Flintstones Celebrate 50th Anniversary

Today marks the 50th anniversary of America’s best known stone-age family – the Flintstones.

The show was a Hanna-Barbera cartoon, originally airing from 1960-1966 on ABC. The series was originally aimed at adults, and the first two seasons were even sponsored by Winston Cigarettes. The show was modeled after the sitcoms of the day – specifically “The Honeymooners.” For the third season, Welch’s Grape became the main sponsor, and the writing became more family-centric.

“The Flintstones” was the first primetime animated series to last more than two seasons, and lasted as the longest running until “The Simpsons” aired their third season in 1992.