Accidentally-Correct Writing: One episode has Fred playing (and getting roundly beaten at) Scrabble with the paper boy. To save face, Fred makes up the word "zarf" for some extra points. Turns out, zarf is a real word, if a very esoteric one.
You couldn't go a single day on Boomerang without seeing The Flintstonesseveral times a day to the point of devoting entire weekends to the show. It seemed if a show wasn't Tom and Jerry, a show on Boomeraction, one of the more popular Hanna-Barbera or Warner Bros. Animation series, or an older show from sister channel Cartoon Network, it was going to get pushed around (or outright removed) for more Flintstones. When the channel went through various schedule changes in 2014 and the eventual rebrand in 2015, the show only aired during the wee-hours of the morning before being removed in March 2017. However, unlike most of the other Hanna-Barbera cartoons not named Scooby-Doo, re-runs still occasionally pop up on Boomerang from time to time, with the show's most recent broadcast there being an all-day marathon of episodes centered on Fred that aired on Father's Day (June 20) 2021. The series returned to Boomerang yet again, AND in a good timeslot of 9 PM to boot, on February 6, 2023.
In promotion for the 1994 film, Cartoon Network aired a month-long event called Non-Stop Stones (not actually airing 24/7, but there was a LOT of Flintstones to say the least), which featured airings of every Flintstones show up to that point and was centered around the Non-Stop 'Stones-a-thon, an 83 hour marathon of the original series that also featured the first public airing of the pilot, The Flagstones.
MeTV skips over "The Prowler" due to the martial arts instructor being a Japanese stereotype. It is also banned on Boomerang since August 2023. They actually reran the episode up until April 2023, but when they started regularly airing The Flintstones in order on weeknights in August, they skipped over the episode, indicating it was banned.
At least in syndication — an episode in which the Flintstones encounter a group of stereotypical Wild West Indians was successfully banned from broadcast in Saskatchewan after protests from Native American groups. The ban became moot when the show began airing on nationally broadcast cable networks and came out on DVD, however.
Colbert Bump: The Licensed Game based on The Flintstones for NES called The Rescue of Dino and Hoppy was a relatively obscure game until Joel of Vinesauce featured a Mario-themed bootleg of the game in one of his videos. As a result, the game (though particularly the bootleg version of it, known as "7 Grand Dad") and its featuring 8-bit version of the theme song became a meme almost overnight.
Creator's Favorite: According to the liner notes of the now out-of-print album "The Flintstones: Modern Stone-Age Melodies", Bill Hanna's favorite musical moment is Fred mangling the lyrics to Hoagy Carmichael's "Stardust" from "The Hit Songwriters".
Defictionalization: The 1963 episode "Dino Disappears" has a scene where Barney tries to cheer Pebbles up by getting her to eat Pebbles cereal. In 1971, Post created two actual Pebbles cereals, Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles. Since 2018, there have been Peanut Butter and Cocoa Pebbles, as well.
Development Hell: Seth MacFarlane was originally going to revive the show for Fox, possibly as a replacement for The Simpsons, which was about to be canceled in the middle of season 23 due to money issues.note the last episode would have been the Christmas Episode in the future where Bart tries to bond with his kids while divorced from Jenda while Lisa tries to bond with her teenaged daughter and Maggie is pregnant For better or worse, MacFarlane shelved the show after the cast and crew of The Simpsons took a pay cut to keep the show afloat, and FOX and Warner Bros. could not agree on profit negotiations.
Divorced Installment: Hanna and Barbera originally wanted to do a straight-up cartoon version of The Honeymooners, but couldn't agree on a wardrobe. Eventually, Hanna proposed making them into cavemen so they'd just wear animal skins.
Early Draft Tie-In: Fred and Wilma were going to have a son named Fred Jr, but it was scrapped before the show aired. Nonetheless, a Little Golden Book featuring this character was published.
Edited for Syndication: The first two seasons had a completely different theme song and opening credits, and closing credits. When the series entered syndication, however, this was replaced with the better-known "Meet the Flintstones" theme and credits sequence (even though this rendered many syndicated episode credits incorrect). It wasn't until the series began broadcast on Cartoon Network in 1992 that the original versions of the episodes were seen again.
Executive Meddling: Pebbles was originally going to be a boy, but Ideal Toy Company told Hanna-Barbera to make the baby a girl so they could sell dolls.
Friday Night Death Slot: The show averted the fate that usually met Friday night shows. It aired on Fridays during its first three seasons to great success, moving to Thursdays for the fourth and the first half of the fifth season. It moved back to Fridays for the rest of the run, but its eventual cancellation had more to do with The Great Gazoo than with the timeslot.
