Animator Seth MacFarlane is well known in the animation community for his shows Family GUy, Amwerican Dad, and The Cleveland Show.
It’s been announced that in 2013, a ‘21st Century spin’ To Hanna-Barbera’s The Flinstones will premier, from MacFarlane.
bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-13437084
I’m not a fan of either The Flinstones or Family Guy. But I was a bit like “Whuuuua?” when I first found out about this.
Your thoughts?
Boooo. I can’t stand anything by McFarlane. I swear if they have most of the episode taken up by stupid overly long gags, I will lose it.
I agree totally. 
I do not like him, his ideas about Pixar, or his pessimistic, pointless, crude television programs. I will definitely miss this one(well, I won’t miss anything, but I will not watch it). 
Ehh… I always watched the Flinstones with my dad when I was little, but with all these shows in his resume I don’t think I’ll be watching this. Ehh
Seth remaking The Flintstones? That’s odd… last time I checked this was the same person who made a short calling these beloved classic cartoon stars “out-of-date dooshbags!”: [url]- YouTube
But considering that Seth would actually acknowledge some kind of fondness for the idea of reviving the show, I have to wonder if perhaps I was always seeing a bit too much into his Family Guy gags to where I perceived them as blatant assaults on the Golden Age cartoons of my childhood, in part giving me a resentment and disdain for his type of humor (this was even the case with the “Family Guy vs Simpsons” debate despite hearing that Seth and Matt were in reality good friends, although it didn’t change how I felt that The Simpsons was far superior in it’s early days when it had the best writing). For me, the lesson I felt from it was “if you don’t want people to really think you’re attacking such-and-such, don’t do it in the first place!”. Not everyone will recognize that it’s only a joke. The one that really struck a nerve with me was a gag where [spoil]Peter sneaks up behind Yogi Bear and stabs him in the back[/spoil], and especially how, because of the popularity of the show and it’s overuse of pop-culture, I would now be seeing people referencing “that one episode of Family Guy” whenever they look back at a classic again. Then again, The Flintstones itself was kind of really made for an adult audience (though I always found Hanna-Barbera’s cartoons to be quite tame compared to Family Guy), so is it because of watching reruns on Cartoon Network and the characters being staples of my childhood that I have difficulty thinking of the show as such?
I may be open to seeing what comes out of this, but since I could never bring myself to care for Seth’s style of humor in the past I probably deep down dislike the idea of it altogether. I guess “artistically” I know I’m going to hate it because I know it’s never going to look as good as Hanna-Barbera’s work on the original show and that it’ll just be done in the same method that he does Family Guy, American Dad, Cleveland Show, etc. which (for me anyway) was never fun or pleasing to watch. Ironically, John K. did some remakes himself of Yogi Bear and The Jetsons, which had his more expressive style of animation but also kind of alienated people who loved the characters for making them look so grotesque, taking away their original charm in a way.
I should also mention that there was already a previous revival done by Cartoon Network called The Flintstones: On the Rocks (not many people may remember it since it only aired for a brief time) that was more of a TV movie. William Hanna also died at the time they made this:
[url]- YouTube
Again, I’ll probably try and take a look at it when it comes, but I just have a feeling that the best Flintstones revival we’re ever going to get is the one above. I have my doubts that Seth can be able to carry this type of responsibility for such a franchise. And why shouldn’t I have doubts? He clearly hasn’t built the kind of reputation to trust him with these characters anyway.
Flick-E: I think the “Out of Date Douchebags” is Seth’s form of a tribute. He is a big fan of Hanna-Barbera. He says he remembers being 2 years old and drawing Fred Flinstone, and the first place that hired him was Hanna-Barbera once he graduated.
Also, I like Flinstones on the Rocks! Pretty funny stuff.
lol, i admit to liking - and occasionally loving - family guy. i still like american dad better, though.
that being said, i’m not really sure how i feel about this. it just seems kind of odd. but eh, let’s see how it goes.
at least it’ll ~most likely~ be better than the live-action version of the flinstones, right? xD
Maybe…
I kinda liked the first Flintstones movie as a kid. It was one of the very few “cartoons turned live-action” movies that I never seemed to have much of a problem with cause I felt that The Flintstones was one of those cartoons that could just work perfectly that way. I know it’s not as good as The Man Called Flintstone though.
