No Biz Like Show Biz is the first episode of Season 6 of The Flintstones.
Summary[]
Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble have decided to watch a game on TV. They soon discover that the game has been pre-empted by a teenage dance show. In fact, they see teenagers singing and dancing on every channel, as well as an interview with Eppy Brianstone, the manager of The Termites. Fed up with seeing that teenagers have taken over, Barney leaves to mow his lawn, and Fred takes a nap, thankful that Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm are normal babies.
Fred is quickly awakened by the sound of someone singing. He asks Wilma to turn off the radio, but then remembers that it's on the blink. Thinking that teenagers are practicing in his yard, he goes outside to confront them, only to see that the singers are Pebbles on guitar and Bamm-Bamm on drums, singing "Open Up Your Heart and Let the Sun Shine In". Excited, he tells Barney about this, and the men realize they can become millionaires from the kids' talents.
When they tell Wilma and Betty about this, the women laugh, and Wilma reminds Fred that Pebbles can't talk. When Fred shows them, the kids revert to speaking baby talk. But then, Eppy Brianstone shows up, telling them his car broke down. That's when he himself hears the kids singing, and Wilma and Betty finally see that the guys were telling the truth. They hold each other up to keep from fainting. Brianstone has Fred and Barney sign a recording contract, and the youngest singing idols are on their way to stardom.
Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm's pediatrician makes a house call, and reveals that their singing is a form of hypnosis brought about by TV viewing. After that, the song is released as a single, and goes all the way to Number One. Their fan base is so large that a group of teenagers begin chasing Fred, who is photographed upon running inside the house. After that, Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm, accompanied by Wilma and Betty, embark on a long concert tour, including TV interviews, hairdressing appointments, and even a film.
Left on their own, Fred and Barney begin missing their families, and come up with a plan to get their kids back. While Wilma and Betty call their husbands but get no answer, Fred disguises himself as a private investigator, and claims he's there to take the kids to the detention home to detent them. Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm remove his hat and fake mustache, and Fred makes a run for it. He and Barney are immediately pursued by Wilma, Betty, Eppy, and the police. After trying to lose them all on the cloverleaf, Barney drives the wrong way through a one-way tunnel, and he and Fred see that the police have set up a roadblock. When an officer grabs Fred, Wilma tells him to wake up. Fred realizes the whole chain of events was just a nightmare. Then Wilma shows Fred a tutu for Pebbles, explaining that she means for their daughter to take dancing lessons. Fred refuses, and tells her about his dream. Wilma then shows him the 45 rpm record of "Open Up Your Heart and Let the Sun Shine In". Fred goes into the next room, picks up Pebbles' toy guitar, and sings the song himself. Bamm-Bamm forms a square with his hands, and the kids laugh.
Trivia[]
- "Open Up Your Heart and Let the Sun Shine In" is a real song recorded several years earlier by a Sunday school choir.
- Eppy Brianstone is a prehistoric version of Brian Epstein, who was The Beatles' manager until his untimely death in 1967.
- The Termites are obviously a takeoff on The Beatles.
- Johnny Rockson is a takeoff on Johnny Carson, the longtime host of The Tonight Show.
- Fred's statement about him and Barney kidnapping their own kids is actually true to life. There have been many cases of parents kidnapping their own children, usually as the result of divorce and custody battles.
- Billboard, Variety, and Carnegie Hall do not have prehistoric names.
- Dino has a cameo at the beginning, and Hoppy is completely absent.
- The sequence of Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm performing at the Hollyrock Palace was used in the closing credits of a few Season 6 episodes.
- The formation of an artificial square was first used in the episode "The Girls' Night Out," when Wilma and Betty spread a rumor about Hi-Fye being a square.
- This was the last focus episode about Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm until the premiere of The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show six years later.
Goofs[]
- Wilma tells the men the kids will be interviewed on The Johnny Rockson Show. Although Johnny Carson had the longest tenure as host, the series was never called The Johnny Carson Show. It was always The Tonight Show, and others hosted it before him, including Jack Paar.
- When Fred runs off with Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm, Eppy Brianstone shouts, "Hey, you! Come back here with my hat!" This makes no sense at all, since Brianstone is never seen wearing a hat in the episode.
- Wilma tells Fred that Pebbles can't talk yet. However, Pebbles does have a limited vocabulary in several previous episodes.