119-536: The Flintstones is an American adult animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions , which takes place in a romanticized Stone Age setting and follows the titular family, the Flintstones, and their next-door neighbors, the Rubbles. It was originally broadcast on ABC from September 30, 1960, to April 1, 1966, and was the first animated series with a prime-time slot on television. The show follows
238-432: A 1960–61 television season considered one of the worst in television history up to that point. As late as the 1980s, highbrow critics derided the show's limited animation and derivative plots. Animation historian Michael Barrier disliked the series, calling it a "dumb sitcom" and stated that "I can readily understand why someone who as a small child enjoyed, say, The Flintstones might regard that show fondly today. I have
357-527: A pilot presentation of the series which was written by Lindsay Kerns. On July 17, 2024, it was reported that Fox chose to pass on the series. Three Flintstones -themed amusement parks have existed in the United States. One was Bedrock City in Custer, South Dakota . It closed in 2015 when the new owner Mike Tennyson and Warner Bros. could not come to an agreement over changes. It was too expensive for
476-665: A reverse merger deal with Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp.—a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). In February 2021, the stock of a combined company, PLBY Group, began trading on the Nasdaq exchange as "PLBY". In 1971, Playboy had a circulation rate base of seven million, which was its high point. The best-selling individual issue was the November 1972 edition, which sold 7,161,561 copies. One-quarter of all American college men were buying or subscribing to
595-450: A bias towards live-action and raunchy animated sitcoms, compared to early pioneers. However, the result is a new audience that is ready for narratively-sophisticated adult animated works and a new crop of creators exploring the adult animation space. This development allows creators to continue challenging the perceived limitations of animation. Many animators and adult animation fans, both international and non-Disney respectively, boycotted
714-404: A boy, but the head of the marketing department convinced them to change it to a girl since "girl dolls sell a lot better than boy dolls". Although most Flintstones episodes were stand-alone storylines, Hanna-Barbera created a story arc surrounding the birth of Pebbles . Beginning with the episode "The Surprise", aired midway through the third season, in which Wilma reveals her pregnancy to Fred,
833-529: A bunny. Joyful, joking. Consider the girl we made popular: the Playmate of the Month . She is never sophisticated, a girl you cannot really have. She is a young, healthy, simple girl - the girl next door ... we are not interested in the mysterious, difficult woman, the femme fatale , who wears elegant underwear, with lace, and she is sad, and somehow mentally filthy. The Playboy girl has no lace, no underwear, she
952-586: A challenge in developing a thirty-minute animated program with one storyline that fit the parameters of family-based domestic situation comedies of the era. After considering several settings and selecting the Stone Age, one of several inspirations was The Honeymooners , which was itself influenced by The Bickersons and Laurel and Hardy (Hanna considered it one of the finest comedies on television). The enduring popularity of The Flintstones mainly comes from its juxtaposition of modern, everyday concerns with
1071-494: A cover photo representing gender and sexual fluidity. In March 2020, Ben Kohn, CEO of Playboy Enterprises, announced that the spring 2020 issue would be the last regularly scheduled printed issue and that the magazine would publish its content online. The decision to close the print edition was attributed in part to the COVID-19 pandemic , which interfered with the distribution of the magazine. In autumn 2020, Playboy announced
1190-412: A day. So finally on the very last day I pitched it to ABC, which was a young daring network willing to try new things, and bought the show in 15 minutes. Thank goodness, because this was the very last day and if they hadn't bought it, I would have taken everything down, put it in the archives and never pitched it again. Sometimes I wake up in a cold-sweat thinking this is how close you get to disaster. When
1309-500: A former cartoonist, reportedly resisted dropping the cartoons more than the nudity, but ultimately obliged. Playboy ' s plans were to market itself as a competitor to Vanity Fair , as opposed to more traditional competitors GQ and Maxim . Playboy announced in February 2017, however, that the dropping of nudity had been a mistake. Furthermore, for its March/April issue, it reestablished some of its franchises, including
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#17327719534281428-589: A guest column in Variety criticizing the Academy for the remark and how Hollywood has been treating animation. The column commented that "no one set out to diminish animated films, but it's high time we set out to elevate them." Alberto Mielgo , director of The Windshield Wiper , later gave an acceptance speech for the Oscar: "Animation is an art that includes every single art that you can imagine. Animation for adults
1547-488: A hit. It was the first American animated show to depict two people of the opposite sex (Fred and Wilma; Barney and Betty) sleeping together in one bed, although Fred and Wilma are sometimes depicted as sleeping in separate beds. The first live-action depiction of this in American TV history was in television's first sitcom: 1947's Mary Kay and Johnny . The first two seasons were co-sponsored by Winston cigarettes and
1666-476: A less inappropriate image in India and China, where the brand is a popular item on apparel and thus generates significant revenue. Other changes to the magazine included ending the popular jokes section and the various cartoons that appeared throughout the magazine. The redesign eliminated the use of jump copy (articles continuing on non-consecutive pages), eliminating most of the space for cartoons. Hefner, himself
1785-673: A liberal editorial stance, although it often interviews conservative celebrities. After a year-long removal of most nude photos in Playboy magazine, the March–April 2017 issue brought back nudity. By spring 1953, Hugh Hefner—a 1949 University of Illinois psychology graduate who had worked in Chicago for Esquire magazine writing promotional copy; Publisher's Development Corporation in sales and marketing; and Children's Activities magazine as circulation promotions manager —had planned out
