Plot
Although The Flintstones was not, as is often claimed, the first prime-time animated series, it was the first to be produced exclusively for television (such earlier shows as Gerald McBoing Boing consisted largely of theatrical cartoons), the first foray into the nighttime hours by the cartoon firm of Hanna-Barbera, and the first of the studio's series aimed primarily at an adult audience -- at least at first. Clearly inspired by the live-action sitcom The Honeymooners, the weekly, half-hour The Flintstones was a spoof of contemporary suburban life set during the Stone Age.Most of the episodes were set in the town of Bedrock, home of Fred Flintstone, who worked for Slate Construction Company operating a dinosaur-powered steam shovel. Fred lived in a comfy middle-class cave with his wife Wilma; his next door neighbor and best friend was Barney Rubble, whose wife Betty was Wilma's closest pal. Although the Flintstones and the Rubbles dwelt in prehistoric times, Fred and Barney regularly went bowling (with stone bowling balls) and could sometimes be found chowing down on bronto burgers and speculating at the dinosaur race track. Meanwhile, both Wilma and Betty held court over a houseful of such modern appliances as a sewing machine (with a pterodactyl beak as the needle), a vacuum cleaner (actually a baby elephant), and a garbage disposal (a snaggle-toothed pig). The Flintstones' house pet was a yapping dinosaur appropriately named Dino. The series' format permitted The Flintstones to offer a wide range of lampoons of current sociological developments and pop-culture fads and icons. Both Elvis Presley's Colonel Tom Parker and the Beatles' Brian Epstein were satirized (the latter as "Eppy Brianstone"); Wilma and Betty's favorite movie stars included Cary Granite and Stoney Gherkins; the "Jackie Kennelrock" look was the last word in high fashion; Fred and Barney worried that doomsday was approaching when they learned that slingshots had replaced bows and arrows as the military weapon of choice; and among the popular B.C.-era TV shows were "Hum Along With Herman" (a spoof of Sing Along With Mitch) and "Dripper" (Flipper). Debuting September 30, 1960, on ABC, The Flintstones was telecast in black-and-white during its first two seasons, though it was filmed in color from the outset. Midway through season three, Wilma gave birth to a baby daughter named Pebbles; the following year, the Rubbles adopted a foundling boy named Bamm Bamm, "the world's strongest baby." Other occasional cast members included Fred's bombastic boss Mr. Slate, Wilma's imperious mother Mrs. Slaghoople, Arnold the sarcastic newsboy (who delivered papers chiseled out on stone slates!), the creepy Gruesome Family, and the Great Gazoo, a futuristic spaceman who used Fred and Barney as "case studies" for humanity. The series' voice actors included Alan Reed as Fred Flintstone, Mel Blanc as Barney Rubble, Jean Vander Pyl as Wilma and Pebbles, Bea Benaderet and later Gerry Johnson as Betty Rubble, Don Messick as Arnold, John Stephenson as Mr. Slate, Verna Felton as Wilma's mom, and Harvey Korman as Gazoo. In addition, The Flinstones made extensive use of celebrity guest stars, usually caricatured and renamed to fit the Stone Age template. For example, Ann-Margret showed up as Ann-Margrock, while Tony Curtis emerged as Stoney Curtis. Remaining on ABC's nighttime schedule until September 2, 1966, The Flintstones ran for 166 episodes, a record for prime-time animation that would remain unbroken until The Simpsons in the 1990s. The series also yielded innumerable cartoon spinoffs bearing such titles as The Pebbles & Bamm-Bamm Show and Fred and Barney Meet the Shmoo -- not to mention a brace of live-action theatrical features, the first of which starred John Goodman as Fred, Rick Moranis as Barney, Elizabeth Perkins as Wilma, Rosie O'Donnell as Betty, and -- get a good grip on yourself -- Elizabeth Taylor as Wilma's mother! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Cast
Henry Corden - Fred FlintstoneCredit
