The Roman Holidays

The Roman Holidays is a half-hour Saturday morning animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and broadcast on NBC from September 9 to December 2, 1972. Reruns were later shown on the USA Cartoon Express during the 1980s, Cartoon Network during the 1990s and Boomerang during the 2000s.

The show was an attempt by Hanna-Barbera to replicate the success of their 1960-1966 show The Flintstones, with another modern family living in heavily fictionalized Roman times. Thirteen episodes were produced.

Plot
Very similar in theme to both The Flintstones and The Jetsons, The Roman Holidays brought a look at the "marble age" life in Ancient Rome, as seen through the eyes of Augustus "Gus" Holiday and his family. The opening shows a chariot traffic jam and a TV showing football on Channel "IV". An Ancient Roman setting was one of the ideas that Hanna-Barbera considered when creating The Flintstones.

The Holidays, a Roman family living at the Venus DeMilo Arms Apartments in A.D. 63, deal with a variety of modern-day problems. Gus Holiday works at the Forum Construction Company for his demanding boss Mr. Tycoonius who is constantly threatening to fire Gus if an assignment he is given goes awry. He lives with his wife Laurie, children Precocia and Happius, and pet lion Brutus. Their neighbors are good friends Herman, Henrietta, and their daughter: Happy's girlfriend Groovia. Their lives are embittered by their exasperated landlord Mr. Evictus who tries to find proof of Brutus living with the Holidays, has a daughter named Snobbia, and excites Gus's tagline "Evictus will evict us!"

Cast

 * Dom DeLuise as Mr. Evictus
 * Daws Butler as Brutus the Lion
 * Pamelyn Ferdin as Precocia Holiday
 * Stanley Livingston as Happius Holiday
 * Shirley Mitchell as Laurie Holiday
 * Harold Peary as Herman
 * Hal Smith as Mr. Tycoonius
 * John Stephenson as
 * Judy Strangis as Groovia
 * Janet Waldo as Henrietta
 * Dave Willock as Gus Holiday

The Roman Holidays in other languages

 * Brazilian Portuguese: Os Mussarelas ("The Mozzarellas")
 * Galician: Festas de Roma ("Roma's Parties")
 * German: Die verrückten Holidays ("The Crazy Holidays")
 * Spanish: Roma me da risa ("Rome makes me laugh")
 * Italian: S.P.Q.R. – Sembrano Proprio Quasi Romani ("They really seem almost Roman"), a play on the Latin initialism

Comics
Gold Key produced a comic book based on the series from November 1972 to August 1973. Only four issues were published. Pete Alvarado drew the first three; Jack Manning drew the final issue.

Home media
The first episode, "Double Date", is available on the DVD Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1970s Volume 1. On April 23, 2013, Warner Archive released The Roman Holidays: The Complete Series on DVD in region 1 as part of their Hanna–Barbera Classics Collection. This is a manufacture-on-demand (MOD) release, available exclusively through Warner's online store and Amazon.com.

Appearances in other media
Manatee versions of the characters Laurie and Precocia Holiday and Mr. Tycoonius appear as sirens in the Jellystone! episode "Balloon Kids". The rap song in the episode features a reference to the year the series was originally released (1972).