WB May Bring The Flintstones Back
Aside from their unsinkable cereal and vitamin products, the influence of a certain prehistoric cartoon family pales in this century to the juggernaut it was in the 20th. Fred, Barney, Wilma and Betty have barely seen any action aside from some weird cartoon projects that went nowhere. That may change if WB’s new plan is successful.
If an announcement of a Flintstones revival sounds familiar to you, you’re right — we’ve heard this exact thing before, back in 2011 when Fox was interested in producing a new series. They’d enlisted Seth MacFarlane to develop it, but the project didn’t get beyond a short concept demo (which has never gotten out) and a few painted backgrounds. Reportedly they couldn’t find a way to fit the series into MacFarlane’s busy schedule (maybe he could learn a thing or two from Greg Berlanti).
Now that problem belongs to Elizabeth Banks, whose production company Brownstone Productions has taken up the latest Flintstones revival attempt. This one would be produced by Warner Bros. Animation directly, but the way it’s going to be beamed into your TV sets hasn’t been determined. We’d put our bets on this HBO Max thing they’re about to launch that’s hungry for content.
One new Flintstones project means the cancellation of another: Boomerang will no longer host Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs, the spinoff that was well under construction and probably had a few episodes completed. If WB doesn’t end up producing this new revival either, that will make THREE attempts in one decade that have been buried.