Fox Entertainment has announced that Seth MacFarlane is going to resurrect the classic TV animated series The Flintstones. According to Deadline.com the series will begin production this fall with a 2013 premiere on Fox.
The Flintstones will be produced jointly by 20th Century Fox Television and Warner Bros Television. Dan Palladino (Gilmore Girls) and Kara Vallow (Family Guy) will serve as executive producers with Seth MacFarlane who says the very first cartoon character he drew at age 2 was Fred Flintstone. “So it’s appropriate that events have come full circle, allowing me to produce the newest incarnation of this great franchise. Plus, I think America is finally ready for an animated sitcom about a fat stupid guy with a wife who’s too good for him.” Added Reilly: “The Flintstones are among the funniest and most beloved characters in television history, and we can’t wait to introduce them to a whole new generation on Fox,” said Kevin Reilly, President of Entertainment, Fox Broadcasting Company.
What
Lemme guess, Dino will now be a sarcastic talking dinosaur, and be smarter than everyone else in the family.
Seriously Seth McFarlane… F. U!
So many great ideas out there, and this kind of drivel keeps getting regurgitated.
What’s next–a Cathy TV series? Shoot that one down with plenty of anti-aircraft (ack, ack!!) fire!
Or maybe a Family Circus TV series? Might be good on Saturday nights following Lawrence Welk reruns.
Or how about a Peanuts series? Wait–that’s been done already–so that would be redundant or in this case, a Rerun.
I hope this is well-done. The Flintstones started as a smart skewed look at family life, and life in general — aimed at adults — and quickly devolved into kiddie stuff and cereal commercials.
If they take the right approach it could really work, and I think Seth MacFarlane has what it takes to make it work. He also has what it takes to totally trash it, so we’ll just have to wait and see.
My first cartoon drawings were of Fred Flintstone too!
This fills me with dread. And I actually like Seth MacFarlane. I’ve liked his work since Johnny Bravo.
All I can think of is yet another FG re-hash, just like American Dad is and Cleveland Show is, which is now wrapped up in the beloved Flintstones characters.
I guess Pebbles and Bam-Bam will now become sarcastic baby geniuses bent upon taking over the worldrock….
Let’s see…bombastic overweight patriarch, check.
Unequally yoked with hot redheaded wife, check.
Neighbor/best friend as perfect foil, check.
Yep. It’s Family Guy.
I’m loving the multiple comments worried about sarcasm entering into a modern day cartoon series. You watched something when you were a kid so it’s sacred. Lol.
Did I just hear the disembodied voices of Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera hollering Nooooooooooo!
No, Seitu, you did not. And if you’re hearing voices I seriously consider seeking help.
My default setting for this is Cautious Optimism. MacFarlane is a huge fan of the original series – Hell, he’s ripped off the core concept enough times – and he *has* done some good stuff in the past. It’s just his current work is terrible.
I’m more concerned about the animation quality. I really, *really* hope they bump it up to at least Golden Age Simpsons quality, but the penny-pinchers at Fox are probably going to want to keep it as “streamlined” as possible. It could potentially look very, very bad.
I am not so excited about this one. I would rather see him go out and find a good unknown web comic and develop that for TV. I like my Flintstones and Rubbles like they were.
I like the claymation Barney and Fred that’s on television everyday multiple times right now. Come to think of it, Fred and Barney have been newly animated and voiced for over 30 years now. Where’s the horrified kanipshins about that? Or doesn’t anybody here watch cartoons and children’s television? Post Fruity Pebbles has been making new commercials for at least that long. I love the Rappin’ Barney. Oh I’m sorry, don’t commercials count? They’ve only showing new versions of Flinstones dozens of times each day, every day, for decades. Good luck Seth!
Why do I never read about an update of the “Jetsons”?
YABBA DABBA RE-BOOT!
I’m a fan of Seth’s, which is obvious given the self-portrait I typically identify myself with even though my own style is dissimilar. I look forward to seeing this. At the worst case it will be another show in the same formula as Family Guy/American Dad/The Cleveland Show, but honestly? That formula generally works.
In the best case? Well, Seth has stated that it was always his dream to be able to reboot The Flintstones, so maybe he has something different in mind. I don’t think peppering that franchise with sex, violence and scat jokes is necessarily his only option.
this is going 2b a big mistake
I think MacFarlane has the potential to do a really good
job on this, as I do remember a couple of “Family Guy”
episodes where they parody the Flintstones. I thought
the drawing of them and the backgrounds were decent,
BUT I do not care to see “Filthy Flintstones” on a
weekly basis. It was just written too dirty and disrespectful,
for my tastes.
If he could actually make it somewhat more in line with
the tone of the original show (and I think he has the
ability to), then a “New Flintstones” could work.
But, we’ll see…….
The thing that worries me is that both Hanna and Barbera aren’t here to defend their characters. There’s a good chance they’re going right into the gutter. Yabba-Dabba-Don’t F ’em up, McFarlane!
No one cares what we think.
Honestly I can see this as an improvement. I’m admittingly not a fan of most Hanna-Barbera stuff (one of the few I enjoy is “Top Cat”, and that’s only because of Arnold Stang’s voice work) so I’m not that disturbed by the news.
Still, I’m wondering how Seth can juggle four shows at the same time.
This is like the old days, when we would make a mix tape and then copy it for a friend, who would copy it for a friend.
The Flintstones were second-generation copies of the Honeymooners, and second-generation is pretty good. But the farther you get from the source, the more crackly and distorted the copies become.
Our tools may be digital, but our brains remain analog.
What a novel idea!
Why are they rebooting the Flintstones anyways? Why can’t they just put the reruns into syndication or something. I love the show, and I have no doubt that Seth MacFarlane will do something good with the show (even though I’m not a fan of his). I just don’t see why we’re even thinking of bringing back the show.