel right about the series, but gave it another go once Alan Reed and Mel Blanc were brought together in the same room.

Music
The music was composed by Hoyt Curtin. The theme song for the first two seasons was called "Rise and Shine," while the second theme song introduced in the third season, "(Meet) The Flintstones," was written by Curtin, Hanna, and Barbera.

Cast

 * Alan Reed as Fred Flintstone
 * Mel Blanc as Barney Rubble and Dino; Daws Butler filled in for Blanc during episodes 1, 2, 5, 6, 9 of season 2
 * Jean Vander Pyl as Wilma Flintstone and Pebbles Flintstone
 * Bea Benaderet (seasons 1-4) and Gerry Johnson (seasons 5-6) as Betty Rubble
 * Don Messick as Bamm-Bamm Rubble and Hoppy

Celebrity guests

 * Hoagy Carmichael
 * Ann-Margret
 * James Darren
 * Tony Curtis
 * Elizabeth Montgomery
 * Dick York
 * Jimmy O'Neill

Legacy
The Flintstones influenced H-B to make the Space-Age counterpart, The Jetsons (there was a crossover movie called The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones in 1987), as well as the Roman period The Roman Holidays, and the then 1970s contemporary Where's Huddles?. Since 1989, Fox Television has aired animated sitcoms that have been compared similarly to The Flinstones, including The Simpsons and Family Guy.

Among the movies that have been made, two of them were live-action (The Flintstones and The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas), having been produced by Steven Spielberg's company, Amblin Entertainment, and released by Universal Pictures in 1994 and 2000, respectively.

Between 2011 and 2012, Seth MacFarlane (creator of Family Guy) was tasked with bringing a new Flintstones series to Fox Television. In 2019, it was announced that Elizabeth Banks had been given her own shot at a reboot. In 2020, a sequel series was officially announced to be in development called Bedrock, which would see Fred retiring and Pebbles embarking on her own career set at a time of the new Bronze Age. It will air on Fox.

In 2014, it was announced that Warner Bros. had begun work on an animated feature film based on the series. Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, and Chris Henchy were announced as writers. Ferrell and McKay were also mentioned to be producing the film. In 2018, Warner Animation Group was reported as being in "deep development" on the movie, although it is currently unknown if the aforementioned writers remain attached to the project.

