Yabba dabba do! How The Flintstones set the stage for the adult animation boom

By David Barnett

 

The Flintstones, which aired in the 1960s, was originally meant for adults rather than children. Photograph: Everett Collection / Rex Features

 

Anyone who was a child in the 1970s onwards probably remembers The Flintstones as a Saturday morning cartoon staple, a yabba-dabba-doo time of prehistoric frolics and gleefully anachronistic dinosaurs.

 

But when it initially aired 60 years ago, the adventures of Fred and Wilma, the titular Stone Age family, were aimed at adults.

 

They are the direct ancestors of the golden age of adult-oriented animation we enjoy today.

 

When it was first broadcast on the ABC network on 30 September 1960, it went out at 8.30pm, after bedtime for most kids.

 

Full Story: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/oct/08/yabba-dabba-do-how-the-flintstones-set-the-stage-for-the-adult-animation-boom

Fred and Wilma were the first couple to be seen in bed together on US prime time tv.... Shocking...