The Flintstones
The Surprise
TV Flash files “The Surprise” as hour 79 of 166 in the TV Flash guide — The Flintstones (1960–1966) on ABC, season 3, episode 19, aired 1963-01-25, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S03E19: listed hour 79 of 166 in the The Flintstones guide, hour 19 of 28 in season 3. It aired 1963-01-25 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “The Hero” (S03E18). Next is “Mother-in-Law's Visit” (S03E20).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
The title of this episode has nothing to do with the plot but the tail ending, when it's established that the Flintstones will be having a baby. The plot actually begins when Fred resents Barney spending so much time taking care of his nephew Marblehead to the point their friendship nearly ends a few times. Then at the end of the show Wilma informs Fred that they are now expecting their own child. Fred is surprisingly happy to hear it.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Surprise sit in the The Flintstones guide?
S03E19 is listed hour 79 of 166 — hour 19 of 28 in season 3, season 3 episode 19.
When did The Flintstones S03E19 air?
The Surprise aired 1963-01-25 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Where should I start?
Early Bedrock hours with Fred, Wilma, Barney, and Betty show the sitcom-in-skins contract before the kids arrive. Later seasons add Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm if you want the household as a merchandising unit.
In the series
Why this series still plays
The Flintstones put a blue-collar sitcom in Bedrock and proved animation could own prime time: Fred, Wilma, Barney, Betty, dinosaurs as appliances, laugh track included. Hanna-Barbera's six-season breakthrough is the blueprint every later cartoon family still raids. Yabba-dabba-doo as American brand, plus the endless Honeymooners-in-skins debate.
So about Bedrock: the group chat has been having the *Honeymooners*-in-skins fight since before the timeline had a name, and nobody is logging off. ABC's *The Flintstones* (1960–1966; 166 episodes) put a blue-collar sitcom in the Stone Age — Fred, Wilma, Barney, Betty, dinosaurs as appliances, laugh track included — and proved animation could own prime time. William Hanna and Joseph Barbera built the household. Alan Reed's Fred and Jean Vander Pyl's Wilma opposite Mel Blanc's Barney and Bea Benaderet's Betty.…
Filed against
- Alan Reed as Fred Flintstone
Alan Reed’s Fred Flintstone put a blue-collar sitcom in Bedrock and proved animation could own prime time — Wilma, Barney, Betty, dinosaurs as appliances, laugh track included. Hanna-Barbera’s six-season breakthrough, the blueprint every…
- Jean Vander Pyl as Wilma Flintstone
Jean Vander Pyl’s Wilma Flintstone put a blue-collar sitcom wife in Bedrock — Fred, Barney, Betty, dinosaurs as appliances, laugh track included. Hanna-Barbera’s six-season prime-time breakthrough, the blueprint every later cartoon family…
- Mel Blanc as Barney Rubble
Mel Blanc’s Barney Rubble gave The Flintstones its next-door giggle — 1960s catalog Bedrock, a laugh-track sitcom in stone, the pal Fred could not do without. The Jetsons and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century kept the most famous voice in…
- Bea Benaderet as Betty Rubble
Bea Benaderet’s Blanche Morton needled The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show as next-door vaudeville, then The Flintstones’ Wilma and Petticoat Junction’s Kate Bradley made her 1950s–60s catalog warmth a three-stop map. TV Flash files…