Will H. Schaefer - Composer (Music Score), Randy Van Horne - Musical PerformerEpisodes
The Flintstones: Season 01 (1960)Season One of The Flintstones begins with the series' second pilot episode, "The Flintstone Flyer", in which Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble use their newly invented flying machine to sneak out on a social commitment with their wives Wilma and Betty. The season's third episode, "The Swimming Pool", is actually a remake and expansion of the series original four-minute "sample" episode prepared for potential sponsors,in which Daws Butler rather than Alan Reed supplied the voice of Fred and June Foray instead of Jean VanderPyl was heard as Wilma. As for the actual first full-length pilot episode, "The Great Tycoon", it remained unseen until unveiled as Episode #22 on February 24, 1961. Longtime fans of the series will be interested to note that The Flintstones uses a different opening-credits sequence and different theme song (Hoyt Curtin's "Rise 'N' Shine" than in later years. Also the characters are drawn in more blunt, rough-hewn fashion, and the humor is more geared for grownups than children. A sure giveaway that Hanna-Barbera wanted the series to be regarded as adult fare was in their choice of sponsors: One-a-Day Vitamins and Winston Cigarettes (collectors can still revel in those rare cast commercials showing Fred and Barney puffing away on coffin nails and enthusing over the pleasures of "filter-tip smokin'"). Finally, it is worth mentioning that the character of the Flintstones' pet dinosaur Dino makes his first official appearance in "The Snorkasaurus Story". Unlike the later Dino, this incarnation has the power of speech--indeed, he acts and sounds just like Sgt. Ernie Bilko, the scampish con artist created by comedian Phil Silvers. The series wastes no time in using its Stone Age milieu to poke fun at modern life. Both Elvis Presley and his manager Col. Tom Parker are given a good going-over in "The Girls' Night Out"; the TV detective series Peter Gunn is skewered in the person of private eye Perry Gunnitte (so tough that he only drinks "rocks on the rocks") in "Love Letters on the Rocks"; the then-current genre of gimmicky monster movies is spoofed in "The Monster from the Tar Pits"; a jazz musician who sounds an awful lot like Miles Davis shows up in "Hot Lips Hannigan"; the cops in "The Hot Piano" speak in low, clipped, Dragnet-style tones; and a certain prominent dance instructor of the era is satirized in "Arthur Quarry's Dance Class." Also, Season One yields several of the musical highlights so beloved of Flintstones aficionados. The best melodic moments include the "Carhop Song" ("Here we come, on the run/with a burger on a bun") in "The Drive-In"; Fred's off-key rendering of "Sextet from Lucia" in "The Split Personality"; and the interminable "Happy Anniversary" quartet in The Hot Piano." Telecast in black and white (though filmed in color), the first season of The Flintstones finished up as the nation's 18th highest-rated program, right between Bonanza and The Red Skelton Show. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- The Flintstones: Love Letters on the Rocks
- The Flintstones: The Engagement Ring
- The Flintstones: Hollyrock, Here I Come
- The Flintstones: The Golf Champion
- The Flintstones: The Sweepstakes Ticket
- The Flintstones: The Drive-in
- The Flintstones: The Prowler
- The Flintstones: The Swimming Pool
- The Flintstones: The Flintstone Flyer
- The Flintstones: Hot Lips Hannigan
- The Flintstones: No Help Wanted
- The Flintstones: The Split Personality
- The Flintstones: The Monster from the Tar Pits
- The Flintstones: The Babysitters
- The Flintstones: At the Races
- The Flintstones: The Girls Night Out
- The Flintstones: Arthur Quarry's Dance Class
- The Flintstones: The Big Bank Robbery
- The Flintstones: The Snorkasaurus Hunter
- The Flintstones: The Hot Piano
- The Flintstones: The Hypnotist
- The Flintstones: The Tycoon
- The Flintstones: The Astra' Nuts
