What's with MeTV? - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Ohio8 · 01-07-2020, 11:26 PM

For the past several days they've been showing second season episodes with the "Meet the Flintstones" credits, and with Gerry Johnson as Betty Rubble's voice!

MA · 01-08-2020, 10:08 AM

It's probably the prints that they're using.

merlinjones · 01-08-2020, 11:04 AM

I've noticed the same thing -- but these same episodes had the correct credits on the first Me-TV round through - but appear to have been changed.

There were some mistakes in season 3 credits the last time (between the Meet the Flintstones no Pebbles, Pebbles, Pebbles & bamm bamm versions), but not this. My guess is someone got too eager the have the song and spliced some random season 5 open/close on to these season 2's.

In any event, it's a disservice not only to Bea Benederet - but the other voice actors, writers, animators, etc... I hope they clear up these inconsistencies. Me-TV is usually so good at this.

stevea · 01-09-2020, 09:11 PM

I've been wondering about this too--I first noticed it a couple of days ago. They're showing an opening with Pebbles (and maybe Bamm Bamm--I don't remember) which makes no sense. The closing is always the same, and it's copyright MCMLXVI (1966), so it's from the final season.

These may be what were on the old syndication episodes, and obviously don't match up with the season 2 episodes at all.

stevea · 01-09-2020, 09:33 PM

Bea Benaderet voiced Betty for the first four seasons, and Pebbles wasn't around at the beginning of season 3--they could have pulled openings/closings from season 3, to be more accurate--if they had to switch to Meet the Flintstones for some reason.

1960'sTVfan · 01-10-2020, 11:34 AM

The first time I watched Flintstones episodes was in the 1970's in Chicago when WGN ran the episodes on weekday afternoons. If I remember correctly, every episode, including those from seasons 1 and 2, had the "Meet The Flintstones" theme. I wasn't even aware that the season 1 and 2 shows originally had a different theme, the "Rise And Shine" version, until DVD's came out starting in 2004.

With the season 3 DVD's, the first two episodes still have the "Rise And Shine" theme, then with the third episode the "Meet The Flintstones" theme takes over.

merlinjones · 01-10-2020, 01:49 PM

I agree with an earlier poster that - if they were to use Meet the Flintstones as opening on the first 2 seasons (as in old time syndication), it needs to be the first version, sans Pebbles et al. (Though I would prefer the proper historical Rise & Shine opening).

However, there is no excuse for the end titles not being original versions, as the credits pay important respect to those talents who worked on specific episodes -- this is their lasting legacy (such a thing would not be tolerated in live-action).

stevea · 01-10-2020, 06:42 PM

The original end credits for seasons 1 and 2 (the real original ones) may have only "survived" in black and white, if at all.

The Rise and Shine closing credits were re-created and may be colorized, which would account for Dino's wrong color (blue). All the credit names for writers, voices, etc. are grouped together for the season or for both seasons (all show (C) MCMLX (1960)) so they're all the same.

When color prints for syndication for seasons 1 and 2 were created from the original negatives, it's hard to know what was done with the original credits. They may have been discarded due to the decision to use Meet the Flintstones--it's hard to know.

I know many of the unused bridging elements for The Bugs Bunny Show (another ABC black and white show which was produced in color) were discarded. This became clear when the Looney Tunes Golden Collection came out, and they have bridging sequences from that show which go back and forth between color and black and white.

merlinjones · 01-10-2020, 08:58 PM

I did notice the constant 1960 copyright the first time through -- Well they need to try harder to get it as close as possible if all credits don't exist. At least Rise and Shine endings refer to mostly the correct team for those seasons (incl. Bea). 1965 team and Gerry is way, way off.

(-- and I do hope Warners will one day reassemble the existing color footage for The Bugs Bunny Show with colorized b/w footage so we can enjoy the brilliance of those shows once again).

stevea · 01-10-2020, 11:32 PM

Whoever did these edits at MeTV obviously knows nothing about the show. It'd be interesting to know why they made the change. It's possible they duplicated what was done on the original syndication episodes--I don't know what version of Meet the Flintstones was used on those.

I'd like to see the original Bugs Bunny show corrected, as well. At the time they redid the bridging segments when the show went to Saturday mornings in color, they SHOULD have developed color copies of the original show for archival purposes--this was the time of the near-end of the Warners animation unit and as such it's an important production. But no, from what I've read, they edited out what they didn't want, and the rest ended up on the floor and trashed.

merlinjones · 01-11-2020, 12:08 AM

For what it's worth, my memory of the syndicated years is that at least it seemed consistent in matching Meet the Flintstones no Pebbles, Pebbles, Pebbles & Bamm Bamm plus Rubbles versions.

