UPDATE 2:15 PM: TOLDJA! Fox just announced the deal at its upfront this afternoon. Fox entertainment president Kevin Reilly said production on the animated series will begin production in Fall 2011 for a 2013 premiere on the Fox schedule. In a cross-studio collaboration, The Flintstones will be produced jointly by 20th Century Fox Television and Warner Bros Television. Dan Palladino (Gilmore Girls) and Kara Vallow (Family Guy) will serve as executive producers with Seth MacFarlane who says the very first cartoon character he drew at age 2 was Fred Flintstone. “So it’s appropriate that events have come full circle, allowing me to produce the newest incarnation of this great franchise. Plus, I think America is finally ready for an animated sitcom about a fat stupid guy with a wife who’s too good for him.” Added Reilly: “The Flintstones are among the funniest and most beloved characters in television history, and we can’t wait to introduce them to a whole new generation on Fox,” said Kevin Reilly, President of Entertainment, Fox Broadcasting Company. “FOX has long been home to iconic families like the Simpsons and the Griffins, so I have no doubt that the Flintstones and the Rubbles are going to fit right in on our air.” He hinted that the deal for the show closed just hours before the presentation today — just like I told you. In a video shown at the upfronts, MacFarlane shed some light on his plans for the remake: The characters will look the same but he’ll introduce new technology, like “What is the animal version of an iPad?”
EXCLUSIVE: Seth MacFarlane is one of the busiest creatives in show business — and he just got a lot busier. I’ve just learned that he’s finally realized one of his life’s ambitions: to reboot The Flintstones as a TV and film property. My scoop today follows years of very complicated negotiations between 20th Century Fox TV, where McFarlane is based, and Warner Bros Television, which owns the rights to the series after absorbing The Flintstones‘ famed producer Hanna-Barbera. Not only did the suits have a ton of deal points to work through, but I hear the “Yabba Dabba Doo” prehistoric family sitcom’s rightholders were somewhat concerned how the classic series would be interpreted given MacFarlane’s brand of raunchy comedies like Family Guy. (But, if you ask me, Universal’s dreadful Flintstones films were the real abomination …) So here are all the Hollywood players who had to unentangle this mess: MacFarlane’s attorney Jim Jackoway, WME’s Ari Emanuel and Greg Hodes; 20th Century Fox TV’s Gary Newman, Ira Kurghan, and Howard Kurtzman; and Warner Bros Television’s Peter Roth, Brett Paul and even Bruce Rosenblum. There’s no broadcast date as of yet, but the reboot will air on Fox.
A lot of people only associate McFarlane with raunchy humor, but they forget he started out on Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken and Dexter’s Laboratory.Those were kids’ shows, but with adult sensibilities.
I am anxious to see what he will do with The Flintstones.
you know you are talkin bullsh*t, right?
actually he is right….MacFarlane worked on them…u should look it up.
“…the “Yabba Dabba Doo” prehistoric family sitcom’s rightholders were somewhat concerned how the classic series would be interpreted given MacFarlane’s brand of raunchy comedies…” They should have been more concerned about how awful the previous film interpretations have been! They damn near killed the brand for me and while the series is a classic, it’s stuck, well, in the Stone Age.
Hey Seth,
Cast Donald Trump as a wealthy (mostly inherited) very hairy, arrogant, womanizing caveman with delusions of grandeur like being president of the Stone Age…he would be perfect.
And, Donald obviously loves being on television….
CAN’T WAIT!
Yabba-Dabba-Doo! Can’t wait.
Wow crazy!!! I wonder if it will be animated or live action. Im guessing animated, but if it is will it just look like another Family Guy/American Dad/Cleveland or will they try to do something new? Is it going to be a kids show or an adult comedy?
The more I think about this it seems like a lame idea. There are already 20 shows on TV that are directly influenced by The Flinstones (Honeymooners if you want to get technical), why do we need another. Are people really going to find Fred yelling “Wiiillllllmmmmmaaaaa!!!!” funny??? I doubt it.
Then again, if anyone has the ability to put a fresh spin on this, Seth McFartman is the best man for the job. But how far from the source material will they let him go?
Flintstones was copied from The Honeymooners. Honeymooners started around 1950 and Flintstones in 1960.
Ya, I know, that’s why I said “Honeymooners if you want to get technical”
You left it quite ambiguous though, and that was the way I read it as well.
Sorry, but I yabba-dabba-don’t. Especially if the drawing style is Borg-ed into Seth’s typical drawing style seen on every other show he’s helm on Fox.
Love this!!! Would he play Fred? Trevor Donovan would make a good Bam Bam! Curious to see how they are going to do this.
Why bother? I’ll stick to the reruns. They couldn’t do it with Looney Tunes and I doubt they can do it with any of the Hannah Barbara classics. Leave well enough alone.
Amen!
No one will be able to rec-create the innocence and good humor. It is NOT an edgy cartoon. It was aired at 8 p.m. as a family show. I do NOT see Seth MacFarlane being able to carry the theme. He should stick to his slick, hard edged comedy show. They are all the same, just different char. names.