Oh god no, please god no. Why can’t this guy just stop already??? He’s already got more than enough shows on FOX, and now a fourth one?
Don’t get me wrong, I like Family Guy and American Dad, but Macfarlane is going WAY over the top. I understand that he’s a childhood fan of The Flintstones, but why on earth would he need to reboot the series? If he really does go through with this, he better not turn it into a mix of low-brow pop culture references and sexual jokes and acutally get it right for once, because some of his recent stuff has been a hit-and-miss.
I know! Have you noticed his three original shows all have the same set up? Flawed and stupid man of the house, hot wife, daughter who hates him, son who disapoints him, and non animal sidekick?
I’ve noticed that as well. It’s reasons like that that I’ve sometimes wished that the only animated sitcoms in the world were still The Flinstones and The Simpsons. Back then things seemed more original for shows like that. I’m aware on how some people say that Flinstones was just a ripoff of The Honeymooners, but here’s the thing: it’s Stone-Age setting made it stand out in a much more clever and unique way, which is why I always loved watching it as a cartoon. A lot of the animated families I’ve liked watching in the past have had their own unique spin that made me like watching them, Pixar included:
The Flinstones: Stone-Age family
The Jetsons: Space-Age family of the future (Futurama was different enough for me)
The Simpsons: The first real animated family in a modern setting, all living in the unknown location of Springfield in a universe where everyone has yellow skin and (for some) strange hairdos
The Incredibles: First superhero family, thanks to Brad Bird
But Family Guy and the rest of Seth’s shows started breaking this trend for me, originally the case being that I couldn’t help but see it as an obvious Simpsons clone. And the amount of pop-culture humor on the show didn’t help make it seem any more original or unique to me. It just put me off even more.
YES! I know–I think he’s gone loco…in fact, I wish he had actually went with Larry and Steve–that looked hilarious…
I like Family Guy but there are too much off Seth’s show’s. He made show’s in 10 years. Just take a break.
This makes me angry TBH. =/ I’m a Hanna Barbera fan and I can’t stand Seth MacFarlane. And blending the two together is like…mixing oil with water. It’s wrong.
Well to be fair, Seth did work with Hanna-Barbera on Cartoon Network shows before he got so well known for the shows he makes now. He made this short called Larry & Steve that had a lot better animation than Family Guy (though I tend to give more credit to Hanna-Barbera for that than Seth himself). And that short, I now know, was what Family Guy was really based off of rather than just copying The Simpsons. Plus he also worked on Johnny Bravo and Dexter’s Laboratory (both originally done by Hanna-Barbera).
Simpsons-clone or not though, it always seemed like a loss to me to go from making that short to being famous off of a show like Family Guy. And like I said earlier, even though Seth says he has a fondness for The Flintstones, the jokes I’ve seen on his shows never seemed to reflect any such fondness for those cartoons when I saw them parodied (in fact I would sometimes see how newer episodes of The Simpsons did theirs in comparison and thought they did it better). But again, it could have been a matter of reading too much into what it obviously looked like and taking it too seriously.
I just hat Family Guy because the only reason some people know classic film lines is because “They heard it on Family Guy!”
That’s exactly what I said too. 
Yeah, most of the jokes made on the show reference really obscure shows or bands that nobody knows, but they still think it’s a riot.
pretty much this. i really like the first three seasons of family guy, but the amount of cutaway gags in the newer episodes have made me want to tear my hair out. sometimes they’re funny, but lately it’s literally been, like, every two minutes. maybe not even.
if i hear even the slightest hint of, “this reminds me of the time i…” i’m out.
That’s how a lot of people feel like as well. The first 3 seasons of the show are classics. Season 4 and 5 are okay as well, but from Season 6 onwards it just got completely stale and lackluster. American Dad on the other hand just keeps getting better.