The Flintstones: On the Rocks has never been officially released on home video in any format. It is, however, available on Archive.org.
The first two seasons had a completely different theme song and opening sequence, and closing credits. When the show entered syndication, however, this was replaced by the better known "Meet the Flintstones" theme and credits sequence (even though this rendered many syndicated episode credits incorrect). It was not until the series was recirculated in the 1990s that the original versions of the episodes were again broadcast. When MeTV began airing the series in September 2019, they originally used "Rise and Shine" to open and close the first two seasons, but in October 2020, they eventually switched over to using the "Meet the Flintstones" theme and credits sequence for those seasons as well.
Kids' Meal Toy: Dairy Queen sold a set of four bobble figures in 1997. These consisted of Fred, Wilma, Barney, and Dino.
Missing Episode: Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby was almost never reran due to its storyline about childbirth. It's also not on the Boomerang app, unlike its prequel and sequel.
Two of the episodes from the original series are missing on the Boomerang app as well; "The Prowler'' for its stereotypical depiction of an Asian character, and "The Gambler" due to themes of gambling. These two episodes are still available on other digital services, though "The Prowler" has a content warning beforehand.
Fred's renditions of "When the Saints Go Marching In" in "Hot Lips Hannigan" and "Listen to the Rocking Bird" were dubbed by Duke Mitchell. However, Reed did most of Fred's off-key singing himself in other episodes. Averted near the end of his life when Henry Corden, who would later take over as his speaking voice, did Fred's singing voice in Alice in Wonderland, or What's a Nice Kid Like You... and The Man Called Flintstone.
Wilma's rendition of "Bill Bailey" and the "Rockenschpeel" jingle in "The Happy Housewife" were dubbed by B.J. Baker, who also did Jane Jetson's singing voice for "Bill Spacely" in "Miss Solar System". Jean Vander Pyl did her own singing in other episodes.
Hanna-Barbera voice actor Daws Butler replaced Mel Blanc as Barney Rubble for a few episodes in 1961, while Blanc was hospitalized after a near-fatal car accident. Hanna-Barbera, however, did not publicly acknowledge this, and Blanc was still listed in the closing credits. There was one episode where it started with Daws Butler as the voice of Barney, and right in the middle of the episode, he's replaced with Mel Blanc (and, unlike most modern shows where there would be a fourth wall-breaking joke about it, this difference slipped by almost completely unnoticed).
Daws Butler also voiced Fred and Barney in the original pitch reel The Flagstones. Also, Betty was voiced by June Foray.
Wilma's mother was voiced at first by Verna Felton, but was later replaced by Janet Waldo.
Post-show examples: At this point, all of the original Flintstones actors have died and been replaced (some multiple times).
Gerry Johnson replaced Bea Benaderet as Betty Rubble in the show's fifth and sixth seasons, when Benaderet left to concentrate on her role as Kate Bradley on Petticoat Junction. Johnson retired soon after The Flintstones ended its ABC run and would be replaced in 1971 by Gay Hartwig (Benaderet herself died in 1968, during Petticoat's run). Hartwig herself would be replaced by Betty Jean Ward, who was replaced by current voice Grey DeLisle.
Alan Reed lent his voice to Fred for the final time in the debut episode of Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics in 1977. He died soon after and would be replaced by Henry Corden. Corden died in 2005 and was replaced by Jeff Bergman, although James Arnold Taylor voices him in commercials. (who, according to the documentary, I Know That Voicenote centered on the past and present voice actors a lot of cartoon, anime, and video game fans are familiar with, like John DiMaggio, Mel Blanc, Jim Cummings, Tress MacNeille, Charlie Adler, Carlos Alazraqui, Cree Summer, Tara Strong, Tom Kenny and Grey DeLisle, almost wasn't chosen because he didn't look like someone who'd be able to do an accurate Fred Flintstone impression. Henry Corden urged the producers to give Taylor a chance, and that's how he was picked).
Jean Vander Pyl was the longest-surviving female member of the principal cast, playing Wilma until her death in 1999. Since then, Wilma has been played by Tress MacNeille.
In The Flintstones & WWE: Stone Age SmackDown, John O'Hurley replaced John Stephenson as the voice of Mr. Slate.
Outlived Its Creator: The Flintstones: Stone Age SmackDown! (2015) is the first original Flintstones production since On the Rocks in 2001... and the first to not involve the original creators, William Hanna (who died in 2001) and Joseph Barbera (who died in 2006). It also marked the first time the character of Mr. Slate was voiced by someone other than John Stephenson.
Recycled Script: There have been numerous episodes where Fred had a doppelgänger and in a TV movie from the 1970s, Fred took Santa's place. He did the same thing in the original show.
