This was supposed to be the spin off version of Jackie Gleason's 1950's sitcom of The Honeymooners,but to anyone's surprise that The Flintstones was to surpassed beyond it and continues to do so to this day. After being remembered as TV longest running animated sitcom for six seasons during its run,Fred and Wilma Flintstone are still at it in re-runs(still in syndication after more than 30 years after the show went off the air) along with their neighbors Betty and Barney Rubble and the family's pet dinosaur Dino and later on during the series run a new addition was added to the Flintstone family,the birth of Peebles and also gave the Rubbles a child of their own too,Bamm-Bamm. Other characters included Wilma's mother-in-law,Fred's feuding cousins The Flintrocks,and there gruesome neighbors The Gruesomes,Fred's boss at the Slate Gravel Company,Mister Slate(where did Fred's best friend Barney worked?)not to mention that repulsive alien from another planet,Kuzoo...why was he needed on there anyway which killed the show. There may have been some changes during the show,but it still its entertaining for adults as well as for children of all ages. Where can you find good family values and still provide laughs while at the same time keep the kids tuned in to see what Fred and Barney would come up with next? Another lame hair-brained scheme?(You won't find that with The Simpsons mind you...) Only The Flintstones. Catch the classic re-runs on either Cartoon Network,Boomerang,several local stations and on Superstation TBS.
The original "Flintstones" series ran on ABC-TV from 1960-1966. It was only during the first two seasons(1960-1962)of the show that it was telecast in black and white(actually was filmed in color),and later on made the transition to color at the start of 1962-1963 season where it remained until the end of the series in 1966. The series produced an astounding 166 episodes during its entire run on the air with superior production values and the vocal talents of the great Alan Reed as Fred Flintstone,Jean Vanderpyl as Wilma,and the great Mel Blanc as Fred's best friend and bosom buddy Barney. The vocal talents for the character of Betty(Wilma's best friend and Barney lovely wife)were done by the great Bea Benederet of "Burns and Allen","The Beverly Hillbillies",and "Petticoat Junction" fame. When Benederet left the series in mid-1964 due to health issues and was doing other projects,the role of Betty went to actress Gerry Johnson and from there stay with the role until the series went off the air. Other voice characters included Hanna-Barbera regulars Don Messick and Daws Butler and John Stephenson and also from actor Harvey Korman as the voice of Kazoo. When the animated series,"The Flintstones",premiered on ABC-TV in September of 1960,the show was aimed toward an adult audience,but instead was more focus on adult situations since there were scenes where Fred or Barney for that manner are smoking a cigarette. The sponsors were at the time Winston cigarettes since there was a commercial for Winston and Salem cigarettes that featured Fred and Barney smoking continuously along with Wilma and Betty.
NOTE: There were several spinoffs of the Flintstone trilogy that succeeded very well,including the cartoons "Peebles and Bamm-Bamm"(1971) "Flintstone Comedy Hour",which featured the Frankenstones and the lovable Schmoo(1979),and three theatrical features including their first feature length cartoon"A Man Called Flintstone"(1966),and the live-action versions of The Flintstones(1998),and "The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas"(2000).
