TV Eye

The Flintstones saved me. Every day after junior high, eating toast smeared with jelly, I watched Fred and Wilma, Barney and Betty, Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm, and, of course, Dino the Dinosaur. It was a balm for the heartache I had because of a boy named Jim. I had a crush on him, and he liked another girl -- I called her Slutina, which pretty much tells you what I thought of her. Jim had no idea I was alive, but I was miserably, passionately, irrefutably lovesick for him.

I'm not sure why The Flintstones was so comforting to me. Fred wasn't exactly the love doctor -- neither was Ralph Kramden, the Jackie Gleason character Fred was patterned after, or Homer Simpson, Fred's descendant, who took being a working stiff to an entirely new level of laughs. Part of what soothed was the show's familiarity. The Flintstones was part of a stable of cartoons that included Yogi Bear, Quick Draw McGraw, Huckleberry Hound, Wally Gator, Josie and the Pussycats, Jonny Quest, and Scooby-Doo, all favorites from the hundreds of cartoons created by the production team of Hanna-Barbera. So when William Hanna died last week at the age of 90, I felt that a person who helped create the foundation of my childhood was put to rest.

The Hanna-Barbera TV cartoons were not visually spectacular, but what they lacked in artistry, they made up for in charm and an uncomplicated humor that I craved as I entered the turbulent pit of adolescence. But I came to the Hanna-Barbera cartoons after their heyday. The directing-producing team of Joseph Barbera and William (Bill) Hanna joined forces in 1937 to create animated shorts for MGM. Tom and Jerry was their first "hit," and the bickering cat-and-mouse duo were the subject of countless shorts that earned Hanna-Barbera seven Academy Awards. Some of Hanna and Barbera's most memorable work came when the two brought animation into live-action film. The first success was the dance sequence created for the Gene Kelly film Anchors Aweigh (Kelly dances with an animated mouse). Similar effects were created for Holiday in Mexico (1946), the Esther Williams film Dangerous When Wet (1959), and another Kelly film, Invitation to the Dance (1956).

When Hanna and Barbera struck out on their own in 1956, their Hanna-Barbera productions focused on made-for-TV cartoons, for which they earned both high praise and scathing criticism. Although they provided work for a then-declining animation industry, because of TV's financial limitations, they cut back on production values. As a result, their animation was stripped of the artistry they had helped develop on the big screen.

The Flintstones came to television in 1960 -- not as the afternoon cartoon I tuned in to, but as a prime-time series which ran for six years. By the time I found The Flintstones, it could be said Hanna-Barbera were in their decline. But even in their waning years, even in those endearingly doofy, low-budget cartoons like Yogi Bear and Huckleberry Hound and The Flintsones, I found a small measure of solace. And for that, I will always have fond memories.

The Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, and other Hanna-Barbera cartoons can be seen on the Cartoon Network. Check local listings.

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'American High' Returns

American High, the reality series the Fox Network canceled after only two episodes last summer, has found a new home on PBS. The critically acclaimed series, created and directed by Academy Award-nominated director R.J. Cutler, follows a group of students during their senior year at a suburban high school in Illinois. The 13-episode series is culled from 10 months of video footage, including "video diaries" shot by the students themselves. KLRU will air American High in back-to-back episodes beginning Wednesday, April 4, at 10pm.

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Are You a Survivor?

Are you strong-willed, outgoing, adventurous, physically and mentally adept, adaptable to new environments, and do you come from an interesting background or lifestyle? Then you, according to the Survivor casting call guidelines, have what it takes to be one of 16 contestants on Survivor 3. Though details are top secret, Kenya is the next location for the reality-drama, according to various rumor mills. Midnight on April 13 is the deadline to submit your application, which includes a video clip of you in action. For details and a full application, go to the CBS.com Web site.

E-mail Belinda Acosta at tveye@austinchronicle.com