1904-528: A long history of publishing short stories by novelists such as Arthur C. Clarke , Ian Fleming , Vladimir Nabokov , Saul Bellow , Chuck Palahniuk , P. G. Wodehouse , Roald Dahl , Haruki Murakami , and Margaret Atwood . With a regular display of full-page color cartoons, it became a showcase for cartoonists such as Jack Cole , Eldon Dedini , Jules Feiffer , Harvey Kurtzman , Shel Silverstein , Doug Sneyd , Erich Sokol, Roy Raymonde , Gahan Wilson , and Rowland B. Wilson . Art Paul designed
2023-593: A lot more trouble understanding why anyone would try to defend anything about it on artistic grounds." Despite the mixed critical reviews following its premiere, The Flintstones has generally been considered a television classic and was rerun continuously for five decades after its end. In 1961, The Flintstones became the first animated series to be nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series , but lost out to The Jack Benny Program . In January 2009, IGN named The Flintstones as
2142-488: A new name, considering "Top Hat", "Gentleman", "Sir'", "Satyr", "Pan", and "Bachelor" before Sellers suggested "Playboy". Published in December 1953, the first issue was undated, as Hefner was unsure there would be a second. He produced it in his Hyde Park kitchen. The first centerfold was Marilyn Monroe , although the picture used initially was taken for a calendar rather than for Playboy . Hefner chose what he deemed
2261-416: A newsboy, telephone operator, hotel clerk, and a spoof of Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy. Barbera explained that selling the show to a network and sponsors was not an easy task. Here we were with a brand new thing that had never been done before, an animated prime-time television show. So we developed two storyboards; one was they had a helicopter of some kind and they went to the opera or whatever, and
2380-466: A relatable reality. The dialogue style of The Flintstones set a precedent for acting in animation that continues to exist today, and is sometimes falsely attributed in modern animated productions as "revolutionary." In a 1986 Playboy interview, Gleason said Alan Reed had done voice-overs for Gleason in his early movies, and that he had considered suing Hanna-Barbera for copying The Honeymooners , but decided to let it pass. According to Henry Corden ,
2499-469: A six-month gap in 1976), the "P" in Playboy had stars printed in or around the letter. Urban legend stated that this was either a rating that Hefner gave to the Playmate according to how attractive she was, the number of times that Hefner had slept with her, or how good she was in bed. In truth, stars, between zero and 12, indicated the domestic or international advertising region for that printing. In
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#17327719534282618-413: A spin-off of Playboy ) and Gallery in the 1970s; later from pornographic videos ; and more recently from lad mags such as Maxim , FHM , and Stuff . In response, Playboy attempted to re-assert its hold on the 18–35-year-old male demographic through slight changes to the content and focusing on issues and personalities more appropriate to its audience—such as hip-hop artists being featured in
2737-477: A streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery , while the complete series can be found on Tubi , a streaming service owned by Fox Corporation . On August 1, 2024, the program can also be found on Hulu . In Canada, The Flintstones first aired Monday nights at 9:00 Eastern time on CBC Television until the third season when it moved to the CTV Television Network . At the time, CTV aired
2856-471: A theme which was later incorporated into two episodes, "The Bedrock Hillbillies" and "The Hatrocks and the Gruesomes", ancient Romans , an idea which was later developed into The Roman Holidays , pilgrims , and American Indians before deciding on a Stone Age setting. According to Barbera, they settled on the Stone Age because "you could take anything that was current, and convert it to stone-age". Under
2975-434: A voice actor and a friend of Gleason's, "Jackie's lawyers told him he could probably have The Flintstones pulled right off the air. But they also told him, 'Do you want to be known as the guy who yanked Fred Flintstone off the air? The guy who took away a show so many kids love and so many parents love, too?'" Henry Corden first spoke for Fred Flintstone on the 1965 record album Songs From Mary Poppins , then continued doing
3094-415: A wide audience like their previous theatrical cartoon series Tom and Jerry , which entertained both children and adults. Since children did not need their parents' supervision to watch television, Hanna-Barbera's programs became labeled "kids only". Hanna and Barbera wanted to recapture the adult audience with an animated situation comedy . Hanna and Barbera considered making the two families hillbillies,
3213-412: Is a fact. It's happening. Let's call it cinema. I'm very honored because this is just the beginning of what we can do with animation." They also suggested to the Academy that the category should be presented by filmmakers who respect the art of animation as cinema. Another factor is that numerous feature-length animated films have been made for older audiences or with ranges of PG-13 or more, starting in
3332-434: Is an American animated web television series spin-off of The Flintstones that premiered in 2020, the first to feature them since they appeared in the 2002 series The Rubbles , and produced by Warner Bros. Animation . It was produced by Mark Marek and Marly Halpern-Graser. Like Cave Kids , the show focuses on the lives of best friends Pebbles Flintstone and Bamm-Bamm Rubble, who are joined by Dino for many adventures in
3451-699: Is mainly targeted and marketed towards adults and adolescents, as opposed to children or all-ages audiences. Animated media (includes animated films , television series , and web series ) in this medium could be considered adult for any number of reasons, which include the incorporation of toilet humour , nudity , sexual content (either explicit or suggestive), graphic violence , profanity , dark comedy , political themes, or other thematic elements inappropriate for children and/or younger viewers. Works may explore philosophical, political, or social issues. Some animated productions are noted for their complex and/or experimental storytelling and animation techniques,
3570-489: Is naked, well washed with soap and water, and she is happy. The jaunty rabbit quickly became a popular symbol of extroverted male culture, becoming a lucrative source of merchandizing revenue for the company. In the 1950s, it was adopted as the military aircraft insignia for the US Navy's Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Four (VX-4). Besides its centerfold, a major part of Playboy for much of its existence has been