- The Flintstones: The Long, Long Weekend
- The Flintstones: In the Dough
- The Flintstones: The Good Scout
- The Flintstones: Rooms for Rent
- The Flintstones: Fred Flintstone: Before and After
The second season of the animated "prehistoric" sitcom The Flintstones gets under way with "The Hit Songwriters", the series' first utilization of a celebrity guest star (or, to be more precise, a caricatured celebrity supplying his/her own voice). The star in question is composer Hoagy Carmichael, who curiously appears under his own name rather than a Stone Age-style variation a la "Ann Margrock" or "Stoney Curtis." Carmichael also provides an original song for the proceedings: "Yabba Dabba Doo", inspired by Fred Flintstone's frequent bellow of joy. Almost as memorable is the "Rockenschpeel Jingle" sung by Wilma Flintstone ("Make your hobby hubby/Keep your hubby happy/If he's a little chubby/He's a happy pappy/With ROCKENSCHPEEL!" in the later second-season installment "The Happy Household." If Barney Rubble sounds a bit strange in some of the episodes, it is because voice artist Mel Blanc had been incapacitated for several months after a near-fatal car accident. In some instances, Hal Smith (best known as town drunk Otis Campbell on The Andy Griffith Show), substitutes for Blanc; in others, Barney's voice is provided by Hanna-Barbera stalwart Daws Butler. Among the season's best episodes are "Alvin Brickrock Presents", a deliciously macabre takeoff of Alfred Hitchcock's TV anthology; "The Rock Quarry Story", featuring a famous movie star who sounds just like Gary Cooper (courtesy of the versatile John Stephenson); "The X-Ray Story", wherein a doctor's misdiagnosis leads to a unforgettable 24-hour revelry for poor Fred Flintstone; and "Wilma's Vanishing Money", which apparently went over so well with audiences that it was remade as a live-action installment of The Danny Thomas Show two years later--then re-remade as an episode of the 1970 Hanna-Barbera cartoon prime-timer Where's Huddles! Still being filmed in color but networkcast in black-and-white, The Flintstones managed to close out its second season as America's 21st highest rated TV show, in a dead heat with The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- The Flintstones: Fred Flintstone Woos Again
- The Flintstones: The Hit Song Writers
- The Flintstones: Social Climbers
- The Flintstones: The Beauty Contest
- The Flintstones: The Masquerade Ball
- The Flintstones: The Picnic
- The Flintstones: The House Guest
- The Flintstones: The X-Ray Story
- The Flintstones: Droop-a-long Flintstone
- The Flintstones: The Missing Bus
- The Flintstones: Alvin Brickrock Presents
- The Flintstones: The Rock Quarry Story
- The Flintstones: The Soft Touchables
- The Flintstones: Flintstone of Prinstone
- The Flintstones: The Little White Lie
- The Flintstones: The Gambler
- The Flintstones: A Star Is Almost Born
- The Flintstones: The Entertainer
- The Flintstones: Wilma's Vanishing Money
- The Flintstones: Feudin' and Fussin'
- The Flintstones: Impractical Joker
- The Flintstones: Operation Barney
- The Flintstones: The Happy Household
- The Flintstones: Fred Strikes Out
- The Flintstones: This Is Your Lifesaver
- The Flintstones: Trouble-In-Law
- The Flintstones: The Mailman Cometh
- The Flintstones: The Rock Vegas Caper
- The Flintstones: Divided We Sail
- The Flintstones: Kleptomania Caper
- The Flintstones: Latin Lover
- The Flintstones: Take Me Out to the Ball Game