In popular culture

 * In the Cheers episode "Sam at Eleven," he says that he feels sorry for The Flintstones because viewers will be switching the TV to watch him instead, leaving Bedrock a lonely town.
 * In the movie Police Academy 2, Mahoney says the Scullions' hideout in the abandoned Griffith Park Zoo has a "cave-like atmosphere," and asks where Fred and Wilma are.
 * In the movie St. Elmo's Fire, "(Meet) The Flintstones" is played on the sax.
 * In the movie Planes, Trains & Automobiles, Del sings "(Meet) The Flintstones" on the bus, even adding "Wilma!" at the end.
 * In the Adventures of Superman #441, Mr. Mxyzptlk brings to life a billboard advertising Saturday morning cartoons before turning Superman into a cartoony version of himself to battle a pastiche of Fred called Frankie Fieldstone, star of the Saturday morning cartoon Cavestones, who he defeats by dumping him into the Le Vine Tar Pits. Before Superman does this, Frankie shouts, "Yabba-dabba don't!!"
 * In the April 2, 1989 comic strip of Garfield, the opening panel spoofs The Flintstones, with Garfield and Arlene in a Bedrock-like setting and dressed like Fred and Wilma, respectively, as Garfield complains to Arlene that her dogasaurus (Odie) ate his car.
 * In the Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures episode "Don't Touch That Dial," Mighty Mouse is being watched by a kid on TV, who gets bored, and flips the channel causing Mighty Mouse to jump to what the kid is watching, which includes a mashup between The Flintstones and The Jetsons called The Jetstones. There is a George lookalike who drives his saucer car, but it's made of stone and is foot powered, and there is a house made of stone his wife comes out from, but the front doors slide open. He also has a friend who looks similar to Barney.
 * In the Family Matters episode "Body Damage," Carl mentions that Rachel broke his Flintstones mug.
 * In The Golden Girls episode "Snap Out of It," Sophia informs an old woman that it's Flintstone, not Flintstein.
 * In the Boy Meets World episode "Sixteen Candles and Four-Hundred-Pound Men," when Cory has to be at Topanga's birthday party and help Francis at his wrestling match at the same, Shawn uses "Pebbles' Birthday Party," as an example of how it is doable, despite Cory's objections of Flintstones being a cartoon. When Topanga later finds out what he was doing, she also refers to this episode.
 * In "Episode 8" (season 2) of Heartbreak High, Mr. Deloraine asked his nephew, Matt, how the stereo was at the warehouse he had recently moved into, with Matt responding that it looked like something Freddy Flintstone built.
 * In the Sabrina the Teenage Witch episode "Dante's Inferno," Dante magically splits his bowling ball into pieces before it hits any pins, leaving Harvey to say he had never seen anything like that, except maybe on The Flintstones.
 * The Flintstone Flop dance from the episode "Shindrock A Go-Go" inspired the lyrics, "I like to do the wop (wop), also known as the Flintstone Flop (flop)" in the Beastie Boys' song "Intergalactic."
 * In the Clerks: The Animated Series episode "The Clip Show," Steven Spielberg directed Flintstone's List, a parody of Spielberg's film Schindler's List. The scene was cut when the episode was broadcast on ABC, but restored on the DVD.
 * In Nick at Night's pop-up trivia edition of the Brady Bunch episode "Adios, Johnny Bravo," they said that the Flintstones shared a bed (although this didn't happen at first).
 * In The Fairly OddParents TV movie Channel Chasers (part 2), Timmy, Cosmo, and Wanda are sent into a parody of The Flintstones called The Meatflints. They live life like a "modern stone-age family" as Timmy puts it, and proceed to work the TV remote in typical Flintstones fashion with a tiny pterodactyl flying out to turn on the TV. Meanwhile, Cosmo disturbs a sleeping sabretooth tiger resembling Baby Puss with Dino's color scheme. They run around the house in a background loop mocking the limited budget that Hanna-Barbera had, with the pterodactyl commenting, "It's a cycle," instead of the usual "It's a living." They then hop into the Flintmobile, and while "driving away," Timmy points out that if the cars in this show are powered by feet, shouldn't they just keep running? During this time, Timmy, Cosmo, and Wanda are dressed like Bamm-Bamm, Fred, and Betty respectively, while still retaining the colors of their own outfits. There is also an error as the Meatflints on the TV Guide is called The Turnstones.
 * In the Baby Looney Tunes episode "The Wheel Deal," Bugs and his friends take their bikes apart to make a new one for Tweety, with the first choice being one that resembled a tiny Flintmobile, accompanied by a "(Meet) The Flintstones" jingle, but Bugs commentated that it was "too old."
 * In the Hank episode "Drag Your Daughter to Work Day," Maddie says to her dad that when he was her age, people pushed cars around with their feet, which led her boyfriend to make the comparison with The Flintstones.
 * In "The Tennis Match," an episode of the British series Outnumbered, Ben says that cavemen would fight each other to prevent the other one from stealing their brontosaurus based on the rules of Charles Darwin, but his mother retorts that it's something more like out of The Flintstones.
 * In The Cleveland Show episode "Cleveland Live!," the black card on-screen says "December 17, 1989, History is made. America says hello to the first non-prehistoric family in prime-time animation."
 * In the American Dad! episode "A Boy Named Michael," Roger (disguised as Michael) sings what he believes to be the Dartmouth song set to the tune of "(Meet) The Flintstones."
 * In the season 8 "Columbus, Ohio" episode of Man v. Food, host Casey Webb referred to the pork as "Fred Flintstone food," alluding to the giant-sized ribs Fred would eat.
 * In the Young Sheldon episode "A Race of Superhumans and a Letter to Alf," Missy is worried that Sheldon's offer to make her smarter involves brain swapping which she is against because it didn't go well on Gilligan's Island or Flintstones, with "Monster Fred" being episode she was presumably referring to.
 * An episode of Lucifer is called "Yabba Dabba Do Me," and a young Jimmy Baines watches the series, mostly from the "(Meet) the Flintstones" theme song.
 * We Baby Bears had an episode called "Modern-ish Stone Age Family," with the bears having gone back to the Stone Age, leading Grizz to make references to The Flintstones and its theme song, although the show he is actually watching is called The Fossil Folks which is somewhat different.
 * In celebration of Warner Bros.' 100th anniversary, they made a special short featuring Looney Tunes characters taking a group photo of their favorite Flintstones characters in Bedrock, but this is spoiled by Daffy who comes dressed as Fred and then Bamm-Bamm, even though Bugs and Sylvester were already covering them respectively.

Comic Book Men

 * "Stash Wars:" When the guys talk about which cartoon background they'd like to live in, Mike picks Flintstones.
 * "To the Bat Cave:" Mike says he would want to base his man cave on Bedrock.
 * "Wookie Fever:" Peter Mayhew, who played Chewbacca in the Star Wars movies, mentioned how his legs would stick out the bottom of the Millenium Falcon cockpit, which called for Brian to compare him to Fred driving the Flintmobile with his feet.

Doctor Who

 * Of the City of the Saved...: In this book, Catriona was dismissive of Baines's novels about Paynesdown District as they gave about as much an idea about the real place as The Flintstones did about everyday life in "Neolithic flint quarry."
 * The Last Dodo: In this book, the Tenth Doctor slid down a Megalosaurus ' s back like Fred in the title sequence.

