t this has been shown to be false. The show has been in syndication for three years while it continues to run on the network, and it has been shown to have a broad appeal to adults as well as children. Indeed, the producers believe the show is adult- and male-driven, though they were not certain of the appeal of animation as such. In addition, the traditional wisdom holds that a television series which is syndicated while it continues to run on a network will see a ratings decline for its primetime show after two years of syndication. This has not happened with The Simpsons, which indeed has been garnering its highest ratings ever (Hontz, 1997, 37).
The Flintstones was the first cartoon series in prime time and one of the few successful ones. It ran from 1960 to 1966 on ABC, and it was a stone-age version of an earlier tv success, The Honeymooners. It produced a plethora of spin-offs and television specials, and it also was a major marketing success, including not only the usual complement of dolls and lunchboxes but also vitamins. It later was the source for a feature film in 1994 that did very poorly at the box office (Bianculli, 1996, 110). The success of The Flintstones led to an attempt
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