2. The Flintstones (ABC, 1960 1966)
What Was The Show? An animated sitcom about caveman Fred Flintstone and his family. What Was The Stupid Decision? The Great Gazoo. How Did It Kill The Show? Following the trend of If a shows ratings slump, bring in a new character to jumpstart it, Season Six of The Flintstones introduced a new recurring character in the form of The Great Gazoo. A small condescending alien voiced by Harvey Korman who was banished from his home planet for building a universe destroying bomb, can use his advanced science do practically anything (thanks to another case of the plot device that I personally call Science Is Magic) and is forced to serve Fred and Barney because they were the people who rescued him when his ship crashed. I swear I am not making any of this up. The introduction of Gazoo led to a rash of plots that were stupid even for The Flintstones including him transporting the main characters to the 21st century, and him building robot doubles of Fred and Barney so they can go bowling instead of spending time with their wives. As anyone whos seen it knows, realism was never a priority for The Flintstones but this was just an outrageously blatant case of jumping the shark. Gazoo was incredibly irritating and him being a recurring character added science fiction elements to a show where they werent needed and didnt fit. Predictably, most of the viewers thought this development was utterly stupid and the ratings continued to decline as a result, leading to the show not being renewed for a seventh season. Lets hope that The Great Gazoo is one thing Seth MacFarlane wont be adding to his Flintstones reboot.
JG Moore
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JG Moore is a writer and filmmaker from the south of England. He also works as an editor and VFX artist, and has a BA in Media Production from the University Of Winchester.
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