3689-619: Is set in a comical version of the Stone Age , with features and technologies that resemble mid-20th-century suburban United States. The plots deliberately resemble the sitcoms of the era, with the caveman Flintstone and Rubble families getting into minor conflicts characteristic of modern life. The show is set in the Stone Age town of Bedrock (pop. 2,500), where dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures are portrayed as co-existing with cavemen, saber-toothed cats , and woolly mammoths . Animation historian Christopher P. Lehman considers that
The Flintstones - Misplaced Pages Continue
3808-563: The Playboy Interview, an extensive (usually several-thousand-word) discussion between a publicly known individual and an interviewer. Writer Alex Haley served as a Playboy interviewer on a few occasions; one of his interviews was with Martin Luther King Jr. ; he also interviewed Malcolm X and American Nazi Party founder George Lincoln Rockwell . The magazine interviewed then-presidential candidate Jimmy Carter in
3927-646: The Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles) for $ 18 m ($ 10 m less than the reported asking price) to another American, Daren Metropoulos, the President and co-owner of Pabst Blue Ribbon , and that due to significant losses in the company's value (down from $ 1 billion in 2000 to $ 84 million in 2009), the Playboy publishing empire was for sale for $ 300 million. In December 2009, the publication schedule
4046-539: The golden age of American animation . Following the show's cancellation in 1966, a film based upon the series was created. The Man Called Flintstone was a musical spy caper that parodied James Bond and other secret agents. The movie was released to theaters on August 3, 1966, by Columbia Pictures . It was released on DVD by Warner Home Video in Canada in March 2005 and in United States in December 2008. The show
4165-499: The " Playboy Interview". In February 1974, Ratna Assan became the first women of Indonesian descent to be featured, shortly after a positively received role in the film Papillon (1973). Christie Hefner , daughter of founder Hugh Hefner, joined Playboy in 1975 and became head of the company in 1988. She announced in December 2008 that she would be stepping down from leading the company, effective in January 2009. She said that
4284-402: The "sexiest" image, a previously unused nude study of Monroe stretched with an upraised arm on a red velvet background with closed eyes and mouth open. The heavy promotion centered on Monroe's nudity on the already-famous calendar, together with the teasers in marketing, made the new Playboy magazine a success. The first issue sold out in weeks. Known circulation was 53,991. The cover price
4403-590: The 1960s, the magazine added "The Playboy Philosophy" column. Early topics included gay rights, women's rights, censorship, and the First Amendment. Playboy was an early proponent of cannabis reform and provided founding support to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws in 1970. From 1966 to 1976, Robie Macauley was the fiction editor at Playboy . During this period
4522-546: The Academy over remarking that animation was synonymous with "kids" during the 94th Academy Awards in 2022. The award for the Best Animated Feature was presented by three actresses who portrayed the Disney princess characters in live-action remakes of their respective animated films: Lily James ( Cinderella ), Naomi Scott ( Aladdin ), and Halle Bailey ( The Little Mermaid ) . While introducing
4641-595: The Heron , officially rated PG-13 by the MPA . For the 22-year history since the inauguration , it became the first adult animated film to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 96th Academy Awards ; all the previous winners were either rated G or PG. Playboy Playboy (stylized in all caps) is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and online since 2020. It
4760-608: The Invisible"), the opening and closing credits theme was "Meet the Flintstones". This version was recorded with a 22-piece big band conducted by composer Hoyt Curtin and performed by the Randy Van Horne Singers. The melody is derived from part of the 'B' section of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 17 Movement 2, composed in 1801/02. "Meet the Flintstones" was later used in the first two seasons in syndication. The musical underscores were credited to Hoyt Curtin for
4879-497: The July/August 2018 issue a reader asked if the print magazine would discontinue, and Playboy responded that it was not going anywhere. Following Hefner's death and his family's financial stake in the company, the magazine changed direction. In 2019, Playboy was relaunched as a quarterly publication without adverts. Topics covered included an interview with Tarana Burke , a profile of Pete Buttigieg , coverage of BDSM , and
The Flintstones - Misplaced Pages Continue
4998-488: The November 1976 issue, in which he stated "I've committed adultery in my heart many times." David Sheff 's interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono appeared in the January 1981 issue, which was on newsstands at the time of Lennon's murder; the interview was later published in book format. Another interview-type section, entitled "20Q" (a play on the game of Twenty Questions ), was added in October 1978. Cheryl Tiegs
5117-609: The Playboy Philosophy and Party Jokes, but dropped the subtitle "Entertainment for Men", inasmuch as gender roles have evolved. The company's chief creative officer made the announcement on Twitter with the hashtag #NakedIsNormal. In early 2018, and according to Jim Puzzanghera of the Los Angeles Times , Playboy was reportedly "considering killing the print magazine", as the publication "has lost as much as $ 7 million annually in recent years". However, in
5236-434: The Stone Age setting. Its animation required a balance of visual with verbal storytelling that the studio created and others imitated. The Flintstones was the most financially successful and longest-running network animated television series for three decades, until The Simpsons surpassed it in 1997. In 2013, TV Guide ranked The Flintstones the second-greatest TV cartoon of all time, after The Simpsons . The show
5355-559: The Stone Age. The show was scheduled to be released as a part of the Boomerang IPTV subscription service . On August 19, 2021, it was announced the series would instead be released on HBO Max on September 30, 2021. The series was set to first air on Teletoon as a regular television series in Canada in September 2019, but ended up airing in September 2020. The show started airing on February 3, 2020, on Boomerang UK. In 2014, it
5474-407: The United States. The 1975 average circulation was 5.6 million; by 1981, it was 5.2 million and by 1982 down to 4.9 million. Its decline continued in later decades and reached about 800,000 copies per issue in late 2015, and 400,000 copies by December 2017. In 1970, Playboy became the first gentleman's magazine printed in braille . It is also one of the few magazines whose microfilm format
