The Flintstones
American animated sitcom / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Flintstones is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, which takes place in a romanticized Stone Age setting and follows the titular family, the Flintstones, and their next-door neighbors, the Rubbles. It was originally broadcast on ABC from September 30, 1960, to April 1, 1966, and was the first animated series with a prime-time slot on television.[2]
| The Flintstones | |
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| Genre | Animated sitcom |
| Created by | |
| Developed by |
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| Directed by |
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| Voices of | |
| Theme music composer | Hoyt Curtin[1] |
| Opening theme | "Rise and Shine" (instrumental) (first two seasons and the first two episodes of season 3) "Meet the Flintstones" (remainder of the show's run) |
| Ending theme | "Rise and Shine" (instrumental) (first two seasons and the first two episodes of season 3) "Meet the Flintstones" (remainder of the show's run) "Open Up Your Heart (and Let the Sunshine In)" (two episodes in season 6) |
| Composers |
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| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 6 |
| No. of episodes | 166 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Producers |
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| Editors |
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| Running time | 25 minutes |
| Production company | Hanna-Barbera Productions |
| Original release | |
| Network | ABC |
| Release | September 30, 1960 (1960-09-30) – April 1, 1966 (1966-04-01) |
| Related | |
| The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show Cave Kids (spin-off) | |
The show follows the lives of Fred and Wilma Flintstone and their pet dinosaur, Dino, and they later on have a baby girl named Pebbles. Barney and Betty Rubble are their neighbors and best friends, and later on adopt a super-strong baby boy named Bamm-Bamm and acquire a pet hopparoo (kangaroo) called Hoppy.
Producers William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, who had earned seven Academy Awards for Tom and Jerry, and their staff faced a challenge in developing a thirty-minute animated program with one storyline that fit the parameters of family-based domestic situation comedies of the era. After considering several settings and selecting the Stone Age, one of several inspirations was The Honeymooners, which was itself influenced by The Bickersons and Laurel and Hardy (Hanna considered it one of the finest comedies on television).
The enduring popularity of The Flintstones mainly comes from its juxtaposition of modern, everyday concerns with the Stone Age setting.[3][4] Its animation required a balance of visual with verbal storytelling that the studio created and others imitated.[5]
The Flintstones was the most financially successful and longest-running network animated television series for three decades, until The Simpsons surpassed it in 1997.[6] In 2013, TV Guide ranked The Flintstones the second-greatest TV cartoon of all time, after The Simpsons.[7]