Why Seth MacFarlane Is The Wrong Choice To Reboot The Flintstones

Tuesday, May 17th, 2011 at 5:00pm
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Why Seth MacFarlane Is The Wrong Choice To Reboot <i>The Flintstones</i>  

I doubt that I’m the only person who recoils in something close to horror at the news that Seth MacFarlane is going to reboot The Flintstones for Fox. It’s not just the lazy thinking on behalf of the execs who greenlit the idea (“Hey! It’s a name people know, and we’ve got this guy who already makes cartoons for us!”), it’s a complete misunderstanding of what makes MacFarlane’s work and The Flintstones work. Can any good come of this?

Here’s the thing: The idea of bringing back The Flintstones isn’t a terrible one in and of itself (although I’d personally rather see a Jetsons revival). The series was a massive hit, way back when, and the core concept — using the Stone-Age family to comment on (and highlight the comedy in) contemporary family dynamics by drawing out both the parallels and ridiculousness therein– is stronger than most of today’s sitcoms have to rely on. But giving the show to Seth MacFarlane either demonstrates that TPTB at Fox have an astounding amount of faith in his talents, or no idea about cartoons other than they’re probably not real.

I may be jumping the gun with my concern, of course. The reportedly complicated contract negotiations between Fox and Warner Bros. Television, which owns Hanna-Barbera these days, apparently addressed concerns that the show would be too like MacFarlane’s other work, so there’s the possibility that we won’t be watching Family Guy: 3,000,000,000,000 BC when the show premieres in 2013. But I can’t help but think that The Flintstones was, like most sitcoms at the time, a sentimental show that pretended to be crabby but, at heart, believed in the family unit and friendship and the healing power of all good things. If it had a modern-day counterpart, it would be Modern Family, not Family Guy or American Dad, shows that are much snarkier and nihilistic in terms of humor, not to mention more scattered and dependent on pop culture tropes. It’s possible that MacFarlane has more strings to his bow than just the fast-paced foolery and unwitting father figure/snarky outsider commentator that really shouldn’t exist set-up of his two current Fox shows, and it’s definitely likely that he’s a Flintstones fan, but … well, based on past experience of his work, the idea of putting him in charge of a reboot seems tone-deaf at best. Here’s hoping the show proves me very, very wrong.

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  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_QKN5MHOI6VUFOYCTV5REK7M7A4 Jacob

    Would they? Would they?

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_QKN5MHOI6VUFOYCTV5REK7M7A4 Jacob

    Would they? Would they?

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_QKN5MHOI6VUFOYCTV5REK7M7A4 Jacob

    Would they? Would they?

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_QKN5MHOI6VUFOYCTV5REK7M7A4 Jacob

    Would they? Would they?

  • Red Robin

    You hope.  Remember, when he was working for Hanna-Barbara, he had people more willing to reign him in.  Fox meanwhile gives him a lot of leeway in terms of what he can do.  And while Flinstones is considered a kids show primarily by today’s standards, it was originally marketed a prime time sitcom, like the Simpsons or Family Guy.  And if they aim for that time slot and that demographic, and they don’t ask MacFarlane to censor himself some, it could easily turn into Family Guy with dinosaurs.

  • Red Robin

    You hope.  Remember, when he was working for Hanna-Barbara, he had people more willing to reign him in.  Fox meanwhile gives him a lot of leeway in terms of what he can do.  And while Flinstones is considered a kids show primarily by today’s standards, it was originally marketed a prime time sitcom, like the Simpsons or Family Guy.  And if they aim for that time slot and that demographic, and they don’t ask MacFarlane to censor himself some, it could easily turn into Family Guy with dinosaurs.

  • Red Robin

    You hope.  Remember, when he was working for Hanna-Barbara, he had people more willing to reign him in.  Fox meanwhile gives him a lot of leeway in terms of what he can do.  And while Flinstones is considered a kids show primarily by today’s standards, it was originally marketed a prime time sitcom, like the Simpsons or Family Guy.  And if they aim for that time slot and that demographic, and they don’t ask MacFarlane to censor himself some, it could easily turn into Family Guy with dinosaurs.

  • Red Robin

    You hope.  Remember, when he was working for Hanna-Barbara, he had people more willing to reign him in.  Fox meanwhile gives him a lot of leeway in terms of what he can do.  And while Flinstones is considered a kids show primarily by today’s standards, it was originally marketed a prime time sitcom, like the Simpsons or Family Guy.  And if they aim for that time slot and that demographic, and they don’t ask MacFarlane to censor himself some, it could easily turn into Family Guy with dinosaurs.