Drawn Together

 * "Hot Tub:" When Foxxy attacks Clara, the Rubbles' car can be seen driving by the main house.
 * "Gay Bash:" A pterodactyl works a record player made out of rock, saying, "It's a living."
 * "A Tale of Two Cows:" When the gang passes by a destroyed Bedrock, Clara says they deserved it for "having a gay old time". Also when the gang passes by the city, everyone's feet can be seen powering the Foxy 5 van.
 * "The One Wherein There Is A Big Twist Part II:" Wilma is interviewed as a potential roommate. She is kicked out after the gang finds out she uses a prehistoric worm as a tampon. The worm even says, "It's a living," which is what all the animal items would say in the original series.
 * The Drawn Together Movie: The Movie!: A part of the movie takes place in Bedrock. Barney, Betty, Dino and Bamm-Bamm all make cameos too.

Family Guy

 * "A Picture is Worth a Thousand Bucks:" While walking in New York set to Flintstones-esque music, Peter tries to lift Meg's spirits by telling her she'll find her hidden talent, when they suddenly walk onto Bedrock.
 * "Dammit Janet!:" When Peter and Lois don't return to America after the plane they were on was hijacked in Cuba, it is reported on the news, with the artist's rending capturing a fat man inexplicably married to an attractive redhead, which is in the form of Fred and Wilma.
 * "Wasted Talent:" When the final scroll to entering the Pawtucket Brewery was found, Peter disappointedly asked aloud what he was going to do now, when the Great Gazoo popped up asking the "dum dum" what he could do for Peter, but all Peter wanted was to be left alone. Annoyed at Peter's treatment of him, Gazoo whined that it wasn't always about him, the "fatso."
 * "Ready, Willing, and Disabled:" A cavegirl carhop tips Joe's wheelchair over with a plate of ribs in the same manner as what happens to Fred's car in the "(Meet) The Flintstones" theme song.
 * "The Cleveland-Loretta Quagmire:" Peter tells Cleveland that he walked in on the latter's wife having sex with another man, and when playing it out he uses the word "bam" several times as an onomatopoeia. Peter then asks Bamm-Bamm to continue for him by referencing his catchphrase, then Bamm-Bamm asks Emeril Lagasse to take over as he uses a similar catchphrase. Bamm-Bamm is voiced by MacFarlane.
 * "Peter's Got Woods:" When Brian is busy on another date with his new girlfriend, Peter tries to replace him with Barney. We then see Peter at the Rubbles', where he is waiting for Barney to finish in the toilet, so they can go play darts. Barney is using a pelican as a toilet, who makes a joke about his predicament. A sheep later made the same kind of joke after hearing Meg was on her period. MacFarlane voices Barney.
 * "Patriot Games:" Brian takes the same $50 bet on a celebrity boxing match between Mike Tyson and Carol Channing as Betting Freddie does, who stutters the word "bet" like the addicted gambler he was in "The Gambler." He then gets serious and claims there's nothing funny about addiction and tells the audience to vote "No" on Indian gaming bars. Fred is voiced by Jeff Bergman.
 * "Road to Rupert:" In a reenactment of "(Meet) The Flintstones," Meg drives Peter to the Quahog Drive-In, where he sticks his head through the car roof like Dino and then has Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm placed on top of his head.
 * "Believe It or Not, Joe's Walking on Air:" Fred and Barney attend the inaugural ball of the Quahog Men's Club, where Fred reveals to Barney that he accidentally caught sight of Betty undressing, who saw Fred, but continued anyway, giving way to Fred's e-rock-tion. Bergman voices both Fred and Barney.
 * "Peter's Daughter:" Fred takes Wilma to Mr. Stoneberg to get a legal separation for not letting him back in after Baby Puss removes him from their house and locks him outside. He had been knocking for 20 minutes and shouting "Wilma!" but she claims to not have heard because she was taking a shower, but he believes that she was simply ignoring him and goes on further about her spending all his money on expensive clothes and hairdos, and not being available for sex, the "passive-aggressive bitch" she is. Bergman and Alex Borstein are the voices Fred and Wilma, respectively.
 * "Quagmire's Baby:" Quagmire is selling a tape of The Best of the World's Wildest Police Chases, which features the police in a high speed pursuit of Fred in the Flintmobile, also carrying Dino, Pebbles, and Bamm-Bamm. Dino pops his head through the roof, and Fred places the babies on top of Dino's head. Fred manages to avoid them until he enters a drive-in movie theater and smashes into a snack bar. Fred tries to escape over a fence, but is caught and clobbered by the police. The narrator finishes his commentary by saying "Yabba-Dabba-Don't."
 * "The Simpsons Guy:" Fred acts as a judge when Peter and Homer Simpson go to court over the Pawtucket Patriot Ale being a copyright infringement over Duff Beer. He claims that both brands are imitations of Budrock, but is in favor of Duff Beer. Fred is voiced by none other than Bergman.
 * "The 2000-Year-Old Virgin:" Meg takes a job as a tag remover using her teeth. After she does it, she responds with, "It's a living", with accompanying "wah-wah-wah" music.
 * "Peter, Chris, & Brian:" Peter puts "Wilma Flintstone pearl necklaces" on him and Chris as a key to success.
 * "Emmy-Winning Episode:" Peter hears Flintstones running in Dr. Hartman's office.
 * "Happy Holo-ween:" As the hologram Peter is defeated, he quickly turns into 1999 Peter, Larry from Larry & Steve, and Fred Flintstone. He even yells "WILLMA."

