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Flintstones, The

MONOLITHIC CORNERSTONE of Hanna/Barbera cartoon empire documenting “page right out of history” antics of Stone Age Flintstone clan (Fred, Wilma and Pebbles) and their neighbours the Rubbles (Barney, Betty and Bam-Bam) in the town of Bedrock. Basically, BLESS THIS HOUSE with boulders. Fred drove a dinosaur-powered crane at local quarry and constantly fought with his boss. Well-equipped cave had a record-player with a long-beaked bird doing the needle bit, a waste-disposal unit (large hungry vulture under the sink) and an elephant for a vacuum cleaner. Their car, like most of the other vehicles in Bedrock, required the passengers’ foot power to make it go. “Let’s ride,” jovial man-and-woman choir tootled over opening credits to hammer the point home, “with the family down the street, through the courtesy of Fred’s two feet.” Textbook sitcommery ensued, usually involving Fred and Barney getting into scrapes, falling out with each other, getting caught red-handed by their wives, but all making up at the end. Pet pathos provided by Dino the Dinosaur and hapless cat that Fred was always trying to put out in the titles.

4 Comments

4 Comments

  1. Richardpd

    February 14, 2021 at 3:04 pm

    I remember this was in the 5:35 slot on BBC1 for quite a few months.

    It’s almost worth a feature on the shows shown before the Six o’clock news before Neighbours claimed it.

    I remember Master Team, Go For It, Fax, Charles In Charge (with Scott Baio post Bugsie Malone – pre Trump fanboy), Hospital Watch, the 1986 World Cup highlights programme, and possibly Gloria or another b-list American sitcom or 2.

  2. Sidney Balmoral James

    February 14, 2021 at 7:10 pm

    The Railway Carriage Game? First Class also perhaps (or have I misremembered that?) I was also going to say Perfect Strangers but I think that may have been after 7pm. Here’s a question though – was Balki an influence on that other offensive Eastern European character Borat?

    • Richardpd

      February 14, 2021 at 10:48 pm

      The first two sound right, I think Perfect Strangers was on later, but while Balki had his quirks they were mild compared to Borat.

  3. THX 1139

    February 15, 2021 at 12:58 pm

    Funniest episode of The Flintstones was when Barney went to the dentist and had so much gas that he floated away, with Fred in hot pursuit.

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