  • Red Robin

    While the idea of a modernized Flintstones does sound somewhat appealing, I’m uneasy about Seth McFarland being behind it.  I mean, yes, he used to work for Cartoon Network and Hanna-Barbara, but that was long time ago.  It was also on a network aimed primarily at children, who no doubt have a tight grip on the guy.  Now that he’s on Fox, he’s can get away with a lot more.  He loves going for the dark humor and lowest common denominator jokes involves sex, poop, rape, abortion and so on.

    And while I’m not saying he CAN’T do this show right, I’m not going to deny I’m not on edge about this.  I don’t want to see my oldest childhood icons making commentary about how Fred tried to convince Wilma to have an abortion with a pterodactyl coat hanger, when she got pregnant with Pebbles. 

    All I want is for this series to be treated with some respect.

  • Red Robin

    While the idea of a modernized Flintstones does sound somewhat appealing, I’m uneasy about Seth McFarland being behind it.  I mean, yes, he used to work for Cartoon Network and Hanna-Barbara, but that was long time ago.  It was also on a network aimed primarily at children, who no doubt have a tight grip on the guy.  Now that he’s on Fox, he’s can get away with a lot more.  He loves going for the dark humor and lowest common denominator jokes involves sex, poop, rape, abortion and so on.

    And while I’m not saying he CAN’T do this show right, I’m not going to deny I’m not on edge about this.  I don’t want to see my oldest childhood icons making commentary about how Fred tried to convince Wilma to have an abortion with a pterodactyl coat hanger, when she got pregnant with Pebbles. 

    All I want is for this series to be treated with some respect.

  • Red Robin

    While the idea of a modernized Flintstones does sound somewhat appealing, I’m uneasy about Seth McFarland being behind it.  I mean, yes, he used to work for Cartoon Network and Hanna-Barbara, but that was long time ago.  It was also on a network aimed primarily at children, who no doubt have a tight grip on the guy.  Now that he’s on Fox, he’s can get away with a lot more.  He loves going for the dark humor and lowest common denominator jokes involves sex, poop, rape, abortion and so on.

    And while I’m not saying he CAN’T do this show right, I’m not going to deny I’m not on edge about this.  I don’t want to see my oldest childhood icons making commentary about how Fred tried to convince Wilma to have an abortion with a pterodactyl coat hanger, when she got pregnant with Pebbles. 

    All I want is for this series to be treated with some respect.

  • Red Robin

    While the idea of a modernized Flintstones does sound somewhat appealing, I’m uneasy about Seth McFarland being behind it.  I mean, yes, he used to work for Cartoon Network and Hanna-Barbara, but that was long time ago.  It was also on a network aimed primarily at children, who no doubt have a tight grip on the guy.  Now that he’s on Fox, he’s can get away with a lot more.  He loves going for the dark humor and lowest common denominator jokes involves sex, poop, rape, abortion and so on.

    And while I’m not saying he CAN’T do this show right, I’m not going to deny I’m not on edge about this.  I don’t want to see my oldest childhood icons making commentary about how Fred tried to convince Wilma to have an abortion with a pterodactyl coat hanger, when she got pregnant with Pebbles. 

    All I want is for this series to be treated with some respect.

  • Seth Mc Farlane is FUNNY

     if you can honestly say that family guy isnt funny at all- then you are either:
    A) not american
    B) over 40
    c) dont know what humor is.

  • Seth Mc Farlane is FUNNY

     if you can honestly say that family guy isnt funny at all- then you are either:
    A) not american
    B) over 40
    c) dont know what humor is.

  • Seth Mc Farlane is FUNNY

     if you can honestly say that family guy isnt funny at all- then you are either:
    A) not american
    B) over 40
    c) dont know what humor is.

  • Seth Mc Farlane is FUNNY

     if you can honestly say that family guy isnt funny at all- then you are either:
    A) not american
    B) over 40
    c) dont know what humor is.