5593-559: The arc continued through the time leading up to Pebbles's birth in the episode "Dress Rehearsal", and then continued with several episodes showing Fred and Wilma adjusting to parenthood. Around this time, Winston pulled out their sponsorship and Welch's grape juice and grape jellies became the primary sponsor, as the show's audience began to shift towards a younger demographic. The integrated commercials for Welch's products feature Pebbles asking for grape juice in her toddler dialect, and Fred explaining to Pebbles Welch's unique process for making
5712-478: The bunny logo. Leroy Neiman drew the Femlin characters for Playboy jokes. Patrick Nagel painted the headers for Playboy Forum and other sections. Playboy features monthly interviews of public figures, such as artists, architects, economists, composers, conductors, film directors, journalists, novelists, playwrights, religious figures, politicians, athletes, and race car drivers. The magazine generally reflects
5831-410: The category, Bailey stated that animated films are "formative experiences as kids who watch them," as James put it, "So many kids watch these movies over and over, over and over again." Scott added: "I see some parents who know exactly what we're talking about." The remarks sparked controversy and with those working in the animation industry describing them as infantilizing the medium and perpetuating
5950-485: The characters appeared in several black-and-white television commercials for Winston. This was dictated by the custom, at that time, that the stars of a TV series often "pitched" their sponsor's product in an "integrated commercial" at the end of the episode. During the third season, Hanna and Barbera decided that Fred and Wilma should have a baby. Originally, Hanna and Barbera intended for the Flintstone family to have
6069-446: The characters for the demonstration film, but Foray was dropped without warning before production began; Foray was upset about the rejection and refused to work with Hanna-Barbera for many years afterward, despite Barbera's efforts to offer her other work. Animator Kenneth Muse , who worked on the Tom and Jerry cartoons, also worked on the early seasons of The Flintstones . William Hanna
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#17327719534286188-427: The contest and received an all-expenses-paid trip to tour Hanna-Barbera Studios. Another arc occurred in the fourth season, in which the Rubbles, depressed over being unable to have children of their own, adopt Bamm-Bamm. This made The Flintstones the first animated series to address the issue of infertility , though subtly. The 100th episode made but the 90th to air, "Little Bamm-Bamm Rubble", established how Bamm-Bamm
6307-416: The decision. The redesigned Playboy , however, would still feature a Playmate of the Month and pictures of women. Still, they would be rated as not appropriate for children under 13. The move would not affect PlayboyPlus.com (which features nudity at a paid subscription). Josh Horwitz of Quartz argued that the motivation for the decision to remove nudity from the magazine was to give Playboy Licensing
6426-434: The earliest episodes, "The Prowler." Reed was insistent on playing Fred in a relatively natural speaking voice, rather than a broad, "cartoony" style. Few animated short cartoons used this "straightforward" method, except for experimental studios like UPA and feature films with more realistic characters. The performances of Reed and the cast, combined with the writing, helped to ground the animated world of The Flintstones in
6545-411: The election of Barack Obama as the next President had inspired her to give more time to charitable work and that the decision to step down was her own. "Just as this country is embracing change in the form of new leadership, I have decided that now is the time to make changes in my own life as well", she said. Hefner was succeeded by company director and media veteran Jerome H. Kern as interim CEO, who
6664-501: The elements of his magazine, that he would call Stag Party . He formed HMH Publishing Corporation, and recruited his friend Eldon Sellers to find investors. Hefner eventually raised just over $ 8,000, including from his brother and mother. However, the publisher of an unrelated men's adventure magazine, Stag , contacted Hefner and informed him it would file suit to protect their trademark if he were to launch his magazine with that name. Hefner, his wife Millie, and Sellers met to seek
6783-457: The evening, but they are not generally pornographic or obscene. AdWeek called adult animation "animated projects aimed at grown-ups, not kids." They also focus on issues that adults handle, and have cheeky, and occasionally crass, humor "that has no limits—bouncing between funny and offensive," while evoking a "balance of reality and fantasy". They may also contain violence or sexual themes. International animators and filmmakers were among
6902-566: The feminist Miss America protest , symbolically feminine products were thrown into a "Freedom Trash Can". These included copies of Playboy and Cosmopolitan magazines. One of the key pamphlets produced by the protesters was "No More Miss America!", by Robin Morgan , which listed ten characteristics of the Miss America pageant that the authors believed degraded women; it compared the pageant to Playboy ' s centerfold as sisters under
7021-538: The first two seasons in black-and-white. Beginning with the third season in 1962, ABC televised the Flintstones in color, one of the first programs in color to air on it. Season four and part of season five aired Thursdays at 7:30, while the rest of the series aired Fridays at 7:30. In the U.S., The Flintstones was part of NBC Saturday mornings from 1966 to 1970, with syndicated reruns offered to local stations until 1997, when E/I regulations and changing tastes in
7140-407: The inclusion of a laugh track . Hanna and Barbera hired many writers from live-action, including two of Jackie Gleason's writers, Herbert Finn and Sydney Zelinka, as well as relative newcomer Joanna Lee . However, they still used traditional animation writers, such as Warren Foster and Michael Maltese . The Flintstones premiered on September 30, 1960, at 8:30 pm Eastern time, and quickly became
7259-490: The industry led to the show's move to cable television. From the time of Ted Turner 's purchase of Hanna-Barbera in 1991, TBS , TNT , and Cartoon Network aired the program. On April 1, 2000, the program moved to Boomerang , where it aired until March 6, 2017, but returned to the channel on July 30, 2018. Online, the series was made available on the In2TV service beginning in 2006, then the online version of Kids' WB until it
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#17327719534287378-531: The jelly, compared to the competition. Welch's also produced a line of grape jelly packaged in jars that were reusable as drinking glasses, with painted scenes featuring the Flintstones and other characters from the show. In Australia, the Nine Network ran a "Name the Flintstones' baby" competition during the 'pregnancy' episodes—few Australian viewers were expected to have a U.S. connection giving them information about past Flintstone episodes. An American won
