Still HowardFein
01-14-2008, 02:29 PM
Most FLINTSTONE fans claim the show lost its adult focus midway through with the birth of Pebbles, and more so with the arrival of Gazoo. Granted, the scripts were quite edgy in Seasons 1 and 2: a lot of arguing, scheming, evil bosses and corrupt executives. Season 4 naturally emphasized new-parent gags, and Season 5 raised the fantasy/adventure quotient (monsters as neighbors, personality-switching machines, time machines, two trips out West).
But there seems to a subtle shift taking place through Season 6 whereby the focus of the stories returned to the relationships between the four core characters. In fact, Gazoo prominently plays into Herb Finn and Alan Dinehart's "How to Pick a Fight With Your Wife Without Really Trying" (his bad advice causes Fred and Wilma to separate after a rather unsettling onscreen argument) and less so in Harvey Bullock's "Jealousy", in which Fred fears Wilma is rekindling an affair with her old school chum- thanks to his own deceit, of course.
"Jealousy" is striking in that the kids and pets don't appear at all- or even Betty, who's only mentioned in passing. Through the second half of the episode, Fred's at his bowling match and Wilma's at the violin concert with Wilbur Terwillerrock. Who's watching Pebbles?! One gets the impression that the episode was written during the pre-childbirth years, but not produced until 1966. Gazoo's only prominent role is to tranform Barney into Fred's 'date', Barbara (surprising that the ABC censors let this through!). Had this been a pre-childbirth episode, Barney would've just gone in drag- so Gazoo's presence barely makes a difference.
"Seeing Doubles", scripted by George O'Hanlon- yes, the voice of Jetson- is famous for the oft-repeated "Yes, yes, yes", "No, no, no" dialogue of Fred and Barney Nothing- conjured, of course by Gazoo. But the wives, who inevitably sweetened as they became mothers (made more noticeable by Gerry Johnson's overly perky assumption of Betty's voice), are actually quite manipulative here as they 'punish' the boys (again, for lying about bowling) by forcing them to take them to an extremely expensive restaurant. (Unlike in Season 4's "Sleep on, Sweet Fred" or Season 6's "The Great Gazoo", they experience no remorse over straining their husbands' bank accounts!)
Gazoo contibutes to the titular premise of Walter Black's "Boss For The Day", which makes a rather welcome return to the Slate Rock & Gravel Company and that wrackin'-frackin' Slate's chop-busting. But after Gazoo sets up situation, the action wisely shifts to Fred learning the old 'grass is always greener' lesson. Some nice jabs at accountants, boards of directors and office politics in general.
In that vein, there are a couple of episodes that resurrect the fondly timeworn 'Fred schemes to make money and/or his life easier' story structure that epitomized THE HONEYMOONERS, which in turn inspired THE FLINTSTONES. This includes "The House That Fred Built", "The Gravelberry Pie King" (co-scripted by Finn, who wrote for the HONEYMOONERS) and "Circus Business", the later of which is largely carnival slapstick but contains some entertainingly bizarre sideshow acts. Check out the half-man/half-woman!
Finn and Dinehart's "Disorder in the Court" was a fairly scathing parody of the judicial system ("You've been hearing a lot of lies about my client. Now it's my turn.") whose dialogue-heavy first half probably bores kids but is said to be fairly accurate by some lawyers I know.
Barry E. Blitzer's "Shinrock a Go-Go" was a neat pop-culture parody-always a trademark of the series-examining dance crazes and overexpectations of celebrity. (Fred's dream sequence is a classic!) Interestingly, Blitzer wrote two of the season's frothier episodes, "Fred Goes Ape" and "Dripper". The season's two other rock-oriented episodes were also quite amusing, if more oriented, respectively to sight gags (Warren Foster's "Masquerade Party", famous for the Way-Outs) and both sentiment (Joanna Lee's "No Biz Like Show Biz").
There was still no shortage of Special Guest Star episodes ("The Return of Stony Curtis", "Samantha"); Lessons Learned With or Without Dreams ("Rip Van Flintstone", "My Fair Freddy"); Adventurous Forays Away From Bedrock ("Treasure of Sierra Madrock", Fred's Island", "The Long Long Weekend"), and Adventures with Bad Guys ("Stonefinger", "Two Men on a Dinosaur"). Interestingly, the kids were nowhere to be seen in "Stony Curtis", which took place at 'home', but is nowhere as adult-oriented as the already-discussed "Jealousy"- hence, this is another episode that would have fit quite well in Season 1 or 2.
