TVSquad

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).

Ahhh, the weekend. A glorious time when the prospect of burning some daylight watching sit-com stars from the 80s rap seems perfectly reasonable. Especially if it's so frickin' cold it's snowing outside. Seriously, why am I getting snowed on in April?

Anyway, one of my friends sent along a link to a post by Benner on a blog called Touch. It features videos of a bunch of old commercials that use rap to try and sell you on one thing or another. You have the classic: D.J. Fred and M.C. Barney for Fruity Pebbles, the strange: Jennifer Love Hewitt in a commercial for bread, and the cringe-worthy: Larry Bird raps for Converse. Finally, there's the awesome: a promo for ABC Wednesday featuring the casts of Perfect Strangers and Head Of The Class. That one is embedded after the jump. Follow the read link for Benner's post and the rest of the videos.

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.

Ah, the good old days. When everyone could smoke and not get sick. You could sit on your dinosaur all day, breaking rocks, and then come home and sit around the yard smoking cigarettes with your best pal.

After the jump is a 1961 commercial for Winston cigarettes, starring Fred, Barney, Wilma, and Betty. Fred and Barney are just hanging out while the girls do all the yardwork and housework and decide to take a relaxing cigarette break. Not only are Wilma and Betty doing all the work, they also have no lines in the commercial.

Early cigarette ads interest me. Over at Adjab recently I posted a couple of ads that the Dick Van Dyke Show cast did in the 60s, on the set and as the characters of the show. This one is jarring because it's a cartoon (though an adult cartoon). This is probably what killed off the dinosaurs.

I also think it's weird that the cigarettes are bigger than Barney's head.

Remember the days when they would take characters from a TV commercial that you would see all year long and then put them in a Christmas-oriented ad around the holiday season? This commercial for Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles will bring back memories for those of a certain age. I'm not certain when this is from, maybe the 1980s? One thing's for certain: they don't even say "Merry Christmas" in the ad. Even back then there was a war on Christmas! Bill O'Reilly was right, those bastards!

It shows Santa coming down the chimney at Fred's house (Wilma and Betty must be out shopping, not sure if this was before Pebble's was born or not), and Fred gives him some Fruity Pebbles, which of course makes Barney jealous until Santa tells them to share. Can someone tell me what the hell Barney is wearing? A dress? Did he get that from Mrs. Claus? And Dino is carolling? I thought he couldn't speak? Is he just going "ruh-ruh-ruh-ruh-ruh-ruh-ruh-ruh?"

Another thing I'm not clear on: what exactly is the timeline that The Flintstones follows? They're from B.C. but they celebrate Christmas? Video after the jump.