7497-416: The late 1960s, Miles introduced Flintstones Chewable Vitamins , fruit-flavored multivitamin tablets for children in the shape of the Flintstones characters, which are still currently being sold. Adult animation Adult animation , also known as mature animation , and infrequently as adult-oriented animation , is any type of animated motion media that is catered specifically to adult interests and
7616-456: The late-1990s with South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut , and for those future adult animated films including The Triplets of Belleville , Persepolis , Waltz with Bashir , Chico and Rita , The Wind Rises , Anomalisa , My Life as a Courgette , The Breadwinner , Loving Vincent , Isle of Dogs , I Lost My Body , and Flee . Most of them were nominated in various categories , though none have won until The Boy and
7735-601: The latter with many distinct styles have defined such unique artistry. Adult animation is typically defined as animation that is aimed at an adult audience. It is also described as something that "formative youths should stay far, far away from" or has adult humor and comes in various styles, but especially sitcoms and comedies. Some have stated that it refers to animations with "adult themes and situations", which uses "explicit language" and make jokes that adults, and occasionally teens, are "more likely to understand" than others. On television, such animations often run in
7854-481: The live broadcast; some speculations suggested that the speech played a role in the decision to not broadcast the award. The winner for the Best Animated Short award was The Windshield Wiper , a multilingual Spanish-American film which is considered adult animated, while another nominee in three categories: Best Animated Feature, Best Documentary Feature Film , and Best International Feature Film ,
7973-580: The live-action film was released), developed by Universal and Hanna-Barbera Productions , at the Panasonic Theater, replacing the Star Trek show. The story consists of Fred, Wilma, Barney, and Betty heading for "Hollyrock". The show ran until January 2, 1997. Miles Laboratories (now part of Bayer Corporation ) and their One-A-Day vitamin brand was the alternate sponsor of the original Flintstones series during its first two seasons, and in
8092-424: The lives of Fred and Wilma Flintstone and their pet dinosaur, Dino, and they later on have a baby girl named Pebbles. Barney and Betty Rubble are their neighbors and best friends, and later on adopt a super-strong baby boy named Bamm-Bamm and acquire a pet hopparoo (kangaroo) called Hoppy. Producers William Hanna and Joseph Barbera , who had earned seven Academy Awards for Tom and Jerry , and their staff faced
8211-414: The magazine every month. On the cover was model Pam Rawlings, photographed by Rowland Scherman . Perhaps coincidentally, a cropped image of the issue's centerfold (which featured Lena Söderberg ) became a de facto standard image for testing image processing algorithms. It is known simply as the " Lenna " (also "Lena") image in that field. In 1972, Playboy was the ninth highest circulation magazine in
8330-499: The magazine published fiction by Saul Bellow , Seán Ó Faoláin , John Updike , James Dickey , John Cheever , Doris Lessing , Joyce Carol Oates , Vladimir Nabokov , Michael Crichton , John le Carré , Irwin Shaw , Jean Shepherd , Arthur Koestler , Isaac Bashevis Singer , Bernard Malamud , John Irving , Anne Sexton , Nadine Gordimer , Kurt Vonnegut and J. P. Donleavy , as well as poetry by Yevgeny Yevtushenko . In 1968, at
8449-437: The magazine. On July 15, Penthouse owner FriendFinder Networks Inc. offered $ 210 million (the company is valued at $ 185 million). However, Hefner, who already owned 70 percent of voting stock, did not want to sell. In January 2011, the publisher of Playboy magazine agreed to an offer by Hefner to take the company private for $ 6.15 per share, an 18 percent premium over the price of the last previous day of trading. The buyout
8568-663: The mid-1990s. Kings Island (near Cincinnati ) and Kings Dominion (near Richmond, Virginia) had a Hanna-Barbera land, in which many Hanna-Barbera characters were featured, including the Flintstones, in the early 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s. Bedrock is one of the themed lands in the indoor Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi park in Abu Dhabi , United Arab Emirates , mainly home to the Flintstones Bedrock River Adventure flume ride. A stage production opened at Universal Studios Hollywood in 1994 (the year
8687-600: The most popular was its annual ranking of the top "party schools" among all U.S. universities and colleges. In 2009, the magazine used five criteria—bikini, brains, campus, sex, and sports—to develop its list. The top-ranked party school by Playboy for 2009 was the University of Miami . In June 2009, the magazine reduced its publication schedule to 11 yearly issues, with a combined July/August issue. On August 11, 2009, London's Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that Hugh Hefner had sold his English manor house (next door to
8806-470: The needs of the story; on some occasions, the cars appear to have engines, requiring ignition keys and some representation of gasoline. Fred might pull into a gas station and say, "Fill 'er up with Ethel ", which is pumped through the trunk of a woolly mammoth marked "ETHEL". As well, the stone houses of this society are cookie-cutter homes positioned into neighborhoods typical of mid-20th-century American suburbs. Over 100 other characters appeared throughout
8925-405: The ninth-best in its "Top 100 Animated TV Shows". The first season of the series received an approval rating of 100% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes , based on nine reviews, with an average score of 6/10. Common Sense Media gave the series a three out of five stars, saying: "Still a classic, but times have changed." Currently, several authors consider The Flintstones as a cartoon linked to
9044-753: The notables of adult animation works: Some television channels and their segments or blocks that focused on broadcasting adult animation: Several highly-acclaimed adult animated films and television series have received substantial recognition from critics. Thanks to Bakshi's Fritz the Cat , the film influenced animators and filmmakers over the course of the late-20th century and into the 21st century, catering such important artistic and narrative structures with mature subject matter. Conversely, several works have been largely ignored by many detractors for their depiction of graphic subject matter and sensitive topics, such as violence, race, gender, and sexuality. They still show