Given that the earlier Meet the Flintstones versions shown recently don't seem to be taken from original negative (they are a bit blurry and over digital processed), it could be that the show suffered from updated negative cutting like Bugs Bunny (speculation) with the successive opening changes.

stevea · 01-11-2020, 08:13 AM

The recent Blu Ray of The Jetsons corrected the closing credits of that show--these had been butchered when they were changed when the syndicated seasons were added in the 1980s.

The history of this show is different in that ABC did show this one in color in 1962.

My GUESS is the only opportunity to REALLY correct S1 and S2 of The Flintstones would be to colorize the black and white closing credits, IF they exist. And if they go all-out and colorize the B-W's, keep all the cool stuff like the Winston sponsorships.

One thing about Screen Gems--when syndication time came, they went to a lot of trouble to alter the opening and closing of all their shows.

TV Guy · 01-12-2020, 12:28 PM

My theory is that the ratings for the show are not what MeTV expected, and they’ve decided to paste “Meet the Flintstones” on all the episodes to up the “nostalgia factor”.

stevea · 01-12-2020, 01:17 PM

That makes sense. MeTV has always had problems 5-7 pm., judging by all the changes made at these times.

jehobden · 06-07-2020, 12:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TV Guy

My theory is that the ratings for the show are not what MeTV expected, and they’ve decided to paste “Meet the Flintstones” on all the episodes to up the “nostalgia factor”.

I think "Rise and Shine" is a lot more nostalgic than "Meet the Flintstones". I've never been a big FLINTSTONES fan, but I thought it was neat seeing the original opening & closing on the show.

I was just watching bits of a couple Jan. 1961 episodes on MeTV, and as someone pointed out above, the opening included the Rubbles and Pebbles & Bamm-Bamm (who hadn't been born yet) and the closing had a 1966 copyright date & Gerry Johnson credited as the voice of Betty. Does anyone have the DVDs? I hope they were put together correctly for every episode, especially the first 2 seasons.

01-07-2020, 11:26 PM	#1
Ohio8 Member Forum Star Join Date: Jul 29, 2003 Location: Wherever you aren't. Posts: 18,984	What's with MeTV? For the past several days they've been showing second season episodes with the "Meet the Flintstones" credits, and with Gerry Johnson as Betty Rubble's voice!
	__________________ "Shorter of breath and one day closer to death." -- Pink Floyd

01-08-2020, 10:08 AM	#2
MA Member Moderator Forum Idol Join Date: May 20, 2017 Location: New Hampshire Posts: 128,991	It's probably the prints that they're using.
	__________________ ~-Mikaela-~

01-08-2020, 11:04 AM	#3
merlinjones Member Forum Regular Join Date: Dec 30, 2019 Location: los ángeles Posts: 933	I've noticed the same thing -- but these same episodes had the correct credits on the first Me-TV round through - but appear to have been changed. There were some mistakes in season 3 credits the last time (between the Meet the Flintstones no Pebbles, Pebbles, Pebbles & bamm bamm versions), but not this. My guess is someone got too eager the have the song and spliced some random season 5 open/close on to these season 2's. In any event, it's a disservice not only to Bea Benederet - but the other voice actors, writers, animators, etc... I hope they clear up these inconsistencies. Me-TV is usually so good at this.

01-09-2020, 09:11 PM	#4
stevea 22 Years On Sitcoms Moderator Forum Legend Join Date: Aug 13, 2003 Location: Indy Posts: 45,177	I've been wondering about this too--I first noticed it a couple of days ago. They're showing an opening with Pebbles (and maybe Bamm Bamm--I don't remember) which makes no sense. The closing is always the same, and it's copyright MCMLXVI (1966), so it's from the final season. These may be what were on the old syndication episodes, and obviously don't match up with the season 2 episodes at all.

01-09-2020, 09:33 PM	#5
stevea 22 Years On Sitcoms Moderator Forum Legend Join Date: Aug 13, 2003 Location: Indy Posts: 45,177	Bea Benaderet voiced Betty for the first four seasons, and Pebbles wasn't around at the beginning of season 3--they could have pulled openings/closings from season 3, to be more accurate--if they had to switch to Meet the Flintstones for some reason.

01-10-2020, 11:34 AM	#6
1960'sTVfan Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Sep 30, 2009 Posts: 6,151	The first time I watched Flintstones episodes was in the 1970's in Chicago when WGN ran the episodes on weekday afternoons. If I remember correctly, every episode, including those from seasons 1 and 2, had the "Meet The Flintstones" theme. I wasn't even aware that the season 1 and 2 shows originally had a different theme, the "Rise And Shine" version, until DVD's came out starting in 2004. With the season 3 DVD's, the first two episodes still have the "Rise And Shine" theme, then with the third episode the "Meet The Flintstones" theme takes over.