Several major changes were wrought upon The Flintstones as the animated series entered its third season. To begin with, the series was telecast in color for the first time with the episode titled "Invisible Barney" on September 28, 1962. Also, the opening credits sequence was refilmed, replacing the original action of Fred driving home, stopping at the dry-cleaners, picking up a newspaper and crashing into his garage with the more familiar sequence of Fred knocking off from work, then taking Wilma to a drive-in movie. Additionally, the series' longtime instrumental theme music "Rise 'N' Shine" was supplanted by the now-legendary vocal composition "Meet the Flintstones" (and for the benefit of those who still can't understand the middle lyrics, they are "Let's ride with the family down the street/through the courtesy of Fred's two feet"). Finally, and most importantly, stone-age suburbanites Fred and Wilma Flintstone became parents. The blessed event occurred on February 22, 1963, in the episode titled "Dress Rehearsal"; on that occasion, Wilma gave birth to a baby daughter named Pebbles. (Trivia note: a least two of the pre-Pebbles episodes, which alluded to the fact that Fred and Wilma were childless, had new footage added for their original network reruns so that they would appear to be "flashbacks". These additional scenes were shown but once, and have never been syndicated). Unlike previous seasons, The Flintstones' musical highlights were few and far between during Season Three. An exception to this "The Twitch" (from the episode of the same name), a spirited takeoff of the then-current dance craze "The Twist." Although the novelty of The Flintstones had worn off a bit during its three years on the air, the series still posted excellent prime-time ratings, finishing the season as America's 30th most popular TV program, just one notch below the live-action western Have Gun--Will Travel. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- The Flintstones: Dino Goes Hollyrock
- The Flintstones: Hawaiian Escapade
- The Flintstones: Ladies Day
- The Flintstones: Nuttin' But the Tooth
- The Flintstones: High School Fred
- The Flintstones: Dial S for Suspicion
- The Flintstones: Flash Gun Freddie
- The Flintstones: Fred's New Boss
- The Flintstones: Invisible Barney
- The Flintstones: Bowling Ballet
- The Flintstones: The Twitch
- The Flintstones: Here's Snow in Your Eyes
- The Flintstones: The Buffalo Convention
- The Flintstones: The Little Stranger
- The Flintstones: Baby Barney
- The Flintstones: The Kissing Burglar
- The Flintstones: Wilma, the Maid
- The Flintstones: The Hero
- The Flintstones: The Surprise
- The Flintstones: Mother-in-Law's Visit
- The Flintstones: Foxy Grandma
- The Flintstones: Fred's New Job
- The Flintstones: The Blessed Event
- The Flintstones: Carry On, Nurse Fred
- The Flintstones: Ventriloquist Barney
- The Flintstones: The Big Move
- The Flintstones: Swedish Visitors
- The Flintstones: The Birthday Party
With the addition of Fred and Wilma Flintstone's baby daughter Pebbles halfway through the third season of the animated stone-age spoof The Flintstones, the series' humor became less adult-oriented and more geared to children and teenagers. According, for its fourth season on ABC, the series moved from its familiar 8:30 PM Friday-night timeslot to a more "family friendly" 7:30 PM Thursday-night berth. Also, longtime sponsor Winston Cigarettes departed, to replaced by Welch's Grape Juice. The third-season opener starred the voice and the caricatured likeness of entertainer Ann-Margret--or as she was reconfigured herein, "Ann-Margrock." Two songs were specially written for this episode, the more popular of them being "The Littlest Lamb". Other musical highlights during this season included "The Softsoap Jingle" in the episode "The Flintstone Canaries" (that's the one in which Fred and Barney appear on the musical TV show "Hum Along With Herman"!) , and Fred's multi-lingual campfire song in "Cave Scout Jamboree" Not to be outdone by their friends Fred and Wilma, the Flintstones' neighbors Barney and Betty Rubble came forth with a child of their own. To expedite matters, the Rubbles adopted their son, an unusually strong infant named Bamm Bamm, who was introduced in the episode first telecast on October 3, 1963. Other episodes worth noting this season are "Daddies Anonymous", in which several Bedrock fathers duck out on their wives while pretending to babysit their offspring; "Ten Little Flintstones", a zany sci-fi takeoff wherein space aliens devise robotized