He’s best known for the likes of Family Guy and American Dad, but Seth MacFarlane has long harboured a desire to snatch one of the most famous animated shows of all time out of retirement and make it his own. Now he’s done just that – he’s bringing The Flintstones back.
Though it sounded to us less like a “Yabba Dabba Doo!” idea and more a Yabba Dabba Doooy?” one, MacFarlane is apparently a big fan of the original series, announcing at an event for the US Fox network (home to all his other animated output) that he was thrilled to be working with characters he used to doodle when he was two: “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.”
The stone-age family sitcom was, before The Simpsons arrived, the most successful cartoon on TV. If you’ve never seen it (and we can only assume you were living in a cave, much like the main characters), it focuses on frustrated construction worker Fred, wife Wilma, best pal Barney and his other half Betty as they live their lives in a society that looked very much like our world, but with every element turned into caveman versions, often with animals in place of technology.
But while some might worry that he’ll go ahead and change much about the show, which could end up ruining it, MacFarlane is promising to at least keep the visuals close to the original style. “The characters will look the same but he'll introduce new technology, like 'What is the animal version of an iPad?'”
We’re just hoping he keeps the pop-culture cut-away gags away. And let’s face it – could it turn out worse than either of the two films? We shudder at the memory still...