Pop Culture Flashback: 'The Flintstones' Mimics 'The Honeymooners' (Sept. 30)

The Flintstones, the modern stone-age family from the town of Bedrock, showed up on ABC on this day in 1960. It was a tough sell as the network wasn’t convinced that a cartoon that wasn’t made for children could be successful. Boy were they wrong. If the network had said no, it’s possible that we wouldn’t be enjoying Fruity Pebbles cereal or Flintstone vitamins today.

1960 – Meet ‘The Flintstones’

In 2013, TV Guide ranked a number of animated cartoons. The Simpsons won the title of “greatest TV cartoon of all time” which isn’t surprising. But what is surprising is that a much older cartoon series, The Flintstones, which debuted on this day in 1960, was ranked #2.

Created by Hanna-Barbera, The Flintstones (originally called The Flagstones) was one of the first animated prime-time cartoons to air on TV. (The first were The Huckleberry Hound Show and the Quick Draw McGraw Show.) The Flintstones wasn’t made for children. It was made for their parents. Sure, the cartoon is family-friendly, but the plots covered subject matter that only adults related to like raising children, getting along with your neighbors and marital woes. (How many times did Fred forget Wilma’s birthday anyway?)

When developing the series, Hanna-Barbera tried out the family formula with different characters like hillbillies, Romans, pilgrims and native Indians before settling on the now famous stone-age characters. Originally, Fred and Wilma were to be parents of Fred Jr., but he was dropped in favor of having the couple just be a couple for a while. However, at least one “Little Golden Book” about the stone-age family included the boy. Pebbles didn’t arrive until the end of season 3. Barney and Betty adopted Bamm-Bamm during season 4.

Fred vs. Jackie

William Hanna said that the show imitated the popular sitcom The Honeymooners, but Joseph Barbera said that if the Jackie Gleason show was used an inspiration, he didn’t remember it. In either case, they closely resembled each other, something that Jackie knew full well. He considered suing the animators over the similarities to his show, but friends helped to talk him out of it. He didn’t want to be known as the guy responsible for giving Fred Flinstones the boot.

For the show’s first two seasons, The Flintstones was co-sponsored by Winston cigarettes, which wasn’t unusual at the time. However, watching footage of Fred lighting a cigarette for Wilma can be a little jarring.

The Flintstones aired on ABC for six seasons and packed up on April 1, 1966. That fall, reruns of the show aired on Saturday mornings on NBC until 1970.

1939 – The First Televised Football Game

A football game playing on a TV — *(Background: Pixabay, TV screen: Wikipedia Commons)*

NBC had the honor of televising the very first football game on this day back in 1939. Played at Triborough Stadium on Randall’s Island in New York City, the game was between college teams the Fordham Rams and the Waynesburg Yellow Jackets. It is estimated that 1,000 households sat down to watch the game. In case you were planning on watching the game, here’s a spoiler alert: Fordham won 34 to 7.

One month later, the first professional football game was shown on TV between the Brooklyn “Football” Dodgers and the Philadelphia Eagles.

1984 – Angela Lansbury Writes About Murder

Angela Lansbury leaning on a typewriter with glasses in hand. — *(CBS via TVDB)*

The granddaddy (or grandmommy) of all TV series about amateur sleuths is Murder She Wrote. For 12 seasons, 264 episodes and four full-length movies, Angela Lansbury played the murder mystery writer Jessica Fletcher on CBS.

The widowed and former schoolteacher became so famous as a writer, nearly everyone she ever met in the series was familiar with the author’s work (and many of them were fans as well). However, Jessica had the nasty habit of being nearby when terrible murders occurred. Whether it be in her seaside home of Cabot Cove, Maine or the various cities that she visited either for a family reunion or a book signing event, it’s a wonder why she wasn’t accused of committing the crimes more often.

Murder She Wrote was so popular, CBS tried numerous backdoor pilots on show, but only one, The Law & Harry McGraw, was made (and failed after one season). Though hardly realistic and with amazing storylines (Jessica did everything except travel in space) Lansbury was a champ making the series extremely popular.

After the show completed its run, four made-for-TV Murder She Wrote movies aired from 1997 and 2003.

In 2013, it was reported that NBC was in the beginning stages of rebooting the series with Octavia Spencer wearing the writer’s shoes. When Lansbury heard the news, she politely pointed out that she was a fan of Spencer’s, but felt that the series should be renamed since in her mind, Murder She Wrote would always be about Cabot Cove. NBC listened and stated that Spencer’s character would be renamed (since there could only be one Jessica Fletcher) but by January 2014, the planned reboot had been cancelled.