http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/flintstones.jpg
[[caption-width:350:The modern Stone Age family.]]

->"WIIIIIIIILLLMAAAAAAA!!!"
-->-- Fred Flintstone, [[OncePerEpisode every single episode]], ever.

The most famous and beloved of {{Hanna-Barbera}}'s cartoons that isn't ''ScoobyDoo'', this one was set in the Stone Age--[[TheThemeParkVersion sort of]]--and based about half its humor on prehistoric versions of modern technology. Usually an animal was shown rigged to perform some menial task, eg a baby mammoth used as a vacuum cleaner, a parrot used as a recording device, etc.

The other half was ordinary sitcom material, springing from the antics of boorish Fred Flintstone, who was constantly hatching inane schemes with the help of his neighbor Barney Rubble and subsequently getting them both into trouble with their wives, Wilma and Betty. Later in the series the Flinstones had a daughter, Pebbles; this inspired the Rubbles to adopt a son, the comically super-strong Bamm-Bamm. Dino and Hoppy were the respective family pet(-asaurus)es.

Despite [[WordOfGod strenuous denials from the producers]], the show is generally regarded as a blatant ripoff of ''TheHoneymooners'' - although the Flintstones are tract-home middle class, with a car and a washing machine (even if the former ''was'' foot-powered and the latter a pelican), where the Kramdens were urban working poor.

Was the most successful prime-time animated series ever until ''TheSimpsons''.

Like many very popular shows from the 1960s and 1970s, ''The Flintstones'' just would not die. It survived cancellation in any number of subsequent forms, from Saturday morning cartoons featuring teenaged versions of Bamm-Bamm and Pebbles (the latter voiced by Sally Struthers) through a pair of live-action motion pictures, all the way to a breakfast cereal which is still marketed in the early 21st century (and which is the occasion for continuous ''new'' Flintstones animation). Not to mention the vitamins...
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!!''TheFlintstones'' provides examples of:
* AdultChild (Fred, often)
* AlienScrappy (The Great Gazoo)
* AnachronismStew (We have dinosaurs and large mammals living at the same time, along with modern-esque technology and culture.)
* BambooTechnology
* BigDamnMovie: The first film has ambition, loyalty, betrayal, corporate intrigue, and a climactic battle upon an elaborate makeshift DeathTrap. An average episode of the TV series is basically just [[HilarityEnsues Wacky Hijinks]].
* BrokenStreak
* BrotherhoodOfFunnyHats (Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes)
* BumblingDad (Fred, when Pebbles was born)
* ByTheEyesOfTheBlind (Gazoo)
* CatchPhrase ("Yabba-dabba-doo!")
* CelebrityIsOverrated
* TheCelebrityLie
* CloserToEarth (Wilma is much more mature and level-headed than Fred, who borders on AdultChild)
* ConspicuouslyLightPatch
* {{Crossover}} (with ''TheJetsons'', ''{{Bewitched}}'' and others)
* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Fred and Barney's "A Judo Chop Chop" chase with Dr. Sinister.
* DeadpanSnarker (Fred and Wilma, more so Wilma)
* DreamSequence
* DriveInTheater (Featured in the opening and closing credits)
* DrunkWithPower (Fred, in the first live action movie)
* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs (Because a ''Flintstones'' which only used creatures that ''lived'' during the Paleolithic wouldn't be nearly interesting, although those kinds of animals are around as well.)
* FeudingFamilies ("Bedrock Hillbillies")
* FirstNameUltimatum (See this page's quote.)
* FootFocus (Due to the prehistoric setting, the entire cast is constantly barefoot. {{Lampshaded}} in a ComicBook story in which shoes are invented, but fail to catch on)
* FreakyFriday (a number of times, including once where Fred and Dino swap bodies)
* GentleGiant (Fred, at his best)
* GilliganCut
* GravityIsAHarshMistress
* GreatGazoo (the TropeNamer)
* HappilyMarried
* NotSoImaginaryFriend (The Great Gazoo is only visible to Fred)
* HaveAGayOldTime (the TropeNamer)
* HoldYourHippogriffs: The premise of the whole show is to displace modern stories into a prehistoric setting, so language was obvious to follow.
* HorseOfADifferentColour (Dino is just like a dog, except he's a sauropod dinosaur; Hoppy is a kangaroo-like "hopparoo")
* {{Housewife}}
* InvisibleToNormals (Gazoo is invisible to everyone but Fred and Barney, and later, Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm.)
* JumpingTheShark (The introduction of the Great Gazoo, probably)
* KangarooPouchRide
* KnifeThrowingAct ("Dial S for Suspicion")
* LastDayToLive (This was the plot of the prime-time special "Fred's Final Fling".)
* LimitedWardrobe
* MistakenForDying
* MotionlessChin
* TheMovie (''The Man Called Flintstone'' and the two {{Live Action Adaptation}}s)
* NoAccountingForTaste (Fred isn't [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold a bad person]] [[GentleGiant per se]], but he's not putting as much effort into the marriage as Wilma, who is often forced to suffer his tantrums and schemes. Subverted in one of the movies, though, where Fred had to struggle to get Wilma's favor back after a fight during a holiday trip.)
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed
* NoOneCouldSurviveThat ([[spoiler:The Green Goose and his henchmen, as Fred and Barney trapped them inside the doomsday missile/rocket, which is launched into space, that Fred set it to. The screen fades to black just as the rocket is about to ascend into space.]]
* ObnoxiousInLaws (Wilma's Mother)
* OldShame (There were commercials for cigarettes promoted by the Flintstones.)
* OnOneCondition
* OverprotectiveDad (Fred, in regard to Pebbles)
* PrettyInMink (Fred is having some sort of problem, making him almost completely lethargic. Wilma buys an expensive fur coat of "genuine Siberian mammoth", knowing the cost will make Fred freak out.)
** That and their clothes are most likely all animal skins.
* PunkPunk (Stonepunk, or Dinopunk, or Cavepunk, or whatever term fits this best)
* PunnyName (Pretty much every character or locale on the show has one, based on some variant of "rock" or "stone")
* PurelyAestheticEra
* PygmalionSnapBack (When Wilma and Betty changed Fred and Barney)
* RecycledInSpace (''The Honeymooners'' in the stone age)
* ResetButton
* {{Rerun}}
* {{Schemer}} (both Fred and teenage Pebbles)
* SchizoTech
* ShowWithinAShow (several; none particularly important or prominent -- just parodies of then-current shows)
* SleepingSingle (the early seasons; although the show was the first ''animated'' show to portray a married couple sharing a bed later on)
* SomewhereAPaleontologistIsCrying (Dinosaurs never coexisted with humans: mammals that existed up through the Cretaceous were small and rodent-like. Of course, that [[MST3KMantra hardly matters]].)
* SoundEffectBleep
* SpecialGuest (several)
* {{Spinoff}} (quite a few)
* SpringtimeForHitler
* SpySpeak
* TheThemeParkVersion (It's [[TheFifties early-1960s suburban America]] transposed into the Stone Age, with [[EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs dinosaurs]].
* TitleThemeTune
* {{Tsundere}} (Wilma is a type B)
* VocalEvolution (Barney has a high nasally voice in the earliest episodes)
* UglyGuyHotWife (both couples)
** Every couple to appear on the show, really. With the exception of the second generation of the leads.
* WhyDoYouKeepChangingJobs (Barney)
* WraparoundBackground
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