Hey kids (of all ages), it's Saturday Morning Cartoon time again!
Hanna-Barbera loved to remix previously successful concepts (their own and those 'borrowed' from other sources) to create new shows. An early mega-hit for them came b…
Hey kids (of all ages), it's Saturday Morning Cartoon time again!
Hanna-Barbera loved to remix previously successful concepts (their own and those 'borrowed' from other sources) to create new shows. An early mega-hit for them came by porting the characters from the live-action HONEYMOONERS sitcom (who had already been cartoonized as mice in Warner Bros shorts) into the modern stone-age as depicted in Tex Avery's FIRST BAD MAN theatrical cartoon to spawn the FLINTSTONES.
The success of this prime-time animated sitcom prompted HB to produce the obvious counterpoint, the JETSONS, which put the BLONDIE characters (who'd originated in the comic strip, but been adapted to movies, etc.) into a space-age future. Space-Dagwood and company didn't do as well in prime-time, but the show had remarkable durability, with its two-dozen episodes being looped on Saturday morning for twenty years. Then a bunch of new episodes were added for syndicated release... Then animated specials, theatrical film, and more.
So, being Hanna-Barbera, they obviously went to the "20th Century characters in a comical version of another era" well again. In 1972, they mixed the live-action sitcom ALL IN THE FAMILY with a cartoonishly modernized Roman Empire. But this time they were making the show directly for Saturday Mornings, so the Bunker clan had to be seriously watered-down into a light generation-gap dynamic for the kiddie audience.
The First Century didn't really have a lot of child-friendly humor-fodder. Many of the visual gags of primitive means to achieve modern ends were rehashes of what had been done by the Flintstones for 14 years. Jokes made by inserting Roman name-forms and numerals weren't particularly funny. So it's not surprising that this cartoon had only one production season of 13 episodes, and was mostly forgotten.
It didn't help that the show was up against the NEW SCOOBY MOVIES. It was also running in the same NBC line-up with it's own concept predecessor, the Jetsons... And back-to-back with the BARKLEYS, and edgier ersatz All In The Family inspired cartoon from DePatie-Freleng, which I have covered previously on this channel.
HB was simultaneously doing another All In The Family type animated series for prime-time. I may cover that one in my weekday uploads after MISSION HILL is done.
Meanwhile, here is the premier episode of the ROMAN HOLIDAYS from Autumn of 1972.
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