01-10-2020, 01:49 PM	#7
merlinjones Member Forum Regular Join Date: Dec 30, 2019 Location: los ángeles Posts: 933	I agree with an earlier poster that - if they were to use Meet the Flintstones as opening on the first 2 seasons (as in old time syndication), it needs to be the first version, sans Pebbles et al. (Though I would prefer the proper historical Rise & Shine opening). However, there is no excuse for the end titles not being original versions, as the credits pay important respect to those talents who worked on specific episodes -- this is their lasting legacy (such a thing would not be tolerated in live-action).

01-10-2020, 06:42 PM	#8
stevea 22 Years On Sitcoms Moderator Forum Legend Join Date: Aug 13, 2003 Location: Indy Posts: 45,177	The original end credits for seasons 1 and 2 (the real original ones) may have only "survived" in black and white, if at all. The Rise and Shine closing credits were re-created and may be colorized, which would account for Dino's wrong color (blue). All the credit names for writers, voices, etc. are grouped together for the season or for both seasons (all show (C) MCMLX (1960)) so they're all the same. When color prints for syndication for seasons 1 and 2 were created from the original negatives, it's hard to know what was done with the original credits. They may have been discarded due to the decision to use Meet the Flintstones--it's hard to know. I know many of the unused bridging elements for The Bugs Bunny Show (another ABC black and white show which was produced in color) were discarded. This became clear when the Looney Tunes Golden Collection came out, and they have bridging sequences from that show which go back and forth between color and black and white.

01-10-2020, 08:58 PM	#9
merlinjones Member Forum Regular Join Date: Dec 30, 2019 Location: los ángeles Posts: 933	I did notice the constant 1960 copyright the first time through -- Well they need to try harder to get it as close as possible if all credits don't exist. At least Rise and Shine endings refer to mostly the correct team for those seasons (incl. Bea). 1965 team and Gerry is way, way off. (-- and I do hope Warners will one day reassemble the existing color footage for The Bugs Bunny Show with colorized b/w footage so we can enjoy the brilliance of those shows once again).

01-10-2020, 11:32 PM	#10
stevea 22 Years On Sitcoms Moderator Forum Legend Join Date: Aug 13, 2003 Location: Indy Posts: 45,177	Whoever did these edits at MeTV obviously knows nothing about the show. It'd be interesting to know why they made the change. It's possible they duplicated what was done on the original syndication episodes--I don't know what version of Meet the Flintstones was used on those. I'd like to see the original Bugs Bunny show corrected, as well. At the time they redid the bridging segments when the show went to Saturday mornings in color, they SHOULD have developed color copies of the original show for archival purposes--this was the time of the near-end of the Warners animation unit and as such it's an important production. But no, from what I've read, they edited out what they didn't want, and the rest ended up on the floor and trashed.

01-11-2020, 12:08 AM	#11
merlinjones Member Forum Regular Join Date: Dec 30, 2019 Location: los ángeles Posts: 933	For what it's worth, my memory of the syndicated years is that at least it seemed consistent in matching Meet the Flintstones no Pebbles, Pebbles, Pebbles & Bamm Bamm plus Rubbles versions. Given that the earlier Meet the Flintstones versions shown recently don't seem to be taken from original negative (they are a bit blurry and over digital processed), it could be that the show suffered from updated negative cutting like Bugs Bunny (speculation) with the successive opening changes.

01-11-2020, 08:13 AM	#12
stevea 22 Years On Sitcoms Moderator Forum Legend Join Date: Aug 13, 2003 Location: Indy Posts: 45,177	The recent Blu Ray of The Jetsons corrected the closing credits of that show--these had been butchered when they were changed when the syndicated seasons were added in the 1980s. The history of this show is different in that ABC did show this one in color in 1962. My GUESS is the only opportunity to REALLY correct S1 and S2 of The Flintstones would be to colorize the black and white closing credits, IF they exist. And if they go all-out and colorize the B-W's, keep all the cool stuff like the Winston sponsorships. One thing about Screen Gems--when syndication time came, they went to a lot of trouble to alter the opening and closing of all their shows.

01-12-2020, 12:28 PM	#13
TV Guy Member Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Jun 25, 2001 Location: Boston, MA, USA Posts: 3,419	My theory is that the ratings for the show are not what MeTV expected, and they’ve decided to paste “Meet the Flintstones” on all the episodes to up the “nostalgia factor”.

01-12-2020, 01:17 PM	#14
stevea 22 Years On Sitcoms Moderator Forum Legend Join Date: Aug 13, 2003 Location: Indy Posts: 45,177	That makes sense. MeTV has always had problems 5-7 pm., judging by all the changes made at these times.