9163-449: The other was Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble fighting over a swimming pool. So I go back to New York with a portfolio and two half-hour boards. And no-one would even believe that you'd dare to suggest a thing like that, I mean they looked at you and they'd think you're crazy. But slowly the word got out, and I used the presentation which took almost an hour and a half. I would go to the other two boards and tell them what they did, and do all
9282-487: The program slowly began to spread its popularity around the world. The BBC picked up the rights for the program in 1985. The series was repeated for decades in various daytime and early evening time-slots; episodes were also sometimes used by the BBC in case of last minute schedule changes, such as coverage of sporting events being affected by bad weather. The final BBC broadcast of an episode was in 2008 on BBC Two . Additionally,
9401-593: The rabbit for its "humorous sexual connotation" and because the image was "frisky and playful". In an interview, Hefner explained his choice of a rabbit as Playboy ' s logo to the Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci : The rabbit, the bunny, in America has a sexual meaning; and I chose it because it's a fresh animal, shy, vivacious, jumping - sexy. First it smells you then it escapes, then it comes back, and you feel like caressing it, playing with it. A girl resembles
9520-654: The repairs and changes that Warner Bros. wanted, having Tennyson closed it. The entire site was bulldozed in April 2019. The second one, near Williams, Arizona, was still open for the summer of 2019 but slated to close by 2020. It cost $ 5 per person to get in. Both parks had been in operation for decades. A third park existed until the 1990s at Carowinds in Charlotte, North Carolina . In Canada, Flintstone Park in Kelowna, British Columbia , opened in 1968 and closed in 1998; it
9639-481: The restructuring of Warner Animation Group, now called Warner Bros. Pictures Animation, it was announced that a new Flintstones movie titled Meet the Flintstones was in early development and is meant to be an origin story to the series. The movie will be written by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic , who both previously directed Illumination 's The Super Mario Bros. Movie and directed by Dreamworks Animation veterans Hamish Grieve and Todd Wilderman. In 2019, it
9758-610: The room I mean God about 40 people, and I did this whole show. I got to know where the laughs were, and where to hit it, nothing; dead, dead, dead. So one of the people at Screen Gems said "This is the worst, those guys...." he was so angry at them. What it was, was that there were two agencies there, and neither one was going to let the other one know they were enjoying it. But I pitched it for eight straight weeks and nobody bought it. So after sitting in New York just wearing out, you know really wearing out. Pitch, pitch, pitch, sometimes five
9877-689: The series appeared on Cartoon Network in the mid-1990s. Other international networks that aired the original run of the series include RTF in France, ARD in Germany, Rai 1 and Rai 2 in Italy, NTS in the Netherlands, and Fuji TV in Japan. The night after The Flintstones premiered, Variety called it "a pen-and-ink disaster", and the series was among many that debuted in a " vast wasteland " of
9996-468: The series entered production, the working title The Flagstones was changed, possibly to avoid confusion with the Flagstons, the main characters in the comic strip Hi and Lois . After spending a brief period in development as The Gladstones (GLadstone being a Los Angeles telephone exchange at the time), Hanna-Barbera settled upon The Flintstones , and the idea of the Flintstones having a child from
10115-517: The series partly draws its humor from anachronism , mainly the placing of a "modern" 20th-century society in prehistory which takes inspiration from the suburban sprawl developed in the first two decades of the postwar period. This society has modern home appliances which work by employing animals. It also has automobiles, but they mostly do not resemble the cars of the 20th century, as they are large wooden and rock structures powered by people who run while inside them. This depiction varies according to
10234-492: The series was marketed as a family series rather than the "adult" animated show of the earlier seasons. As a result of a wider number of yearly viewers, including children, and competition from TV's trend toward fantasy shows, the episodes varied from family comedy to fantasy/adventure, but still had stories about couple dynamics. The last original episode was broadcast on April 1, 1966. The first three seasons of The Flintstones aired Friday nights at 8:30 Eastern time on ABC, with
10353-469: The series. Below are those who have made more than one appearance: Fred Flintstone physically resembles both the first voice actor who played him, Alan Reed , and Jackie Gleason , whose series, The Honeymooners , inspired The Flintstones . The voice of Barney Rubble was provided by voice actor Mel Blanc, except for five episodes during the second season (the first, second, fifth, sixth, and ninth); Hanna-Barbera regular Daws Butler filled in and provided
10472-413: The show at different evening time slots throughout its last three seasons. Syndicated reruns were also offered to local stations until the early-1990s. The show was also later carried overtime on YTV , Teletoon Retro , Cartoon Network , and Boomerang , alongside French channels ICI , TQS , TVA , and Prise 2 . When Independent broadcaster ITV first aired The Flintstones to England in January 1961,
10591-462: The show's first five seasons; Ted Nichols took over in 1965 for the final season. Many early episodes used the underscores composed for Top Cat and The Jetsons . Episodes of the last two seasons used the underscore of Jonny Quest for the more adventurous stories. The idea of The Flintstones started after Hanna-Barbera produced The Huckleberry Hound Show and The Quick Draw McGraw Show , which were successful. However, they did not appeal to
10710-423: The show, but if people want to compare The Flintstones to The Honeymooners , then great. It's a total compliment. The Honeymooners was one of the greatest shows ever written." Jackie Gleason, creator of The Honeymooners , considered suing Hanna-Barbera Productions, but decided not to since he did not want to be known as "the guy who yanked Fred Flintstone off the air". Gleason was sued because The Honeymooners
10829-403: The skin, describing this as "The Unbeatable Madonna–Whore Combination". Macauley contributed all of the popular Ribald Classics series published between January 1978 and March 1984. After reaching its peak in the 1970s, Playboy saw a decline in circulation and cultural relevance due to competition in the field it founded—first from Penthouse , then from Oui (which was published as