replicas of Fred Flintone ("Ya-ba-da-ba-doo, ya-ba-da-ba-doo"); and "Peek-a-boo Camera", a lively lampoon of Candid Camera. The viewer will notice that, whereas Fred, Barney and Wilma sound pretty much the same as they always had, there is something a bit different about the voice of Betty Rubble. That is because Gerry Johnson has been added to the cast as the new voice of Betty, replacing Bea Benaderet, who had left The Flintstones to devote all her time to her new starring sitcom Petticoat Junction. Although The Flintstones retained much of its fan base during its fourth season, the ratings took an ominous plunge, suggesting that changing its timeslots might not have been the smartest move on the part of Hanna-Barberaor ABC. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- The Flintstones: Ann-Margrock Presents
- The Flintstones: Sleep On, Sweet Fred
- The Flintstones: Kleptomaniac Pebbles
- The Flintstones: Daddy's Little Beauty
- The Flintstones: Daddies Anonymous
- The Flintstones: Peek-A-Boo Camera
- The Flintstones: Once Upon a Coward
- The Flintstones: Groom Gloom
- The Flintstones: Little Bamm-Bamm
- The Flintstones: Dino Disappears
- The Flintstones: Fred's Monkeyshines
- The Flintstones: The Flintstone Canaries
- The Flintstones: Glue for Two
- The Flintstones: Big League Freddie
- The Flintstones: Old Lady Betty
- The Flintstones: Fred El Terrifico
- The Flintstones: Bedrock Hillbillies
- The Flintstones: Flintstone and the Lion
- The Flintstones: Cave Scout Jamboree
- The Flintstones: Room for Two
- The Flintstones: Ladies Night at the Lodge
- The Flintstones: Reel Trouble
- The Flintstones: Son of Rockzilla
- The Flintstones: Bachelor Daze
- The Flintstones: Operation Switchover
- The Flintstones: Ten Little Flintstones
Although the animated stone-age satire The Flintstones began its fifth season in the same early-Thursday-evening timeslot that it had occupied during Season Four, the fierce competition from rival series The Munsters forced ABC to shuffle The Flintstones to Friday nights, switching slots with another Hanna-Barbera prime time effort Jonny Quest during Christmas week of 1964. The season began with "Hop Happy", which introduced a new addition to the home of Fred and Wilma Flintstone's neighbors Barney and Betty Rubble, a pet "hopperoo" (a cross between a dinosaur and a kangaroo, natch!) Eight episodes later, the grotesque Gruesome family moved into Fred's neighborhood; although some have suggested that the Gruesomes were inspired by the like vintage sitcom The Addams Family, they were in fact derived from an equally repulsive cartoon family, Mr. and Mrs. J. Evil Scientist and their son Junior, who'd been seen in several of Hanna-Barbera's "Quick Draw McGraw" cartoon shorts. Highlights this season include "Dr. Sinister", a wild-and-wooly takeoff of the James Bond movies; "Time Machine", in which the Flintstones and the Rubbles are thrust into the "future", namely 1964; "Monster Fred", which finds Fred, Barney, Wilma and Betty exchanging personalities over and over again; "Fred Meets Hercurock", a spoof of sword-and-sandal epics featuring a Joe Levine-type fast buck movie producer named "Go Go Ravine"; "The Rolls Rock Caper", in which a millionaire cop named Amos Boulder amusingly sends up the TV detective series Burke's Law; and "Christmas Flintstone", the first of the property's several Yuletide offerings--all of which blithely ignored the fact that Flintstones were supposed to be living in the B.C. era! The last-named "Christmas Flintstone" yielded yet another of the series' many musical highlights, in this case a soon-to-be-popular children's tune called "Dino the Dinosaur". Better still is "Surfin' Craze", performed by singer James Darren (aka "James Darrock) in another fourth-season offering, "Surfin' Fred" ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- The Flintstones: Monster Fred
- The Flintstones: The Gruesomes
- The Flintstones: The Most Beautiful Baby in Bedrock
- The Flintstones: King for a Night
