Original: The Honeymooners (CBS, 1955-56)
Though it only ran for 39 episodes, this American sitcom is now considered one of the most influential TV shows of all time. The Honeymooners focuses on the Kramdens and the Nortons, two married couples living in a New York apartment building. Ralph Kramden (Jackie Gleason) is a loud, short-tempered lug with delusions of grandeur, who verbally abuses his patient wife Alice (Audrey Meadows) with empty threats like “One of these days… Pow! Right in the kisser!” Ralph’s dim-witted best friend Ed (Art Carney) gets constantly drawn into Ralph’s schemes, to the exasperation of his wife Trixie (Joyce Randolph).
Rip-Off: The Flintstones (ABC, 1960-66)
This beloved Hanna Barbera cartoon essentially stole the premise and working class characters of The Honeymooners and switched out Brooklyn for the Stone Age town of Bedrock. The worst of the duplicates is Fred Flintstone, whose only noticeable difference from Ralph Kramden is Stone Age clothing. The characters share a striking physical resemblance, very similar voices and an identical loudmouth personality. In fact, all of the cartoon’s characters are transplanted from The Honeymooners; Fred’s best friend Barney Rubble is a lovable dimwit eternally caught up in Fred’s scheming, while both of their wives, Wilma and Betty, are patient women constantly exasperated by their husbands’ antics.
Just How Bad Is It? 9/10
This one’s pretty awful, considering The Flintstones‘ prehistoric setting is the only noticeable difference between the two shows. The cartoon’s extensive similarities to The Honeymooners didn’t go unnoticed in 1960 either. In fact, the original show’s creator, Jackie Gleason, considered suing Hanna Barbera for what he rightfully saw as a heinous rip-off of his sitcom, only to be dissuaded by friends and colleagues who cautioned that his image would suffer if he became known as “the man who killed Fred Flintstone,” a tremendously popular figure in kids’ television at the time. Long after both shows went off the air, another big rip-off popped up – CBS’ 1998 sitcom The King of Queens – though countless sitcoms have undoubtedly been influenced by The Honeymooners.