Screwed by the Network: On December 31, 2022, seasons four through six were removed from HBO Max due to the streamer not renewing a licensing agreement with Warner Bros.note Despite the fact that HBO Max is owned by Warner Bros' parent company
Technology Marches On: Later spinoffs and TV movies usually update the Stone Age technology equivalents to match when the spinoff/movie was made. Thus:
If one takes the Fruity Pebbles commercials as Canon, then they actually have not only all that, but also Humongous Mecha.
The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones crossover film features George and his family introducing the Flintstones to futuristic technology and gadgets while the Jetsons spend time in the Stone Age. Later on, the Flintstones' car absorbs energy from the time machine, and it transports the Flintstones and Rubbles back to Bedrock and the Stone Age.
A cover illustration for a collectors’ magazine showed the Flintstones and Rubbles sitting in the Flintmobile, with the adults wearing seatbelts and Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm in stone car seats.
The script for the first episode had Fred saying "yahoo". Alan Reed didn't like it, and asked whether he could change it to "Yabba-dabba-doo", which was a play on "A little dab'll do ya", which was the slogan of Brylcreem, a hair gel.
Barney's Vocal Evolution came about when Mel Blanc gradually started using that deeper voice for Barney (which was also a much closer imitation of Art Carney's voice - even though Blanc had originally refused to ape Carney) and no one said anything.
Tie-In Cereal: If there was ever an example of the trope that outlived its source material, that honor would go to Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles. Originally made as a tie-in to The '60s animated sitcom The Flintstones, the Pebbles Cereal was so popular that the cereal would continue to be sold in every grocery store in America to this day, even as the original show reached its end. Even if you've never seen an episode of The Flintstones or any other iteration of the franchise, you've probably had one of the Pebbles Cereals at least once.
Fred and Wilma were originally to have had a son, Fred, Jr. He was cut from the show's final series' bible, but a Golden Book that was based on the original ideas was released just as the show debuted. Then when the character that'd become Pebbles was conceived, Barbera once again wanted it to be a boy, but a phone call form a toy company in New York convinced him to change it to a girl.
Jackie Gleason was not happy about learning that Fred Flintstone was based on him without his permission, nor that the series was based on The Honeymooners and tried to file a lawsuit for using his likeness, but friends and colleagues dissuaded him from doing so in light of the show's popularity, telling him it would be bad for his reputation if he became known as "the man who killed Fred Flintstone".
Hanna and Barbera tried to get one of the original staff writers from The Honeymooners to write for them, but his scripts were reportedly too dialogue-heavy (which, by HB standards, is saying something).
There were plans to make a Spin-Off called The Blackstones about an African-American family that moved in next to the Flintstones. It goes without saying why it didn't make the cut.
According to a MeTV article, Jean Carson; best known for playing the raspy-voiced Daphne, one of the Fun Girls from The Andy Griffith Show, at one point auditioned for the voice of Betty Rubble.
Comedy writer and actor George O'Hanlon auditioned to voice Fred Flintstone before it was decided on Alan Reed as Fred. O'Hanlon then scripted several Flintstones episodes, and Hanna-Barbera later cast him to voice George Jetson.
The first five scripts were originally recorded with Bill Thompson (best known today as the voice of Droopy) and Hal Smith. Hanna and Barbera were dissatisfied with their performances and replaced them with Alan Reed and Mel Blanc, who re-recorded their episodes.
Hanna-Barbera considered a reimagining to the original series in the early 1970s known as The New Flintstones Show, which was functionally the same, but set in the modern day (one can only imagine how they would've pull that off, considering the majority of the original show's humour hinged on the prehistoric setting).
Former Spumcø animator Bill Wray revealed in a 2021 tweet that he once pitched a potential reboot series to Hanna-Barbera in 1995 that nearly got picked up. However John Kricfalusi, who had connections to a studio executive, convinced them to pass on the project out of revenge for his former employees who left to continue working on The Ren & Stimpy Show for Nickelodeon after his termination.
Word of God: Cartoonist Gene Hazelton said he based Bamm-Bamm's design on his son, Wes.
Working Title: The name of the series in its pilot was originally The Flagstones. An early model sheet of Fred also showed another early name for the series, The Gladstones.
Artist Disillusionment: This was one of the roles that convinced Rick Moranis to eventually retire from acting in the late 90s, as he was catching on that studios were only hiring him as a box office draw rather than for his acting or improv talents.
Creator's Favorite: The late Irwin Keyes (Joe Rockhead) ranked The Flintstones as one of his favorite films.
Cross-Regional Voice Acting: The Latin American Spanish dub used voice actors from both the Mexico City and Los Angeles areas.
