Season 5's King For A Night is basically a rewrite of The Tycoon. It was written by Bill Idelson and Sam Bobrick. It features Nancy Wible who plays Wednesday the babysitter, Henry Corden who plays Guilderstone, one of the King's henchmen and Alan Reed who plays the King.
Since Wilma and Betty are going out to see a movie and Fred and Barney are going bowling, they hire Wednesday to babysit. Wednesday tells Wilma and Betty about the King of Stonesylvania at the Rock Towers hotel. At the hotel, the King complains he wants to go out and enjoy himself "like a pleasant." While his henchmen Guilderstone and Rosencave are gone, he shaves his beard and leaves them a note in a poem saying he's "on the town." So they encounter Fred, whom they think is the King. He tells them he's not the King and they beg him to play King for the sake of the "limousine and yacht" they rented (Hanna Barbera had a way of reminding us the good things in life come with a price). They teach him how to say "The rotskin spotskin is motskin in the plotskin" (a parody from My Fair Lady). Meanwhile, Barney is looking for Fred. He sees the King who looks just like Fred. Barney tries to force the King to come back to the bowling alley but the King resists. Finally tired of Barney chasing him around, the King clubs him with a stop sign. While Wilma and Betty decide to check out the King at the Rock Towers, Fred is playing King with a fake beard and dancing with a lady. They catch him red handed and he escapes. Then Fred gets bonked with a stop sign by Barney. Wilma hits the King with her purse, thinking he's Fred. And a chase scene between the King, his subjects, Fred and Barney and their wives erupts. This time, the doubles meet. The King returns to his throne and Fred gets paid in Stonesylvania currency for playing him. Unfortunately, it's not much in Bedrock currency!
Overview: King For A Night has its moments but it's not recommended to watch back to back with The Tycoon, which preceded it by over 3 years. One thing I like is Fred is forgiven by Wilma and Barney, though he gets accused by Betty, is also forgiven. Finally, although the King has an attitude, he also proves to have a good heart as he invites both the Flintstones and the Rubbles to the reception at the end. Hanna Barbera took lots of advantage of My Fair Lady puns. And I have to admit the catchphrase "The rotskin spotskin..." is fun to say. But I think Fred saying the phrase with a grimace after finding out the disappointing news of his paycheck is funniest of all! 7 rotskins in the plotskins out of 10!
2 Reviews
"Barney. I knew it! He's mixed up in this, too!"
gregorycanfield27 June 2022
It's curious (especially to me) that Betty has two of the funniest lines in this episode. Before she says the line in my heading, she says: "What I want to know is, where's Barney? I'm sure he's mixed up in this, somehow." In another review, I criticized Gerry Johnson for not being as good as Bea Benaderet. In this episode, Gerry proved me wrong! Wilma and Betty see Fred disguised as the King of Stonesylvania, and assume that he is up to no good. Betty assumes that Barney is involved, when she really doesn't even know what Fred's situation is about. I'm not sure why, but I've always found all of this hilarious. Very funny episode, and probably Gerry Johnson's best performance.
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