Although many people assume that the Gruesomes had been inspired by the 1960s television series The Addams Family or The Munsters, in actuality the Gruesomes are a Flintstones adaptation of earlier Hanna-Barbera supporting characters Mr. and Mrs. J. Evil Scientists, a humorously macabre family that appeared in a single Snagglepuss episode and a single Super-Snoop & Blabber Mouse episode, both episodes that had been aired years before The Addams Family or The Munsters first appeared on television.