Re-do Family guy as the flintstones? No thank you.
It was the first animated show in primetime, I am intrigued to see Macfarlane tackle it, there has load of references to both The Flintstones and the Jetsons so he’s a fan. I don’t expect it to anything like Family Guy.
Oh no.
“American Dad” seems to be a dumping ground for bits not funny enough for “Family Guy.” “The Cleveland Show,” ugh! Abysmal.
I hope he pulls his “Johnny Bravo” sensibilities into “the Flintstones,” otherwise he might end up killing the current surge in popularity of cel animation that he helped to create.
Are you serious? American Dad is the best show of the bunch and probably the funniest comedy on TV. Family Guy has been terrible for a while, but Cleveland Show is the worst.
The Cleveland Show… ugh! Tell me about it!!
I stopped watching after that Big Momma spoof episode …something about on-screen vomit and the reference of feces didn’t sit well with me :-X
Can he handle 4 shows? Or is he planing this to take the place of either FAMILY GUY or AMERICAN DAD?
The question is why type of “Reboot” – something along the lines of a “Season 7″ picking up where the series ended on ABC in 1966,or later with the kids as teen-agers? or starting from scratch – before the kids and dino?
I doubt he’s going to drop any of his shows (including the Cleveland Show, his other successful show); he’s just going to be incredibly busy. And as far as why it’s a “reboot,” I’m assuming they’re calling it that because it hasn’t been on television for 50+ years. MacFarlane’s far too creative to settle for a crappy show with Pebbles and Bam-Bam as teens; No one would watch that. My guess is that the new Flinstones will take all the characters we know and love, and simply create new storylines with culturally relevant themes and issues. This “reboot” has some enormous potential, as long as they don’t follow any of the suggestions you made.
This is a great match of brand and talent.
Now if someone can just reboot the THUNDERBIRDS I’ll be a happy man.
Wasn’t that called TEAM AMERICA?
No sir Thunderbirds! Team America parodied the original english show in some ways especially with the marionettes.
I love Seth MacFarlane and The Flintstones but I dont see them together and reboots almost never work. The poster that mentioned Johnny Bravo and Dexter’s Laboratory had a good point though so I hope this works out
Didn’t realise he was involved with those two hilarious shows until I read this – the man has just gone up in my estimation!
yabba dabba don’t
I agree. I’m not excited for this.
there’s also talk of the following series to be re-booted:
The Jetsons, Josie and the Pussycats, and The Smurfs. Any more details?
They ARE rebooting the Smurfs! Much to my personal horror, one of the studios is putting out a Smurfs live-action film this summer. They really didn’t need to do that, needless to say I won’t be wasting my money on that one while it’s in theaters. And Josie and the Pussycats also had a film “reboot”, I’m not sure it did so hot.
This is exciting news. And while MacFarlane’s shows of late have been raunchy, he’s always come off as a guy who repects the classics. I look forward to his interpretation.
that does it, im now convinced he’s not human. McFarlane is obviously an android…
He can’t do any worse to Fred and Barney then what Steven Spielrock did to them
Well I never would’ve seen that coming.
I think that it’s a little absurd for folks to automatically assume everything Seth would do would be similar to Family Guy. He’s clearly an animation fan and a very savvy one at that so I credit him with having enough brains to not try raunch up The Flintstones.
Do we know if this is going to be animated or live action?
The movie was pretty lousy. Very low brow but it was well cast. It was painfully unfunny though.
Clearly you have never seen Family Guy, American Dad and the Cleveland Show back to back. It’s the exact same show and he just cookiecuts characters into stupid man of the house (Fred), too good for him wife(Wilma), talking animal(Dino), and the boy and girl (either bambam and pebbles or barney and betty)tl;dr I will be dissapoint.
No more dysfunctional families, Seth.
I agree with IDLC. Enough of dysfunctional families Seth.
Hopefully there won’t be any talking creatures other than that of the original Flintstones. Human-like dogs, bears and aliens just can’t cut it anymore…
“The Flintstones” was originally billed as not only the first prime time animated series but also the first adult cartoon; it even had Fred and Barney doing its cigarette commercials. Everybody at the time knew it was a ripoff of “The Honeymooners,” and I always found it annoying and witless with the usual crappy Hanna-Barbera limited animation doing disservice to the gifted voice actors. So I suppose I’m up for McFarlane’s iteration if only to finally kick some style into the property. But do you think they’ll still have Flintstones vitamins?
They will probably cast two of the following recognisable actors with comedic experience as Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble:
Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell, Ricky Gervais, Simon Pegg, Eddie Izzard, Owen Wilson, Jack Black, Rob Schneider, Jeremy Piven, Steve Coogan.
What dream world are you living in these days? If it’s been his life-long dream to bring them back, and he does voices himself, why wouldn’t HE be Fred?
I think he will tear shit up as per usual. The mans clearly a fan and has not only the perfect resume but a decent enough writing staff under his belt. If it were to fail on fox I’m sure it’ll be good enough to get picked up on FX or even comedy central I.e. futurama ( which also has its fair share of jetsons references )
It would at least get picked up by Cartoon Network.