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The Flintstones -The Complete First Season Customer Reviews (10 - 12 of 24 Reviews)

Re: Tired Old Stereotypes
To the Viewer from Seattle: "If anything, The Flintstones embraces every deplorable aspect of what would eventually become known as abusive and dysfunctional marriages."

Chill out man, it's just a cartoon!

Yabadaba doo!
I have seen all the episodes at least three times over. One of the funniest series to grace television. The Prowler is my favorite episode. While the extras aren't much I really don't care. Just having the complete first season at my disposal at any time is enough for me. Can't wait till Season two!

Tired old stereotypes don't stand the test of time
As a child, The Flintstones delighted millions of viewers, including myself, during a lengthy television run and subsequent syndication. Times may have been simpler back then (though I suspect only television and its portrayal of life was, in all actuality, simpler back then), but whatever charm and enchantment this program had during its heydey has dissipated with time. If anything, The Flintstones embraces every deplorable aspect of what would eventually become known as abusive and dysfunctional marriages.

The show still has its moments with its amusing talking gadgets and somewhat clever plays on words (Hollyrock, Rock Vegas, Ann Margrock, etc.), but in the 21st century, characters based on tired stereotypes who are engaged in duplicitous and distrustful relationships carry little to no charm. Fred Flintstone, without qualm, throws away Barney Rubble's friendship in almost every episode, displaying about as much commitment and loyalty to his friends as a grade-schooler jockying for a position in the school yard power structure. Fred and Barney routinely lie to their wives, so often that Wilma has already become jaded and suspicious by the first episode. Wilma and Betty's love for their perpetually-scheming husbands is most apparent when "the girls" are showered with material items. We're reminded in every other episode that Wilma wants a fur coat, and in one particular episode, she's pretty much had it with Fred until she thinks he's bought her a diamond ring. Suddenly, she loves her man despite all his faults!

I realize this is just a show, and perhaps -- in the immortal words of the MST3K theme song -- I should really just relax. However, when I watch the Flintstones today, I don't find Wilma and Fred trying to outsmart and deceive each other funny; I find it sad. Fred's shabby treatment of his next door neighbor would prompt most people today to advise Barney to find some better friends.

To its credit, the Flintstones did pave the way for many prime time animated series and for several programs featuring characters in less than perfect marriages and family lives. The more successful of these subsequent shows seem to have found a way to exploit dysfunctional relationships with a sense of humor and irony that caused their characters to evolve and transcend the stagnancy in which the Flintstones remained throughout most of the series. While it may have been funny at the time, would anyone really want Fred and Wilma Flintstone as neighbors today?

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