Dawson Casting: The two pairs of twins who played Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm were both considerably older than the toddlers they were playing, and looked it. Elaine and Melanie Silver were five years old, and Hlynur and Marino Sigurthsson also turned five during production.
Disowned Adaptation: Joseph Barbera didn't exactly hate the film, per se, but felt that he could've written a better plot.
Kids' Meal Toy: McDonald's released a set of five race cars with small buildings in the US. These consisted of Fred with Bedrock Bowl-o-rama, Wilma with the Flintstones' house, Dino and Pebbles with Toy-S-Aurus, Barney with Fossil Fill-Up, and Betty and Bamm-Bamm with RocDonald's. Europe featured a different set of four toys; Fred in the Brontosaurus Crane, Wilma and Dino in the Flintmobile, the Bedrock RTD Bus, and the RocDonald's restaurant.
Looping Lines: Hlynur and Marinó Sigurðsson played Bamm-Bamm on set, while Elizabeth Daily looped the character's lines during post-production.
Missing Trailer Scene: A scene shows Fred Flintstone playing with a sing-along rock with him yelling "YABBA DABBA DOO!"
Rosie O'Donnell is known for playing "tough girl" characters. Betty, while not a complete wallflower by any stretch of the imagination, was generally the more placid one between her and Wilma in the series.
Rick Moranis usually plays eccentric nerdy characters in his roles, but with blond hair, no glasses, and a deeper voice than usual, he's almost unrecognizable as Barney.
Via archive audio, the late Mel Blanc reprises his role as Dino.
In the Latin American Spanish dub, Fred and Barney's Mexican voice actors from many of their animated works since The '70s, Arturo Mercado and Francisco Colmenero, respectively reprised their roles in the movie. This is especially relevant because the film was dubbed at Ultra Video, a Spanish-speaking studio in Los Angeles, and they brought them out straight from Mexico precisely for this in mind. The Los Angeles casting directors assumed that Jorge Arvizu (Fred) and Julio Lucena (Barney) had both passed away (in truth, Arvizu was semi-retired at the time, but Lucena had died in 1985 from cardiac arrest).
The Brazillian Portuguese dub brings Rogério Márcico to reprise his role of Barney.
In the Japanese dub, Gara Takashima reprised her role as Wilma Flintstone from the 1987 release of The Flintstones Meet Rockula and Frankenstone.
Joel Silver and Keith Barish bought the rights to the cartoon in 1985 and Steven E. de Souza was comissioned to write the script. He completed a draft in September 1987 that was rejected in October 1989 in favour of a new script by Daniel and Joshua Goldin.
In March 1990, Peter Martin Wortmann and Robert Conte submitted another draft before Mitch Markowitz was hired to write a script that was reportedly a cross with The Grapes of Wrath.
I don't even remember it that well, but Fred and Barney leave their town during a terrible depression and go across the country, or whatever that damn prehistoric thing is, looking for jobs. They wind up in trailer parks trying to keep their families together. They exhibit moments of heroism and poignancy.
Richard Donner was brought in to direct with James Belushi playing Fred Flintstone. He found Markowitz's script to be too sentimental. A further draft was then submitted and revised by Jeffrey Reno and Ron Osbourne in 1991 and 1992.
Eventually, the rights were bought by Amblin Entertainment. Donner left the project to work on Maverick, so Brian Levant was brought in to direct and all previous scripts were thrown out. Work on the script began in May 1992 and was completed in August 1993. Principal photography began on May 17, 1993, and wrapped on August 20, 1993.
In all, no fewer than thirty-five writers contributed to the screenplay (and yet none of them turned up to accept the Golden Raspberry Award they all won for Worst Screenplay).
At a brief point there were plans for an animated movie to coincide with Jetsons: The Movie but due to both Critical and Box-Office failure of that film, the idea was quickly scrapped.
John Candy, Dan Aykroyd, Danny DeVito, Bill Murray, and Chevy Chase were all considered for the role of Fred, but they were all deemed too skinny (yes, even John Candy), and putting any of them in a fat suit would look too inappropriate for use in the movie. Mel Gibson was also considered.
Danny DeVito was the original first choice for the role of Barney, but he turned down the role as he felt he was too gruff to do the character properly, and recommended Rick Moranis for the part. Dudley Moore was also considered.
The role of Sharon Stone the secretary was written for... Sharon Stone, but due to scheduling conflicts with The Specialist, she dropped out and Halle Berry signed on. They tried to change her name to Rosetta Stone, but the studio thought people wouldn't get the reference. Nicole Kidman was also offered the role.
In addition to the ones released for Super NES and Game Boy, there was to be a Flintstones Movie game for the Sega Genesis. Beyond a prototype, this version was reportedly once available on Sega Channel.
is a real word, if a very esoteric one.