While some of the more obscure Hanna-Barbera characters such as Squiddly Diddly or Jabberjaw may not very well known among the general public, there’s one family, a “Modern Stone Age Family” in fact, who everyone will instantly recognise – The Flintstones.
But The Flintstones didn’t start out life as The Flintstones.
In fact, when Hanna-Barbera was casting around for an adult-friendly sitcom-like cartoon to follow the adult/child embracing glee of Tom and Jerry – cartoon shows like The Huckleberry Hound Show and The Quick Draw McGraw Show had them pegged as “kids only” – the show they pitched to network execs was known as The Flagstones.
Same sensibility, same cute adaptation of everything modern into Stone Age pun-laden facsimiles – Hollywood became “Hollyrock” while planes were simply cabins strapped onto a pterosaur – but whole different name.
Not to mention the fact that Fred and Wilma Flintstone and their neighbours Barney and Betty Rubble looked a whole lot different; and Pebbles Flintstone was a boy named Fred Jr.
Still in this clip, you can see the genesis and nascent charm of The Flintstones, which became a wildly successful, primetime animated show that ran from 1960 to 1966, and which proved that it was possible for an animated show to attract a diverse audience, something The Simpson emulated and then some many years later.
(Source: Laughing Squid)
And if you’re interested here’s Mojo.com’s history of the show …