Yabba dabba duo! 'Flintstones,' 'Andy Griffith' turn 50

Sheriff Andy Taylor and Fred Flintstone.

Who doesn't know these guys?

They're icons of TV and American pop culture. And both are hitting - gulp - the half-century mark in the next month.

"The Andy Griffith Show," the down-home comedy with Sheriff Taylor and Deputy Barney Fife, premiered on CBS Oct. 3, 1960.

"The Flintstones," TV's first prime-time animated sitcom (eat Fred's shorts, Bart Simpson!), premiered on ABC Sept. 30, 1960.

That's right, they're about to turn 50. If you grew up watching these shows' original network runs, you are, indeed, that old. If you started seeing them in syndicated repeats of the '70s and '80s, you're among second-generation fans. Yet another generation has only recently discovered these vintage faves that still air multiple times a day across the country.

How amazing is it that shows created back in the Eisenhower administration (Eisenhower? Who's he?) are still cultivating young fans whose parents weren't alive when they premiered? (Maybe even grandparents. Double gulp.)

So much for TV as a disposable medium. That's what people still considered television back in 1960, when it had been only a decade since the tube began taking shape as the ubiquitous medium we now know. (In 1950, less than 10 percent of American households had a TV set. By 1960, 87 percent did.)

30 million 'Andy' fans

Here's a current-day statistic to blow your mind. "In a typical month, 'The Andy Griffith Show' reaches 30 million total viewers," says Jaci Cohen, senior vice president of programming and acquisitions at TV Land, where "Andy" airs at least six times a day. "And viewership continues to rise," Cohen says. "This quarter, we're up 6 percent."

Whoa! A show where most of the episodes are in black-and-white is still that popular. A show that reflects an archaic era and bygone lifestyle.

Of course, with "Andy," that's partially the point now. Maybe it was the point even then, back in the '60s, when postwar (that's World War II-war) America was giddy to get all suburban prosperous or urban sophisticated. Rural life was something people were racing away from. Yet for 30 minutes every Monday night on CBS, viewers who might not know their own neighbors could spend time with the familiar townsfolk of Mayberry, N.C., where Griffith's folksy sheriff widower reliably helped his son, Opie; Aunt Bee; Deputy Barney, and other friends stay on the straight and true.

But Griffith's character didn't start like that at all. He was created to exploit the popularity of Griffith's countrified nightclub comedy act and "No Time for Sergeants" Broadway and movie triumph as a goofy yokel. In early episodes of "The Andy Griffith Show," Andy Taylor was the guy who got the punch lines. But Griffith soon came to realize that since all the town's colorful characters were bouncing off him, he should actually be the straight man. Andy became more wise than wacky, and the show deepened into a moral-of-the-story mode, as much dramedy as comedy.

A modern stone-age family

"The Flintstones" also evolved. Animators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera had made cartoons for MGM during Hollywood's studio heyday in the 1940s, when even adult movies were preceded in theaters by animated shorts like their "Tom and Jerry" series. They'd moved into TV by creating kiddie characters like Yogi Bear, then wanted to stretch into adult formats like the prime-time sitcom. The adventures of Fred and Wilma Flintstone, and their friends Barney and Betty Rubble, were Stone Age versions of the Kramdens and Nortons from Jackie Gleason's '50s hit "The Honeymooners" - adult characters, written for adults. In fact, the first season was sponsored by Winston cigarettes (a decade before TV stopped running tobacco ads) - and the characters were seen smoking in cartoon commercials.

But by the '60s, TV animation seemed to be a kids' genre, so just as many children as grown-ups flocked to "The Flintstones." During its six ABC seasons, the show's writing steadily became more broadly family-aimed (especially after daughter Pebbles arrived in season 3).

"That's what's great about it," says Stacy Isenhower, senior vice president of programming and scheduling at Boomerang, the Cartoon Network nostalgia offshoot that airs "The Flintstones" three times daily. "Moms and dads sit down with their kids to watch it together, and it's one of our higher-rated shows. There's something there for everybody, no matter what age."

Both series were made classic by old pros who knew how to find that sweet spot with fans. Hanna and Barbera, then building their animation empire, hired both sitcom writers and cartoon masters for "The Flintstones." Hollywood voice wiz Mel Blanc played Barney Rubble and many other supporting voices. "Andy Griffith" producer Sheldon Leonard, who spun the show out of his Danny Thomas hit "Make Room for Daddy," brought over many of that Top 10 show's scripters. And he cast smartly, too - Jim Nabors was quickly spun out himself into "Gomer Pyle, USMC," and fan favorite Don Knotts would win five Emmys as Mayberry's beloved bumbling deputy, Barney Fife.

Even 21st century kids, and adults, still love Barney.

"Sometimes the memory and the reality are different," TV Land's Cohen says of vintage series. "I don't think that's the case with 'Andy.' " Nor with "The Flintstones," which feels timeless in both its family dynamics and its clever stone-age analogy gags, where citizens of Bedrock vacuum their rugs with the trunk of a cooperative elephant or ride a dinosaur to work instead of a bus.

Even the two shows' credits sequences remain treasured. Millions of fans can still sing "Flintstones / Meet the Flintstones / They're a modern Stone Age family," or mimic the wordless "Andy Griffith" theme whistled as Andy and son Opie go fishing.

How about you?

THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW

Aired Oct. 3, 1960-April 1, 1968 (CBS), eight seasons, 249 episodes - 159 in black and white (seasons 1-5), 90 in color (seasons 6-8)

Concept Built around folksy actor-humorist Andy Griffith's stories of his North Carolina hometown; pilot aired as an episode of Danny Thomas' sitcom "Make Room for Daddy" (Southern sheriff Griffith arrested visiting nightclub comedian Thomas for a traffic violation)

Stars Andy Griffith, Don Knotts, Ronny Howard, Frances Bavier

Ratings by season No. 4, 7, 6, 5, 4, 6, 3 and 1; always in CBS' Monday night lineup

Spinoffs "Gomer Pyle, USMC" (1964-69); "Mayberry, R.F.D." (1968-1971)

Sequel 1986 TV-movie "Return to Mayberry"

DVD All eight seasons (CBS / Paramount)

Watch online Five full episodes, changing weekly at tvland.com/full-episodes

On TV TV Land, weekdays 3-6 p.m., weekends 4-8 p.m.

Anniversary marathon TV Land, Sept. 25-26, 8 a.m.-9 p.m. (Vote for episodes at tvland.com/andy)

THE FLINTSTONES

Aired Sept. 30, 1960 - April 1, 1966 (ABC), six seasons, 166 episodes in color

Concept Former MGM cartoonists William Hanna and Joseph Barbera ("Tom and Jerry") wanted to do similar whole-family animation for TV, so they tried a prime-time cartoon sitcom.

Voices Alan Reed, Jean Vander Pyl, Mel Blanc,

Bea Benaderet

Ratings No. 18, 21 and 30 first three seasons, then out of Top 30 after it was moved to a new night vs. "The Munsters" and "The Wild Wild West"

Sequels / spinoffs 1966 spy-satire film "A Man Called Flintstone," series revivals like 1972's "The Flintstones Show" and 1980's "The Flintstones Comedy Show," TV movies like "A Flintstones Christmas Carol" (not to mention two nonanimated 1990s movie features).

DVD All six seasons (Warner)

On TV Boomerang, daily at 4 a.m., noon and 9 p.m.

Anniversary marathon Boomerang's Sept. 30 airing at 8:30 p.m. marks date-and-time 50th anniversary; followed by daylong marathon Oct. 2, starting at noon.