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The Flintstones

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The Flintstones
The Flintstones.jpg
Premiere September 30, 1960
Finale April 1, 1966
Airs Sundays at 10 AM, 10:30 AM and 11 AM on MeTV
Creator William Hanna,
Joseph Barbera,
Dan Gordon
Network/Provider ABC
Style 30-minute animated sitcom
Company Hanna-Barbera Productions,
Screen Gems Television
Distributor Screen Gems Television (until 1974)
Columbia Pictures Television (1974–1980)
Worldvision Enterprises (1980–1988)
Great American Broadcasting (1988–1991)
Turner Program Services (1991–1996)
Telepictures Distribution (1996–2003)
Warner Bros. Television (2003– )
Seasons 6
Episodes 166
Origin USA

The Flintstones is an animated sitcom that aired on ABC. After the show's successful run, it produced a number of spin-offs. For a complete list, see The Flintstones franchise.

The original pilot presented to ABC for The Flintstones, running a mere two minutes, had Daws Butler voicing Fred and Barney and was immediately paralleled to Jackie Gleason's show The Honeymooners. In fact, upon seeing the finished product, Gleason threatened to sue Hanna-Barbera for plagiarism.

Taking place in the small community of Bedrock, Fred Flintstone is your average nine-to-five guy working at a rock quarry. His wife, Wilma, can be loving and understanding one moment and then nagging and cuckolding the next. The Rubbles, their next door neighbors, are comprised of happy-go-lucky Barney and his wife Betty. Early episodes had Fred and Barney coming up with schemes to either go out for a night on the town without their wives' suspecting or Fred's cockeyed schemes to make a fortune.

The show rose as high as 25th in the ratings, and during this peak time, it was decided to make Fred and Wilma a father and mother. In the third season, Wilma announced to Fred she was pregnant (the word not actually being used) and several weeks later on February 22, 1963, Wilma gave birth to Pebbles, their daughter. This broke the usual mold in cartoons where a stork delivers babies. Early in the fourth season, the show broke more ground dealing with adoption--a bundle is left on the Rubbles' doorstep and within was a baby boy with the strength of a wooly mammoth. He was named Bamm-Bamm, and the Rubbles had to go to court to fight for him when social services found a party more fit to raise him. Bamm-Bamm was awarded to the Rubbles anyway as the other litigant announced his own wife was expecting.

In the final season, a new semi-regular cast member was introduced. The Great Gazoo was a futuristic alien exiled to Earth. In order to return to his home planet, he had to show he could use his powers to help others on other worlds, and he would be the subservient of Fred and Barney (who are the only people who could see Gazoo).

The Flintstones was originally produced in color but for two years was telecast in black and white as ABC did not have color telecines at the time. In 1962, episodes of The Flintstones and sibling H-B show The Jetsons were delivered to NBC where they were transmitted in color to ABC who then broadcast the episodes to affiliates.

The year The Flintstones left prime time, a theatrical animated feature was released by Columbia Pictures, The Man Called Flintstone. The original series would concurrently run in replays on NBC's Saturday morning line-up and in syndication.

On September 30, 2010, Boomerang (Cartoon Network's sibling channel) screened the very first episode, "The Flintstone Flyer" at 8:30 p.m. Eastern time, 50 years to the date and time of the show's debut on ABC. On that same date in 2019, "The Flintstone Flyer" was the first episode to air when the show began airing on MeTV.

Contents

Cast

Actor Character Duration
Main Cast 1 2 3 4 5 6
Alan Reed Fred Flintstone * * * * * *
Mel Blanc Barney Rubble * * * * * *
Dino * * * * * *
Jean Vander Pyl Wilma Flintstone * * * * * *
Pebbles Flintstone * * * *
Bea Benaderet Betty Rubble * * * *
Gerry Johnson * *
Supporting/Recurring Cast 1 2 3 4 5 6
Daws Butler Additional voices * * * * * *
Don Messick Additional voices * * * * * *
Bamm-Bamm Rubble * * *
Hoppy * *
Hal Smith Additional voices * * * * * *
John Stephenson Additional voices * * * * * *
Mr. Slate * * * * *
Jerry Mann Additional voices * *
Doug Young Additional voices * * * *
Howard Morris Additional voices * * *
Janet Waldo Additional voices * * *
Allan Melvin Additional voices * * *
Henry Corden Additional voices * *
Harvey Korman Gazoo *

Seasons

Season  Premiere Finale #
ABC
Season One September 30, 1960 April 7, 1961 28
Season Two September 15, 1961 April 27, 1962 32
Season Three September 14, 1962 April 5, 1963 28
Season Four September 19, 1963 March 12, 1964 26
Season Five September 17, 1964 March 12, 1965 26
Season Six September 17, 1965 April 1, 1966 26

Theatrical Film

Title Release Date
The Man Called Flintstone August 3, 1966

In-Depth

DVD Releases

Title Release Discs
Complete Series  (Region 1)
The Complete Series October 28, 2008 24
Season Sets  (Region 1)
The Complete First Season March 16, 2004 4
The Complete Second Season December 7, 2004 4
The Complete Third Season March 22, 2005 4
The Complete Fourth Season November 15, 2005 4
The Complete Fifth Season March 7, 2006 4
The Complete Sixth Season September 5, 2006 4
Feature Film  (Region 1)
The Man Called Flintstone December 2, 2008 1
Episode Collections - Various Series  (Region 1)
1960s Volume 1 May 26, 2009 purchase 2

References


External Sites


The Flintstones Franchise
TV Shows

The FlintstonesThe Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm ShowThe Flintstone Comedy HourThe Flintstone Comedy ShowFred Flintstone and FriendsThe New Fred and Barney ShowFred and Barney Meet the ThingFred and Barney Meet the ShmooThe Flintstone Comedy ShowThe Flintstone FunniesThe Flintstone KidsCave KidsYabba Dabba Dinosaurs

Motion Pictures

The Man Called FlintstoneThe Flintstones (live-action)The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (live-action)