The Honeymooners was used as a basis for the concept of The Flintstones . On an April 17, 1993 episode of "The 700 Club", Joseph Barbera stated that The Flintstones were based on The Honeymooners , and that "Top Cat" was based on " The Bowery Boys " and the character was based on "Sergent Bilko". Mel Blanc , the voice of Barney Rubble , was asked to model Barney's voice after Ed Norton, but reportedly refused. Gleason later said that he considered suing but decided that becoming known as "the guy who yanked Fred Flintstone off the air" wasn't worth the negative publicity. [ 28 ] The Honeymooners was spoofed in an episode of Perfect Strangers as a result of the character Balki Bartoukomos ( Bronson Pinchot )'s spinning an extended metaphor about the characters' existential situation to an episode of The Honeymooners he had once seen; Balki's description of the episode is shown in a black-and-white flashback. As Ralph Kramden was a New York City bus driver, one of the service depots in Brooklyn was renamed the Jackie Gleason Bus Depot in 1988. All buses that originate from the bus depot bear a sticker on the front that has a logo derived from the 'face on the Moon' opening credits of The Honeymooners . The MTA also took 1948 GM-TDH5101 bus number 4789, renumbered it to 2969 and made it the 'official Jackie Gleason bus'. Two series, 26 episodes in all were made for R.C.T.I. in 1996. It