10948-431: The start was discarded, with Fred and Wilma starting out as a childless couple. However, some early Flintstones merchandise, such as a 1961 Little Golden Book , included "Fred Jr". Despite the animation and fantasy setting, the series was initially aimed at adult audiences. This was reflected in the comedy, which resembled the primetime sitcoms of the era, with family issues resolved at the end of each episode, as well as
11067-419: The stigma that animated works are strictly for children, especially since the industry was credited with sustaining the flow of Hollywood content and revenue during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic . An addition to the controversy was that the award for Best Animated Short Film (the nominees for which were mostly made up of shorts not aimed at children) was one of the eight categories that were omitted in
11186-479: The verge of retirement and a twenty-something Pebbles (voiced by Banks) trying to find her way in life as the Stone Age comes to an end and the Bronze Age arrives. On March 10, 2023, it was reported the series would have also featured the voices of Stephen Root (Fred), Amy Sedaris (Wilma), Joe Lo Truglio (Barney), Nicole Byer (Betty) and Manny Jacinto (Bamm-Bamm). It was also reported that Fox had ordered
11305-697: The voice for most other Flintstone records on the label. Around the same time, Corden was providing Fred's singing voice in two films being produced at the studio: the 1966 special Alice in Wonderland, or What's a Nice Kid Like You Doing in a Place Like This? and the 1966 feature film The Man Called Flintstone . Corden assumed the role completely after Reed's death in 1977, starting with the TV special, A Flintstone Christmas . Since 2000, Jeff Bergman , James Arnold Taylor , and Scott Innes , who performs both Fred and Barney for Toshiba commercials, have performed
11424-468: The voice of Barney while Blanc was incapacitated by a near-fatal car accident in 1961. Blanc was able to return to the series sooner than expected because a temporary recording studio for the cast was set up at his bedside. Blanc's Barney voice varied from nasally to deep before the accident, as he and Barbera, who directed the sessions with Alan Dinehart, explored the right level in relation to comedy and other characters. Blanc uses both Barney voices in one of
11543-593: The voice of Fred. Since Mel Blanc's death in 1989, Barney has been voiced by Jeff Bergman , Frank Welker , Scott Innes , and Kevin Michael Richardson . Various additional character voices were performed by Hal Smith , Allan Melvin , Janet Waldo , Daws Butler, and Howard Morris , among others. The opening and closing credits theme during the first two seasons was "Rise and Shine", a lively instrumental underscore accompanying Fred on his drive home from work. . Starting in season three, episode three ("Barney
11662-404: The voices and the sounds and so-on, and I'd stagger back to the hotel and I'd collapse. The phone would ring like crazy, like one time I did Bristol-Myers , the whole company was there. When I got through I'd go back to the hotel the phone would ring and say "the president wasn't at that meeting, could you come back and do it for him." So I had many of those, one time I had two agencies, they'd fill
11781-437: The working title The Flagstones , a treatment was written by Harry Winkler . The family originally consisted of Fred, Wilma, and their son, Fred, Jr. A brief demonstration film was also created to sell the idea of a "modern stone-age family" to sponsors and the network. It was a difficult sell, and required eight weeks of daily presentations to networks and ad agencies. June Foray and Hanna-Barbera regular Daws Butler voiced
11900-476: The years. The original show also was adapted into a live-action film in 1994, and a prequel, The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas , which followed in 2000. Unlike its sister show The Jetsons (the two shows appeared in a made-for-TV crossover movie in 1987), the revival programs were not widely syndicated or rerun alongside the original series. Original runs : Compilation shows : In 2011, it
12019-549: The years. This list is only a small portion of those who have posed. Some of them are: Film: Music: Sports: Television: The success of Playboy magazine has led PEI to market other versions of the magazine, the Special Edition s (formerly called Newsstand Special s), such as Playboy's College Girls and Playboy's Book of Lingerie , as well as the Playboy video collection. The National Library Service for
12138-517: Was Flee , a PG-13 rated animated documentary about an Afghan refugee. Phil Lord , co-producer of one of the nominated films, The Mitchells vs. the Machines , tweeted that it was "super cool to position animation as something that kids watch and adults have to endure." The film's official social media account responded to the joke with an image reading: "Animation is cinema." A week later, Lord and his producing partner Christopher Miller wrote
12257-488: Was revived in the early 1970s with Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm having grown into teenagers, and several different series and made-for-TV movies (broadcast mainly on Saturday mornings , with a few shown in primetime), including a series depicting Fred and Barney as police officers, another depicting the characters as children , and yet others featuring Fred and Barney encountering Marvel Comics superhero The Thing and Al Capp 's comic strip character The Shmoo —have appeared over
12376-401: Was 50¢. Copies of the first issue in mint to near-mint condition sold for over $ 5,000 in 2002. The novel Fahrenheit 451 , by Ray Bradbury , was published in 1953 and serialized in the March, April and May 1954 issues of Playboy . An urban legend started about Hefner and the Playmate of the Month because of markings on the front covers of the magazine. From 1955 to 1979 (except for
12495-670: Was about the rowdy antics of a bank robber in stone-age Dallas . Many sight gags from The First Bad Man antedated similar situations used by Hanna-Barbera in The Flintstones by many years. Therefore, students of American animation call The First Bad Man a progenitive seed of The Flintstones . The concept was also antedated by the " Stone Age Cartoons ", a series of 12 animated cartoons which Fleischer Studios released from January to September 1940. These cartoons show stone-age people doing modern things with primitive means, such as " Granite Hotel " including characters such as
12614-469: Was adopted. Nine episodes were produced before it, but aired afterward, which is why Bamm-Bamm was not seen again until episode 101, "Daddies Anonymous". However, Bamm-Bamm did appear in a teaser in episode 98, "Kleptomaniac Pebbles". Another story arc, occurring in the final season, centered on Fred and Barney's dealings with the Great Gazoo. After Pebbles's birth, the audience demographic expanded and
