THE NEW FRED AND BARNEY SHOW
(NBC, February
3-October 20, 1979)
Hanna-Barbera
Productions
MAIN CAST:
Henry Corden
– Fred Flintstone
Mel Blanc
– Barney Rubble, Dino
Jean Vander
Pyl – Wilma Flintstone, Pebbles Flintstone
Gay Autterson
– Betty Rubble
Don Messick
– Bamm-Bamm Rubble, various
As part of Fred Silverman’s efforts to
revitalize the last-place NBC, he decided to
bring back some old favorites. One of them was the return to the classic Stone
Age sitcom, The
Flintstones.
 |
| Fred and Barney out for a round of golf. |
The New
Fred and Barney Show was a direct continuation of the 1960s series. Pebbles
(Jean Vander Pyl) and Bamm-Bamm (Don Messick) were reverted to their toddler
forms, after having been depicted as teenagers in The
Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show, although newer characters like the Rubbles’
pet hopparoo, Hoppy (outside of the intro),
and the powerful alien visitor The
Great Gazoo were nowhere to be found. Instead of dealing purely with the
slice of life stuff that was the foundation of sitcoms, Fred and Barney often
started off in seemingly mundane situations while ending up in increasingly
fantastical ones. For instance, Fred (Henry Corden) and Barney (Mel Blanc) head
out for an evening of bowling only to end up in the house of an evil witch. Frank
Frankenstone and Count
Rockula (both John Stephenson) were based on Frankenstein’s
monster and Count
Dracula, respectively, replacing The Gruesomes
as the Flintstones’ spooky neighbors. Original
comparisons to The
Honeymooners were also further reinforced with episodes of Fred and
Barney that shared similar plots; such as Fred gaining an inheritance from
a rich person he was nice to and it ending up being a bird (“Ralph Kramden,
Inc.”), or finding a suitcase full of money and having to deal with the crooks
who want it back (“Funny Money”).
 |
| Betty and Wilma ready for a night on the town. |
The New
Fred and Barney Show debuted mid-season on NBC on February 3, 1979. The
series’ theme was a reworking of the original written by producer Joe Barbera and composed by Hoyt Curtin, emphasizing the
newness of the series and the return to classic Flintstones. Notably, it
was the first time Corden would voice Fred for a regular series as original
actor Alan Reed had died in
1977 (Corden previously provided Fred’s singing voice in place of Reed). The
series was written by Doug Booth,
Andy Heyward, Len Janson, Glenn Leopold, Chuck Menville, Bob Ogle, Ray Parker, Dave Stone and
Chip Yaras,
with Larz Bourne serving as
story editor.
Fred and
Barney ran for two short seasons for a total of 17 episodes. For the second
season, Fred and Barney was combined with one of Hanna-Barbera’s latest
offerings, The Thing
(loosely based on the Marvel Comics
character), in the package program Fred and Barney Meet the Thing. Despite
the misleading title, the two sets of characters never interacted outside of
the package’s intro and commercial bumpers. Beginning on December 8th,
the package was expanded to 90 minutes to include The
New Shmoo and was retitled Fred and Barney Meet the Shmoo. The
package show continued on in reruns through 1980, when it was replaced by The Flintstone Comedy Show. Different versions of Frankenstone, his family and
Count Rockula would appear in two prime-time Flintstones specials: The Flintstones Meet Rockula
and Frankenstone and The Flintstones’ New
Neighbors.
EPISODE GUIDE:
Season 1:
“Sand-Witch” (2/3/79) – Car trouble leads Fred and Barney to
seek a telephone in a house that belongs to a man-eating witch.
“Haunted Inheritance” (2/10/79) – Because he was kind to an
aristocrat disguised as a quarry worker, Fred gets entered into a competition
for an inheritance.
“Roughin’ It” (2/17/79) – Feeling modern living is making life
easy and boring, Fred tries to go back to old-fashioned caveman living.
“C.B. Buddies” (2/24/79) – Fred and Barney cause trouble
when they overpower their new CB radios.
“Bedrock Rocks” (3/3/79) – Fred tries to hook the Slates up
with members of a rock band Mrs. Slate wants to see on her birthday, but
failing that he and Barney impersonate them.
“Blood Brothers” (3/10/79) – Fred and Barney end up saving a
reformed Count Rockula from a car accident, and he does his best to befriend
them and make them his “blood brothers”.
“Barney’s Chickens” (3/17/79) – Barney ends up accidentally
hypnotizing a bunch of people into believing they’re chickens.
“The Butler Did It…and Did It Better” (3/24/79) – Fred is
happy with his new robot butler, until the robot proves to be better than him
at everything.
“It’s Not Their Bag” (3/31/79) – Fred and Barney find a bag
of stolen money while playing golf and must evade the crooks looking for it.
“Barney’s Luck” (4/7/79) – Fred tries to prove that a coin
Barney found isn’t responsible for his string of extraordinary good luck.
Season 2:
“Stone Age Werewolf” (9/8/79) – Fred and Barney head out in
search of a werewolf, but a storm forces them to take shelter in the cabin of a
friendly old man.
“Fred & Barney Meet the Frankenstones” (9/15/79) –
Needing a break, Fred and Barney head to a spa they discover is run by Frank
Frankenstone.
“Physical Fitness Fred” (9/22/79) – Jealous over his wife’s
fawning over a celebrity, Fred decides to get fit to turn her head.
“Moonlighters” (9/29/79) – Fred and Barney try to compensate
for rising prices by taking various part-time jobs.
“Fred Goes to the Houndasaurs” (10/6/79) – Wilma adopts a
new Houndasaur that causes trouble for both Fred and Dino.
“The Bad Luck Genie” (10/13/79) – Fred finds a genie while
fishing whose wish-granting ends up causing more trouble than they’re worth.
“Dinosaur Country Safari” (10/20/79) – Fred and Barney take
their wives on a safari which ends up with their landing in a pterodactyl’s
nest.
No comments:
Post a Comment