  • Omegasaga

    I loved simpsons too… about 20 yrs ago when it was original and fresh. Safe humor is for uptight people 

  • Omegasaga

    I loved simpsons too… about 20 yrs ago when it was original and fresh. Safe humor is for uptight people 

  • Omegasaga

    I loved simpsons too… about 20 yrs ago when it was original and fresh. Safe humor is for uptight people 

  • Omegasaga

    I loved simpsons too… about 20 yrs ago when it was original and fresh. Safe humor is for uptight people 

  • this article is retarded

    Seth Mc Farlane isnt funny?  So if you were forced to watch even two hrs of Family guy you wouldnt laugh once?????  
    Possibly one of the funniest shows E V E R.. and im 38 and have seen plenty

  • this article is retarded

    Seth Mc Farlane isnt funny?  So if you were forced to watch even two hrs of Family guy you wouldnt laugh once?????  
    Possibly one of the funniest shows E V E R.. and im 38 and have seen plenty

  • this article is retarded

    Seth Mc Farlane isnt funny?  So if you were forced to watch even two hrs of Family guy you wouldnt laugh once?????  
    Possibly one of the funniest shows E V E R.. and im 38 and have seen plenty

  • this article is retarded

    Seth Mc Farlane isnt funny?  So if you were forced to watch even two hrs of Family guy you wouldnt laugh once?????  
    Possibly one of the funniest shows E V E R.. and im 38 and have seen plenty

  • Sugargl1der

     *applause*

  • Sugargl1der

     *applause*

  • Sugargl1der

     *applause*

  • Sugargl1der

     *applause*

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_QKN5MHOI6VUFOYCTV5REK7M7A4 Jacob

    I’m an American.
    I’m 21.
    I get paid to write comedy, and I’m pretty well relieved.

    Family Guy hasn’t been good in years. Pretty much since it was revived. That action went straight to MacFarlane’s ego and caused him to destroy his franchise.

  • 0bsessions

    And raunchy humor, by and large, is for people with delusions of maturity. And my guess is you’re probably not old enough to remember that Simpsons would only be considered safe because it’s been around so long. Simpsons is pretty much the original ”not for kids” cartoon, long before Family Guy and South Park worked in that niche.

    For all the digs about Simpsons’ originality and “freshness,” no one seems to account for the fact that it’s been around for over 20 years now, any show will start to repeat itself at that point. The difference, though, is that Simpsons maintained its fresh status for close to a decade. Family Guy was repeating itself into a self referential mess of shallowness within a year of coming back on the air.

    Simpsons’ problem at this point is that the concept’s simply been around so long that there are no ideas left (South Park made the most poignant possible observation possible on this in the “Simpsons did it” episode and that was like a decade ago). Groening and Cohen have shown that they can still hack it when they use a different concept, though, as exhibited by Futurama (Though the latest season was hit and miss early on, there was some serious gems once it found its legs).

    The difference with Family Guy, though, is that it was predicated on essentially being the Simpsons dialed up to eleven, sprinkled with pop culture references. An interesting idea, really, but a concept that can only go so far. Once the novelty wears off and you realize you’re watching Simpsons with a different cast, you’re left with just the pop culture references which are a neat nostalgia trip the first time through and all, but it gets old fast.

    Then you have American Dad, which is so derivative of Family Guy it’s almost depressing.

    Additionally, in regards to safe and uptight, you should hear some of the crap that comes out of my mouth when I’m not bound by the language and content standards of a public comment section. I enjoy my share of raunch and dark comedy, but it’s boring with no substance. Take Dogma versus Jay and SIlent Bob Strike Back (Outside of JaSBSB, I’ve loved all of Smith’s View Askew output): both raunchy in their own right, but Dogma has an underlying point while JaSBSB is nothing but self referential garbage.

    Do yourself a favor and go watch Kids in the Hall. That show was highly capable of tackling subject matter that would make MacFarlane cringe, but they managed to make it funny every time out. Start with “Daddy Drank” and go from there.

  • 0bsessions

     D) Don’t drink enough to forget that you’ve been watching the same episode week in week out for the last five years, despite Fox’s insistence they’re producing new ones.

    Seriously, how many times have they done the chicken gag now? I gave up on the show after the fourth or fifth time. What about the Peter hurts his knee and goes “sssss, ahhhhhh” for five minutes gag (I think Lois did it once too, OH SNAP WHAT A TWIST)?

  • 0bsessions

    Because the Flinstones lose most of their appeal when you change the script to 22 minutes of grunting and Fred dragging Wilma around by her hair. 

  • 0bsessions

     Now there’s a show that knows how to be both edgy and witty at the same time. I need to catch the latest season sometime soon.

  • Anonymous

    As opposed, of course, to portraying men as fat morons and wives as long-suffering geniuses. Because that is non-sexist and as a result NEVER gets old.

