Screen Capture From HBOMAX
They Are A Modern Stoneage Family
Jump in my Way Back machine and we will travel back to 1960 Joseph Barbera and William Hanna created The Flintstones. This primetime 30-minute animated situation comedy ran from 1960 to 1966. Even though it was animated and as children my sister, brother, and I watched it Saturday mornings, this show was not a children's animation dealing with complicated themes like marital trust and fidelity, the pressures of working a job, living paycheck to paycheck, and many more. Episode 2 of Season 1 is entitled “Hot Lips Hannigan”.
Here are Some Theme Song Trivia
The first two seasons of the Flinstones did not play “Meet The Flintstones” rather the show started with Fred already in his car driving through the town picking up his dry cleaning and being greeted at home by Wilma with dinner. Oddly enough Dino is sleeping and looks at Fred but does not knock him down.
For those first two seasons the song “Rise and Shine” is used. I was shocked. The popular theme song is not used until Season 3 Episode 3 entitled “Barney The Invisible”. The “Meet The Flintstones” theme song was used in both the opening and closing credits. This version of the song was recorded by a 22-piece big band conducted by Curtin and performed by the Randy Van Horne Singers.
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Did You Know There Was a Comic Book?
July in 1961 Dell Pub/Gold Key produced the first The Flintstones comic book in the Dell Giant #48. Since the show first aired in the Fall of 1960, you can see that after just 1 successful season of the TV show boom they released the comic book. That first run went for 60 issues so about 5 years as they were a monthly publication.
Of course, there were many runs and different runs published since. In fact, in 2017 DC Comics signed writer Mark Russel and Artist Steve Pugh, and they updated the story a bit.
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Will The Family Guy Become A Children’s Show?
This is my own musing. Back in the day, The Flintstones was a Prime Time family show, then within 20 years, it became a children-only type of property with the newer stories being targeted directly to children.
I know Family Guy is a lot edgier than The Flintstones but the two shows are about 4 decades apart. Maybe in the next 20 years, we will see family guy characters with stories that have been adapted for children. Probably not but who can see the future? Not me.
Thank you all for your time 😃
