TVSquad

This news has part of me saying "great, this should be fun!" and the other part of me saying, "oh God, please don't have Mr. Slate making a sex tape with Wilma."

Marco Pennette is writing a Broadway musical version of The Flintstones, and this version is supposed to involve modern-day topics such as marriage problems, adoption, and the environment. Now, this could be good, in a Brady Bunch Movie sort of way, if they really play it for laughs. It could be horrible if they don't.

I haven't seen an episode of The Flintstones in many years. It was one of my favorite TV shows as a kid, and I watched them as an adult, too, but it's just one of those shows that I haven't gone back to in the past five or ten years. I've been thinking about buying the season DVD sets (there are six seasons), but now it looks like I'm going to hold off on that because there's a complete series set coming later this year!

Warner is coming out with this cool-looking set that will house all six seasons in a special box that looks like a TV set (albeit one made of rocks with rock knobs). The DVDs themselves will slide into holders that are book-shaped and contain all of the info about what's on each DVD.

No word yet on extras, but the individual sets for each season contain extras such as rare, unseen footage, original storyboards, documentaries (including a guide to raising a child in the Stone Age), promo spots, and the original pilot (The Flagstones).

That headline probably won't even make sense to many people. Boomerang? What the hell is that?

Boomerang is a cable network devoted to baby boomers. I don't get it on my cable system, though it certainly sounds like something I'd like to see if they have programming like this. The channel is going to show all 166 episodes of The Flintstones - in order and without commercials - starting on July 4. This is a show I've been meaning to buy on DVD. A lot of people thought it was lame for an animated series, but I didn't watch it for cool animation, it was really a sitcom in cartoon clothing and a lot of fun.

I wonder why they changed the name used in the pilot, The Flagstones? What made them say "let's get rid of the 'flag' and replace it with 'flint'?"

To a good portion of us both The Flintstones and The Jetsons were mainstays of our afterschool and Saturday morning television viewing. However, back in the 1960's both of these Hanna-Barbera creations were part of the ABC prime-time lineup. The Flintstones were a mainstay on the schedule from 1960 until 1966 while The Jetsons appeared in only the 1962-63 season.

Of course, being on the prime-time schedule there was bound to be some promotion of both shows. And, that's what you'll see after the jump: promotions for both The Flintstones and The Jetsons during their first run. Both of these clips are in black-and-white, even though both shows were produced in color. The Flintstones' promo is for the show's fourth season. The episode featuring Ann-Margret as Ann Margrock was the season premiere. Yes, Virginia, stars lent their voices to cartoons long before The Simpsons.