Futurama

 * "Hell is Other Robots:" Fry dances to the Beastie Boys' song "Intergalactic" which features the "Flintstone flop" line, inspired by Fred's dance in "Shinrock A Go-Go."
 * "Fun on a Bun:" At the end of the episode, Zap Brannigan orders large ribs which are so heavy they bring down the corner of the table, just like when Fred orders some at the drive-in theater in closing to each episode of The Flintstones that used "(Meet) The Flintstones."

Mad

 * "2012 Dalmatians/Grey's in Anime:" In the skit "2012 Dalmatians," Fred and Barney make cameos as caveman bones in the Museum of Natural Mystery.
 * "Fast Hive/Minute to Flynn It:" In the skit "Minute to Flynn It," Sam Flynn discovers from Clu that the Flynn line goes right back to the Flynnstones, with Fred popping up in a Tron suit and says, "Yabba-dabba-doo! I'm talking to Clu!"
 * "Battleship vs Titanic/Jurassic Park and Recreation:" In the skit "Hey, whatever happened to that guy from that TV show I kinda remember from when I was a kid?", we get a glimpse of what happened to Fred after his TV show was canceled when the creators realized that cavemen didn't exist the same time as dinosaurs and that Dino died. Fred then became "oversaturated" in everything from a preschool show called ¡Yodabba Dabba! (a parody of Yo Gabba Gabba!) and being the spokesman for a hair gel called "Yabba-Dabba-Do!" He then left the business, but returned in 1997 to become a failed stand up comedian, because all the audience want to hear him say is, "Yabba-dabba-Do."

Moesha

 * "Credit Card:" Hakeem enters the Mitchell household and calls the family the Flintstones, as part of a recurring gag of Hakeem referring to the family as other families in pop culture. The scene is used as part of a clip show in "Girls' Night In."
 * "This Time You've Gone Too Far:" There are a couple of transition shots of two kids in a ride on car making the same running sound effects as Fred.
 * "Definitely Not the Cosbys:" Moesha, who is desperate for Niecy to leave their dorm so she could be alone with Q, she suggested to Niecy that she should use her feet to drive her brother's broken down car.

Robot Chicken

 * "Easter Basket:" In a parody of the Fruity Pebbles commercials, things take a dark turn when Barney steals Fred's cereal.
 * "Yancy the Yo-Yo-Boy:"
 * "Big Trouble in Little Clerks 2:"
 * "Casablankman II:"
 * "Up, Up and Buffet:"
 * "Triple Hot Dog Sandwich on Wheat:"
 * "Strummy Strummy Sad Sad:"

Saturday Night Live

 * "John Goodman/The Pretenders:" Although more in promotion for the 1994 live-action film, host John Goodman, wearing a Fred costume (not like the one he wore in the film), does a sketch where he gives the Stone Age names of some celebrities, before removing celebrities' names who already have "Stone" or "Rock" in them.
 * "Kieran Culkin/Ed Sheehan:" In "The Heist" sketch, the thief sarcastically asks if he is Fred Flintstein when told he has two use both of his feet to drive a stick shift. When the hacker questions him about calling him "Flintstein," the thief responds, "Did I stutter? Frederick Flintstein."

The Simpsons

 * "Marge vs. the Monorail:" The episode begins with a parody of Homer singing "(Meet) The Flintstones" with his own lyrics, ending when Homer crashes his car into a chestnut tree, having only paid partial attention to the road.
 * "The Day the Violence Died:" When Chester takes Robert Meyers, Jr. to court over plagiarism of his creation of Itchy, Meyers claims that this is part of the business because without The Honeymooners there wouldn't be The Flintstones.

Teen Titans Go!

 * "Double Trouble:" Cyborg is dressed like Fred in a game called "Cavemen and Dinosaurs".
 * "Serious Business:" Mankind was primitive until the first toilet was made, with the worlds of Flintstones and Jetsons representing the before and after.