Flintstones Contained A Laugh Track

A 1986 Playboy interview, Jackie Gleason said that Alan Reed had done voice-overs for Gleason in his early movies, and that he (Gleason) considered suing Hanna-Barbera for copying The Honeymooners but decided to let it pass.According to Henry Corden, who took over as the voice of Fred Flintstone after Alan Reed died, and was a friend of Gleason’s, “Jackie’s lawyers told him that 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 that so many kids love, and so many parents love, too.

The show contained a laugh track, common to most other sitcoms of the period. In the mid-1990s, when Turner Networks remastered the episodes, the original laugh track was removed. Currently, the shows airing on Boomerang and the DVD releases have the original laugh track restored to most episodes (a number of episodes from Seasons 1 and 2 still lack them). Some episodes, however, have a newer laugh track dubbed in, apparently replacing the old one. Because of this practice, the only episode to originally air without a laugh track ("Sheriff For a Day" in 1965) now has one.The Flintstones also became the first primetime animated series to last more than two seasons this record wasn't surpassed by another primetime animated TV series until the third season of The Simpsons in 1992.

The animated series – set in the fictional town of Bedrock – became popular with children all across the world, and is still a favorite among families today. “The Flintstones” followed the rather comical happenings of a Stone Age man called Fred Flintstone, his family and his neighbors, The Rubbles.With the cartoon being set in the Stone Age, there were of course plenty of rock-related puns. For example, the town of San Antonio became “Sand-and-Stony-o,” the showbiz area of Bedrock was named “Hollyrock,” and Fred’s favorite band was Mick Jadestone and the Rolling Boulders.

Family Guy inherited the dysfunctional family mantle - or perhaps mantlepiece, since it's still all suburban - and pushed the boundaries further than The Simpsons has in a long time, frequently offending at least eight separate special interest groups in one 23 minute show. Bam-Bam and Pebbles just weren't aspirational like cartoon children of today. Bart may have been a menace, but at he wasn't an evil genius bent on destroying the world like Stewie. Good old Stewie.

Well, even if there are no direct animated transatlantic cousins to the Flintstones, there are still bound to be other cartoon families that would want to join us in celebrating the fiftieth birthday of Big Daddy Fred - but who.The Stone Age setting paved the way for a stream of rock-related puns. As well as the surnames - Flintstone and Rubble - the town of San Antonio becomes Sand-and-Stony-o and Bedrock's showbiz centre is called Hollyrock.The celebrities idolised by Flintstone and family include Cary Granite and Stony Curtis. Mick Jadestone and the Rolling Boulders is Fred's favourite band.