"Family Guy's" Seth MacFarlane Re-Animates "Flintstones" - Herbie J Pilato

Come the Fall of 2013 Seth MacFarlane the irreverent cartoon creator of FoxTV39s Family Guy and The Cleveland Show will update for the same network the classic animated series The Flintstones which originally ran on ABC from 1960 to 1966The prehistoric adventures of Fred and Wilma Flintstone along with their next door neighbors Barney and Betty Rubble were ultimately inspired by another classic TV show but this one with live actors The Honeymooners which originally aired on CBS from 1955 to 1971 in various formats And before The Simpsons came along also on Fox in 1989 the animated escapades of America39s quotfavorite stoneage familyquot was the longestrunning animated series in primetime with 166 episodesNow comes MacFarlane39s redo and according to The Hollywood Reporter Mr Flintstone was one of the first things that he drew when he all but 2yearsold or so he said to roomful of ad buyers gathered in New York on Monday for the Fox UpfrontIt might be one of his last if he doesn39t do it rightAs a huge fan of Bewitched one would think my favorite episode of The Flintstones would be Number 148 entitled Samantha in which a stoneage Sam and Darrin with the reallife voices provided by the late Elizabeth Montgomery and Dick York make a onetime appearance as Fred and Wilma39s new nextstore neighbors Though this is a fine Bewitched sidesequel and Wilma makes a credible quasiMrs Kravitz it must stand apart for me in comparison to other Flintstone fragments In fact I would prefer to view this concrete Samsegment of The Flintstones as an illustrated timetravel episode of BewitchedYet the essence of why I love Bewitched it makes you believe in makebelieve is why I love any and all episodes of The Flintstones and why I am particularly fond of a thirtyminute graniteescapade called Little Bamm BammHere the Flintstones and the Rubbles discover the truth of what it means to be a parent as well as a friend It39s significant not only due to the fact that it introduced the superpowered Bamm Bamm to the series thus presenting an additional element of funfantasy but also because of how the tot is interposed on the program The action takes place shortly after Wilma gives birth to Pebbles which in and of itself is a milestone in the annals of small screen animation Because of the blessed boulder of an event Barney and Betty become even more frequent than usual visitors to their neighborsMeanwhile Fred becomes extremely frustrated with the situation He doesn39t feel he39s spending enough quality time with his new daughter In a vile moment he who more times than not is slightly cranky is incredibly rude to Betty with a derogatory remark about the Rubbles not having childrenBetty runs away crying Barney and Wilma are furious Fred is moroseIn a very poignant and real moment Betty is next seen sobbing in the arms of her husband on a bench in their sideyard As Barney attempts to console his teary spouse to near noavail the two look skyward and notice a shooting star A wish is made The next day Bamm Bamm is abandoned at their door and the Rubbles make every attempt to adopt the infantThe episode would be significant enough such that the Rubbles actually adopt Bamm Bamm which marks the first time in animated history that cartoon characters gave time to foster children But it39s this episode39s legitimate moments of emotion recited so believably well by the characters and their voiceovers that christens this episode as vintage and definitiveLike any good series animated or not The Flintstones played according to the logic it created As with the liveaction TV show The Honeymooners on which it was based Fred and Wilma39s program invites us into its selfcontained world and makes us feel welcome even though we are the outsiders and in this case liveaction figuresThe Flintstones prehistoric ways remain ageless mainly because of the intelligent timehonored episodes like Little Bamm BammReally would like to see how Seth MacFarlane and his questionable humor and talent is going to hold up to that kind of classHerbie J Pilato is a producerdirectorwriter and author of a number of media tiein books including Bewitched Forever and The Kung Fu Book Of Caine Life Story amp8211 The Book of Life Goes On TV39s First And best Family Show of Challenge The Bionic Book and NBC ampamp ME My Life As A Page In A Book He39s worked for AampampE TLC Syfy and Bravo39s hit fivepart TV series The 100 Greatest TV Characters Herbie J is also the Founder and Executive Director of The Classic TV Preservation Society a nonprofit organization that helps to close the gap between popular culture and education For more information please see wwwClassicTVPSblogspotcom To contact Herbie J or to order any of his books email ClassicTVPSgmailcomRead all Herbie J39s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Herbie J39s Classic TV CornerCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBloggerMediaBizBloggers is an openthought leadership blog platform for media marketing and advertising professionals companies and organizations To contribute contact Jackmediadvisorygroupcom The opinions expressed in MediaBizBloggerscom are not those of Media Advisory Group its employees or other MediaBizBloggerscom contributors Media Advisory Group accepts no responsibility for the views of MediaBizBloggers authors

Click to Make Your 2025 Contribution to Support the MediaVillage Education Foundation

"Family Guy's" Seth MacFarlane Re-Animates "Flintstones" - Herbie J Pilato

Author

Publish date

Channel

Herbie J Pilato

The Ad Council, Huntsman Mental Health Foundation and Amazon Announce “The Mind Set” to Support Mental Health - Ad Council InSites

More Videos:

Click to Make Your 2025 Contribution to Support the MediaVillage Education Foundation

"Family Guy's" Seth MacFarlane Re-Animates "Flintstones" - Herbie J Pilato

Enjoying This Commentary? There's More to Love

Herbie J Pilato

The Ad Council, Huntsman Mental Health Foundation and Amazon Announce “The Mind Set” to Support Mental Health - Ad Council InSites

The payment was successful

Cookies