At the start of the 1960s, the studio of Hanna-Barbera was enjoying popular success with its television cartoons. They were theoretically for children, but adults enjoyed watching them as well so producers William Hanna and Joseph Barbera decided to create cartoons for prime time- programs that would appeal to both youngsters and grown-ups.
Throughout the decade, Hanna-Barbera produced several prime-time cartoons. Hanna Barbera's Prime Time Cartoons examines them in detail - The Flintstones, Top Cat, The Jetsons, Jonny Quest, and The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the last one combining animation with live-action. This book explains how Hanna-Barbera marketed each of the shows, how the public and the critics reacted when they first aired, and how they hold up aesthetically today. This is an entertaining and informative guide for both television and animation fans.
Raymond Valinoti, Jr. is a resident of Berkeley Heights, NJ. He has a Master's in Library Science from Rutgers University and is a freelance researcher. He is also the author of Another Nice Mess: The Laurel and Hardy Story and Hollywood's Pre-Code Horrors 1931-1934. His articles have been published in the magazines Midnight Marquee and Films of the Golden Age.