tek's rating: ½

The Flintstones, on ABC
BCDB; IMDb; MeTV; Retro Junk; Sitcoms Online; TV Tango; TV Tropes; Warner Bros.; Wikipedia
streaming sites: Amazon; Boomerang; Google Play; iTunes; Vudu; YouTube

This aired for six seasons, from 1960-66. It is perhaps the most classic animated series ever. It's been compared to The Honeymooners, which has itself inspired tons of other stuff, but the Flintstones has also inspired many shows and parodies and such. It's set in the prehistoric past, the time of cave men. The main characters are Fred and Wilma Flintstone, who have a baby daughter named Pebbles. They also have friends named Barney and Wilma Rubble, who have a son named Bamm-Bamm. Oh, and the Flintstones also have a pet dinosaur named Dino (pronounced Deeno). In spite of being set in the ancient past, the characters lived a fairly modern existence (from a 1960s perspective), using animals and rocks and things to serve as all the sorts of things people in the 60s were familiar with. So, of course, the stories were all pretty much like situations you might see in any live-action sitcom of the 60s, even if much of the humor came from prehistoric sight gags and wordplay. Basically, it was just about a family and friends and the ridiculous situations they got into.

I really don't know what else to say, except that it's just a hugely pervasive part of pop culture, and even the theme song is quite iconic. I can't say I think all that highly of the show in the sort of terms by which I'd judge something made in the present, but still... for the time it was made, it was awesome, and it has a sort of timeless, enduring quality about it, somehow.... Oh, there was also a live-action movie based on the show, in 1994, which I don't think I ever saw all of, and probably don't care much about. But maybe someday I'll watch it....


The Flintstone Comedy Show, on NBC
BCDB; IMDb; Retro Junk; Wikipedia

There have been numerous TV series spun off of "The Flintstones," most of them before my time. This one aired for two seasons, from 1980-82, when I was five to seven years old. To tell the truth, I can't say for sure if I actually saw this specific show when I was a kid, or various shows which ended up being segments of this one. But this is most convenient for me to list as what I saw. I don't remember any of it very well, but... I'm sure it was of some interest, when I was a kid. (Of course, I didn't get NBC at the time, and it's possible that either this aired on my CBS channel, or maybe I saw it later in syndicated reruns.) Anyway, one segment was basically the same kind of stuff that was on the original Flintstones series. One segment had Fred and Barney as cops, assisted by a strange creature called "Shmoo," which was actually the star of much earlier comic books, or something, as well as having at least one of its own animated series (which I may or may not have seen, at some point). One segment had Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm as teenagers (they were babies in the original series). They had previously had their own animated series as teenagers (which I may or may not have seen). One segment featured Captain Caveman, a sort of bizarre superhero who was considerably less evolved than anyone else on the show. (Again, he had his own animated series, which I may or may not have seen.) Um, Wikipedia mentions a segment about Dino the dinosaur, which I don't recall at all. And there was a segment featuring the Flintstones' neighbors, the Frankenstones (which I suppose was a parody of shows like The Addams Family and The Munsters). I think I vaguely recall the Frankenstones. Maybe. Anyway... this is definitely a series I'd like to see again, someday, for all its segments. As well as maybe someday seeing the various shows that the segments were basically continuations of.


classics index
animation index
animation nostalgia