An animated series is a group of works with a standard title that is usually related. These episodes should often feature the same primary characters, a variety of subsidiary characters, and a central subject. A series can have a set number of episodes, such as a miniseries, or it can be open-ended, with no set number of episodes. But did you know what the most popular animated TV series was?
The Flintstones was the most financially successful and longest-running network animated television series for three decades until The Simpsons surpassed it in 1997.
Meet The Flintstones, The Modern Stone Age Family
The Flintstones is a primetime animated American television sitcom aired on ABC from September 30, 1960, to April 1, 1966. Hanna-Barbera Productions created the show. The Flintstones was about the life of a working-class Stone Age man, his family, and his next-door neighbor and best friend. The show’s continued popularity was primarily due to its juxtaposition of modern-day concerns in a Stone Age setting. For three decades, until The Simpsons premiered, The Flintstones was the most commercially successful network cartoon franchise.
The original pilot episode clip, titled The Flagstones, first aired in 1959 as a 90-second advertisement to attract advertisers to the show, was eventually reincorporated into the show’s first episode. Soon after, the name of the show was changed to The Flintstones.
Reruns of the series began broadcasting on Cartoon Network in 1992. The Flintstones is available on the Boomerang app, and MeTV has acquired the broadcast airing rights. (Source: Cartoon Network Fandom)
What is the Plot of The Flintstones?
The Flintstones were a Stone Age family. Fred Flintstone lived in Bedrock and worked an unpleasant quarry job before returning home to his wonderful wife Wilma and, finally, daughter Pebbles. Fred, a golf and bowling enthusiast, also loved harassing neighbor Barney Rubble, whose sassy wife Betty was best friends with Wilma. During the show, Barney and Betty adopted a mighty kid, Bamm-Bamm, who became friends with Pebbles. The Flintstones, strongly influenced by The Honeymooners, persuaded a generation of children that dinosaurs and humans coexisted globally. (Source: IMDB)
Was Pebbles Flintstone Part of the Plans?
Fred, Wilma, and Fred Jr. were the family’s founding members, as seen in this concept sketch. However, when the sitcom premiered, the tyke was dropped in favor of the two adult couples. The designers decided to give the Flintstones a child in season three.
Again, the baby was going to be a male until a toy firm emphasized that selling a girl doll would make much more money. Pebbles was so born. (Source: Me TV)
The Yabba-Dabba-Doo Tagline
Alan Reed, who played Fred, was not pleased with the script’s instruction to yell, “Yahoo!” Instead, he came up with the famous “Yabba-dabba-doo!” recalling a 1950s commercial campaign for the hair product Brylcreem that declared, “A little dab’ll do ya,” Reed came up with Fred’s familiar catchphrase. (Source: Me TV)
A Hillbilly Family, A Roman Family, and A Pilgrim Family
Many ideas were tossed around as Hanna-Barbera set out to create television’s first primetime animated sitcom. In a crucial 1997 interview with Leonard Maltin, Joseph Barbera disclosed much about the series’ origins. According to the cartoon tale, his studio contemplated a hillbilly family, a pilgrim family, a Native American family, and a Roman family. Years after the success of The Flintstones, Hanna-Barbera released The Roman Holidays in 1972, about a family living in the year 63 CE. (Source: Me TV)
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