- The Flintstones: Indianrockolis 500
- The Flintstones: Abobe Dick
- The Flintstones: Christmas Flintstone
- The Flintstones: Itty Bitty Freddy
- The Flintstones: A Haunted House Is Not a Home
- The Flintstones: Pebbles' Birthday Party
- The Flintstones: Dino and Juliet
- The Flintstones: Bedrock Rodeo Round-Up
- The Flintstones: Cinderellastone
- The Flintstones: Hop Happy
- The Flintstones: Dr. Sinister
- The Flintstones: Fred's Flying Lesson
- The Flintstones: Fred's Second Car
- The Flintstones: Time Machine
- The Flintstones: The Hatrocks and the Gruesomes
- The Flintstones: Moonlight and Maintenance
- The Flintstones: Sheriff for a Day
- The Flintstones: Deep in the Heart of Texarock
- The Flintstones: The Rolls Rock Caper
- The Flintstones: Superstone
- The Flintstones: Fred Meets Hercurock
- The Flintstones: Surfin' Fred
The Flintstones: Season 06 (1965)
Although the animated stone-age sitcom The Flintstones was inevitably showing signs of fatigue as the series entered its sixth and final season, there were still enough highlights and innovations to keep fans happy--and even to attract a few new devotees. The season opener, "No Biz Like Show Biz", finds infants Pebbles Flintstone and Bamm Bamm Rubble suddenly and inexplicably developing the ability to sing! Naturally, this attracts the attention of a big-time music promoter named Eppy Brianstone--his name of course a takeoff on The Beatles' Brian Epstein. For the record, the babies' big song hit is that old standard "Open Up Your Heart and Let the Sun Shine In", by Stuart Hambles. Nor is this the sixth season's only musical highlight. The episode "The Masquerade Party" features another English rock group called the Way Outs, performing a medley of their hit, titled--what else?--"Way Outs". And a genuine musical aggregation, the Beau Brummels (aka "The Beau Brummelstones"), perform "Laugh, Laugh" on the episode "Shinrock a Go Go", which also features the voice of Jimmy O'Neill (aka "Jimmy O'Neillstone"), who was then host of the live-action variety series Shindig. New to the series this season is The Great Gazoo, an imperious-pint sized green space alien who has been exiled to earth, and who condescendingly grants all sorts of wishes to "dum-dums" Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble. Introduced in the episode appropriately titled "The Great Gazoo", the character's voice is supplied by Harvey Korman. Other celebrity voices heard durng Season Six are those of Bewitched stars Elizabeth Montgomery and Dick York in "Samantha", and Tony Curtis in "The Return of Stony Curtis." The 166th and final episode of The Flintstones is "The Story of Rocky's Raiders", clearly inspired by the then-popular "Snoopy vs. The Red Baron" continuity in the Peanuts comic strip; on this occasion, Fred's venerable Grandfather recalls his exploits as an ace pilot during Stone World War One (plus ca change...) ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- The Flintstones: Samantha
- The Flintstones: The Stonefinger Caper
- The Flintstones: The Masquerade Party
- The Flintstones: Shinrock-A-Go-Go
- The Flintstones: Royal Rubble
- The Flintstones: Seeing Doubles
- The Flintstones: The Great Gazoo
- The Flintstones: The House That Fred Built
- The Flintstones: The Return of Stoney Curtis
- The Flintstones: Disorder in the Court
- The Flintstones: Circus Business
- The Flintstones: Gravelberry Pie King
- The Flintstones: No Biz Like Show Biz
- The Flintstones: Rip Van Flintstone
- The Flintstones: The Gravelberry Pie King
- The Flintstones: How to Pick a Fight with Your Wife Without Really Trying
- The Flintstones: Fred Goes Ape
- The Flintstones: The Long, Long, Long Weekend
- The Flintstones: Two Men on a Dinosaur
- The Flintstones: The Treasure of Sierra Madrock
- The Flintstones: Curtain Call at Bedrock
- The Flintstones: Boss for a Day
- The Flintstones: Fred's Island
- The Flintstones: Jealousy
- The Flintstones: Dripper
- The Flintstones: My Fair Freddy
- The Flintstones: The Story of Rocky's Raiders