  • Maverick71465

    Anyone want to bring up the fact that the Flintstones was a cartooned version of the Honeymooners?  Seth has more than enough classic appreciation (as evidenced by the incredible fidelity in which he pulls from his source material, a la the “Road to ___” episodes that he models after the Crosby and Hope movies)  to do this very well for a current audience. 

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_QKN5MHOI6VUFOYCTV5REK7M7A4 Jacob

    Oh, you should expedite that. The latest season was the best they’ve done, story-wise. 

  • 0bsessions

    So much to catch up on. I’m just starting out Fringe and I need to make it through that before committing to any other television. The biggest issue is that my fiance doesn’t care for the show and it’s not appropriate to watch with our daughter, so finding time to make my way through it is tough.

  • Bass Guitar Hero

    But you don’t know that, do you? Hmm? We haven’t seen a single frame of material or a single line of script, but we’re to automatically assume it’s going to be “Family Guy with dinosaurs?” Warner Bros spent nearly a year arguing with FOX over how this new version of the Flinstones was going to be. They wouldn’t have finally signed off on it if they didn’t like MacFarlane’s approach to it. Heck, one of their major concerns was that they DIDN’T want it to be like MacFarlane’s other shows on FOX…    

  • Red Robin

    I never said I did know.  Did you see me write anything that stated my opinion as fact?  No, you didn’t.  All I said that it COULD end up like Family Guy with Dinosaurs.  As in “IT IS A POSSIBLE OUTCOME”.

    And you cannot say that Warner Brothers will not sign off on an adult version of one of their iconic characters.  They’ve done it before with a Flintstones short that involved Fred and Wilma going to marriage counseling, and they did with Yogi Bear in which the ranger touches Yogi inappropriately and where Cyndi and Boo-Boob had a tawdry affair.

    All I’m saying is that that it COULD turn out like that, just like it might now.  You can’t say with 100% proof that it won’t be like Family Guy, just like I can’t say with a 100% certainty that it will be like Family Guy.

  • Anonymous

    I haven’t laughed at Family Guy since the reboot. It just started to recycle what made it funny the first time around. Reruns aren’t funny for the same reason. His one-off gags were decent, but now they’re just lacking creativity. And every Family Guy or American Dad or Cleveland Show I’ve ever seen has just been him trying to do the same thing he did in the first two seasons of Family Guy.  Even going back to the episodes of Johnny Bravo and that one pilot he did for Cartoon Network with the bald guy and the dog is the same exact thing that wound up being in Family Guy. Seth Macfarlane is not funny. He had a handful of jokes that he’s used up and has been coasting on for his whole career. 

    The cutaway gags are a prime example of this. There were one or two in episodes, that were at least tangentially related to what was going on and they have evolved into taking up most of the show. And those Star Wars Family Guy specials? are you kidding me? There’s nothing funny about those–they do the same exact jokes that are in the series and then have a character say a line exactly as it was in the movie and wink at the viewer.

    All this goes back to my original point: Seth Macfarlane is not funny.

  • Bass Guitar Hero

    Somebody got offended, I guess. All I’M saying is that since we haven’t seen ANY of it, one shouldn’t AUTOMATICALLY assume that it’s going to be–as you said–”Family Guy with dinosaurs.” Also, that one shouldn’t assume that it’ll be something Warner Bros wouldn’t approve of. That’s it. If you had read my first post, you noticed that I said the new show might be more like the original, which had stuff for both kids and adults (it was the more recent Flintstone cartoons that had begun to skew more towards kids than adults). 

    Anything else, I didn’t say…  

  • Kanderson

    I am going to put it out there, but Seth MacFarlane is an evangelical Atheist.  there is even a clip of him talking about being an evenagelical atheist, so I am not making anything up.  he has blasted his views in Family guy and episode where the dog tells the daughter there is no God because Christians all are book burning crazy people and the show ends.  sorry but where ever you are spiritually to give people no hope and then reboot a show that has a lot of heart and hope like the Flintsones, is very stupid and dangerous.  I am very disapointed.  by the way I love Modern family, so if someone wanted to do the Flintstones with them as a sort of template I would say go for it.!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_QKN5MHOI6VUFOYCTV5REK7M7A4 Jacob

     What does him being an atheist have to do with anything at all? I’m an atheist and I’m filled with “heart and hope.” Just because he bashes other religions (surprise! every religious group has people who do that), doesn’t mean he can’t write and produce a show filled with hope.

  • JAV

    The final episode of the last season was the kids homeschool prom and it was just pure comedy gold. Do you know what a “Rusty Venture” is? Waiting to here the correct definition was priceless.

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