12733-541: Was announced Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane would be reviving The Flintstones for the Fox network, with the first episode airing in 2013. After Fox Entertainment president Kevin Reilly read the pilot script and "liked it but didn't love it", MacFarlane chose to abandon work on the project rather than restarting it. Concept art of the series was posted on background artist Andy Clark's website. Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs
12852-433: Was announced that Warner Bros. was developing an animated film with Chris Henchy , Will Ferrell , and Adam McKay , to write the script for the project. Ferrell and McKay would also be executive producers. In 2018, it was confirmed that the project is still in development and produced by Warner Animation Group , at the time it was unknown if crew members would still be involved with the production. On June 9, 2023, as part of
12971-647: Was completed in March 2011. This is what I always intended Playboy Magazine to look like. — Hugh Hefner , when asked about ending nudity in Playboy In October 2015, Playboy announced the magazine would no longer feature full-frontal nudity beginning with the March 2016 issue. Company CEO Scott Flanders acknowledged the magazine's inability to compete with freely available internet pornography and nudity; according to him, "You're now one click away from every sex act imaginable for free. And so it's just passé at this juncture". Hefner agreed with
13090-441: Was discontinued in 2015. As of 2017, full episodes are available in the U.S. on Boomerang's subscription video-on-demand service, with select clips made available on the official YouTube account tied to the revamped Kids' WB website. In 2019, MeTV acquired rerun rights to the series, returning the show to broadcast television for the first time in over 20 years. The first 3 seasons of the series can currently be streamed on Max ,
13209-580: Was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $ 1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. Known for its centerfolds of nude and semi-nude models ( Playmates ), Playboy played an important role in the sexual revolution and remains one of the world's best-known brands, with a presence in nearly every medium. In addition to the flagship magazine in the United States, special nation-specific versions of Playboy are published worldwide, including those by licensees, such as Dirk Steenekamp's DHS Media Group. The magazine has
13328-472: Was honest about the inspiration, saying, "At that time, The Honeymooners was the most popular show on the air, and for my bill, the funniest. The characters, I thought, were terrific. Now, that influenced greatly what we did with The Flintstones ... The Honeymooners was there, and we used that as a kind of basis for the concept." Joseph Barbera disavowed these claims in a separate interview, stating, "I don't remember mentioning The Honeymooners when I sold
13447-416: Was in color, not black and white. Playboy ' s enduring mascot, a stylized silhouette of a rabbit wearing a tuxedo bow tie , was created by Playboy art director Art Paul for the second issue as an endnote , but was adopted as the official logo and has appeared ever since. A running joke in the magazine involves hiding the logo somewhere in the cover art or photograph. Hefner said he chose
13566-581: Was in turn succeeded by publisher Scott Flanders . The magazine celebrated its 50th anniversary with the January 2004 issue. Celebrations were held at Las Vegas , Los Angeles, New York, and Moscow during the year to commemorate this event. Playboy also launched limited-edition products designed by fashion houses such as Versace , Vivienne Westwood and Sean John . As a homage to the magazine's 50th anniversary, MAC Cosmetics released two limited-edition products: lipstick and glitter cream. The printed magazine ran several annual features and ratings. One of
13685-631: Was notable for the "Forty Foot Fred" billboard of Fred Flintstone which was a well-known Kelowna landmark. Another Flintstones park was located in Bridal Falls, British Columbia , which closed in 1990. Calaway Park outside Calgary , Alberta, also opened with a Flintstones theme and many of the buildings today have a caveman-like design, though the park no longer licenses the characters. The Australia's Wonderland and Canada's Wonderland theme parks, both featured Flintstones characters in their Hanna-Barbera-themed children's sections from 1985 until
13804-454: Was reduced to 10 issues per year, with a combined January/February issue. On July 12, 2010, Playboy Enterprises Inc. announced Hefner's $ 5.50 per share offer ($ 122.5 million based on shares outstanding on April 30 and the closing price on July 9) to buy the portion of the company he did not already own and take the company private with the help of Rizvi Traverse Management LLC. The company derived much of its income from licensing rather than from
13923-419: Was reported that a new Flintstones reboot series, directed to an adult audience, was in development by Elizabeth Banks and her production company Brownstone Productions . In 2021, the series was now co-produced by Fox Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation along with Brownstone and received the title Bedrock . The series would have take place two decades after the original series with Fred Flintstone on
14042-426: Was similar to The Bickersons , as critics noted at the time, but the lawsuit served by Bickersons creator Philip Rapp was ultimately settled out of court. Another influence was noted during Hanna-Barbera's tenure at MGM , where they were in a friendly competition with fellow cartoon director Tex Avery . In 1955, Avery directed a cartoon entitled The First Bad Man , narrated by cowboy legend Tex Ritter , which
14161-1229: Was the first interviewee for the section. "Rock the Rabbit" was an annual music news and pictorial feature published in the March edition. The pictorial featured images of rock bands photographed by music photographer Mick Rock . Fashion designers participated in the Rock the Rabbit event by designing T-shirts inspired by Playboy ' s rabbit head logo for each band. The shirts were sold at Playboy ' s retailers and auctioned off to raise money for AIDS research and treatment at LIFEbeat: The Music Industry Fights AIDS. Bands who were featured include: MGMT , Daft Punk , Iggy Pop , Duran Duran , Flaming Lips , Snow Patrol , and The Killers . The photographers who have contributed to Playboy include Mario Casilli , Ana Dias , Richard Fegley , Arny Freytag , Ron Harris , Tom Kelley , Annie Leibovitz , Ken Marcus , David Mecey , Russ Meyer , Helmut Newton , Pompeo Posar , Suze Randall , Herb Ritts , Ellen von Unwerth , Stephen Wayda , Sam Wu , and Bunny Yeager . Many celebrities (singers, actresses, models, etc.) have posed for Playboy over
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