The Flintstones Wasn't Made for Kids: The Surprising Story Behind the Show
The Flintstones, now remembered as one of the most beloved cartoons of childhood, was originally made for the whole family—not just children. That’s why it aired at 8:30 p.m. on Friday nights.
Let’s take a look.
The Flintstones premiered on ABC on September 30, 1960.
The Flintstones was the first animated series to air in prime time. It drew strong ratings in its first season, proving that cartoons could succeed in the evening as well.
Until the 1960s, cartoons typically lasted only a few minutes, and half-hour programs were made up of three or four shorts. Each episode of The Flintstones, by contrast, told a single story over the course of half an hour.
The producers wanted to make an animated series for adults.
According to Joseph Barbera, he and his partner, William Hanna, came up with the idea after a survey found that 65 percent of Huckleberry Hound viewers were adults.
In 1960, Barbera said they wanted to satirize suburban life for evening television, but nothing they drew in a modern setting seemed funny. Eventually, they put their characters in a car made from a hollowed-out tree trunk and sent them back to the Stone Age.
The series was inspired by *The Honeymooners*.
Fred and Wilma, along with their closest friends Barney and Betty, lived in the Stone Age—but they faced the same struggles as working-class families of their time.
Fred and Barney worked at the quarry, then headed home after work in their stone-wheeled cars. Wilma and Betty, meanwhile, often found themselves at odds with their husbands.
One of the show’s sponsors was a cigarette brand.
In the 1960s, a cigarette brand sponsored The Flintstones. In the commercials shown at the end of episodes, Fred and Barney were depicted smoking.
In one ad, the two shirk their yard work, light up, and say, “Let’s take a cigarette break.”
It was first referred to as a children’s program in 1967.
The Flintstones aired in primetime on ABC until September 1966. It began to be seen as a children’s show after NBC started airing reruns on Saturday mornings in January 1967.
Fred and Wilma’s daughter, Pebbles, and Barney and Betty’s adopted son, Bamm-Bamm, joined the cast in the show’s third and fourth seasons, respectively.
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