Of course, no matter how one interprets a specific episode, as long as there are gadgets made from wisecracking animals and Fred's loud mouth, it's still THE FLINTSTONES!
But there seems to a subtle shift taking place through Season 6 whereby the focus of the stories returned to the relationships between the four core characters. In fact, Gazoo prominently plays into Herb Finn and Alan Dinehart's "How to Pick a Fight With Your Wife Without Really Trying" (his bad advice causes Fred and Wilma to separate after a rather unsettling onscreen argument) and less so in Harvey Bullock's "Jealousy", in which Fred fears Wilma is rekindling an affair with her old school chum- thanks to his own deceit, of course.
"Jealousy" is striking in that the kids and pets don't appear at all- or even Betty, who's only mentioned in passing. Through the second half of the episode, Fred's at his bowling match and Wilma's at the violin concert with Wilbur Terwillerrock. Who's watching Pebbles?! One gets the impression that the episode was written during the pre-childbirth years, but not produced until 1966. Gazoo's only prominent role is to tranform Barney into Fred's 'date', Barbara (surprising that the ABC censors let this through!). Had this been a pre-childbirth episode, Barney would've just gone in drag- so Gazoo's presence barely makes a difference.
"Seeing Doubles", scripted by George O'Hanlon- yes, the voice of Jetson- is famous for the oft-repeated "Yes, yes, yes", "No, no, no" dialogue of Fred and Barney Nothing- conjured, of course by Gazoo. But the wives, who inevitably sweetened as they became mothers (made more noticeable by Gerry Johnson's overly perky assumption of Betty's voice), are actually quite manipulative here as they 'punish' the boys (again, for lying about bowling) by forcing them to take them to an extremely expensive restaurant. (Unlike in Season 4's "Sleep on, Sweet Fred" or Season 6's "The Great Gazoo", they experience no remorse over straining their husbands' bank accounts!)
Gazoo contibutes to the titular premise of Walter Black's "Boss For The Day", which makes a rather welcome return to the Slate Rock & Gravel Company and that wrackin'-frackin' Slate's chop-busting. But after Gazoo sets up situation, the action wisely shifts to Fred learning the old 'grass is always greener' lesson. Some nice jabs at accountants, boards of directors and office politics in general.
In that vein, there are a couple of episodes that resurrect the fondly timeworn 'Fred schemes to make money and/or his life easier' story structure that epitomized THE HONEYMOONERS, which in turn inspired THE FLINTSTONES. This includes "The House That Fred Built", "The Gravelberry Pie King" (co-scripted by Finn, who wrote for the HONEYMOONERS) and "Circus Business", the later of which is largely carnival slapstick but contains some entertainingly bizarre sideshow acts. Check out the half-man/half-woman!
Finn and Dinehart's "Disorder in the Court" was a fairly scathing parody of the judicial system ("You've been hearing a lot of lies about my client. Now it's my turn.") whose dialogue-heavy first half probably bores kids but is said to be fairly accurate by some lawyers I know.
Barry E. Blitzer's "Shinrock a Go-Go" was a neat pop-culture parody-always a trademark of the series-examining dance crazes and overexpectations of celebrity. (Fred's dream sequence is a classic!) Interestingly, Blitzer wrote two of the season's frothier episodes, "Fred Goes Ape" and "Dripper". The season's two other rock-oriented episodes were also quite amusing, if more oriented, respectively to sight gags (Warren Foster's "Masquerade Party", famous for the Way-Outs) and both sentiment (Joanna Lee's "No Biz Like Show Biz").
There was still no shortage of Special Guest Star episodes ("The Return of Stony Curtis", "Samantha"); Lessons Learned With or Without Dreams ("Rip Van Flintstone", "My Fair Freddy"); Adventurous Forays Away From Bedrock ("Treasure of Sierra Madrock", Fred's Island", "The Long Long Weekend"), and Adventures with Bad Guys ("Stonefinger", "Two Men on a Dinosaur"). Interestingly, the kids were nowhere to be seen in "Stony Curtis", which took place at 'home', but is nowhere as adult-oriented as the already-discussed "Jealousy"- hence, this is another episode that would have fit quite well in Season 1 or 2.
Of course, no matter how one interprets a specific episode, as long as there are gadgets made from wisecracking animals and Fred's loud mouth, it's still THE FLINTSTONES!