Ann-Margret in Her Prime: Bedrock’s Best Baby-Sitter

Singer-actress-dancer Ann-Margret has gotten Oscar nominations for “Carnal Knowledge” and “Tommy”; her Emmy nominations include one for “A Streetcar Named Desire.” She was even up for a Grammy in 1961, for best new artist. And she’s written a couple of books.

Some people, however, have a hard time picturing her with shoes.

“I can’t see Ann-Margret without thinking of ‘The Flintstones,’ ” a fellow baby boomer told me the other day (I can’t see her without thinking of Roger Smith of “77 Sunset Strip,” but that’s another column).

In 1963 she was popular enough to play herself--well, a prehistoric version of herself--in the “Flintstones” episode “Ann-Margrock Presents” (Monday at 12:30 p.m. on TBS).

It’s a typical “Flintstones” mix-up: A singing star in town for a concert makes friends with Fred, who has no idea who she is. He thinks she’s just some sweet, pink-haired girl who sings lullabies to Pebbles (and who never once says, “Geez. Would you look at the size of this kid’s head!”).

Meanwhile, Fred is working on a singing act with Barney. It’s lame, but Fred mistakenly thinks it’s gotten him a spot in Ann-Margrock’s concert. At show time, Fred and Barney are shocked when their Annie takes the stage, but she grabs them for a number together, and all’s well in Bedrock again.

DETAILS, DETAILS: Characters from which sitcom appeared in cartoon form on “The Flintstones” in 1965, the first time characters from a live-action show crossed over into an animated one? Answer appear next week. The answer to last week’s quiz (In which category did Jack Benny win an Emmy in 1957?): best continuing performance (male) in a series by a comedian, singer, host, dancer, MC, announcer, narrator, panelist or any other person who essentially plays himself.

Set Your VCR

Evil gets its due in “Our Unsung Villains” on “Walt Disney Presents” (Friday at 11 p.m. on the Disney Channel). Among the honorees: the Wicked Queen from “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” and the Big Bad Wolf. The host of the tribute, which first aired in 1956, is the slave in the magic mirror.

In a salute to final episodes that begins Monday on Nickelodeon, a two-part “Wonder Years” wraps up with a look at the future (Monday at 10 and 10:30 p.m.); TV station WJM is sold on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” (Tuesday at 10 p.m.); and Bob Hartley gives up his practice on “The Bob Newhart Show” (Wednesday at 10:30 p.m.).

Lucy settles down long enough to marry Mitch on “Dallas” (Tuesday at 8 a.m., 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. on TNN). That 1981 episode, after the “Who Shot J.R.?” resolution, was the highest-rated episode of the series.

Adam regains his sight in a two-part “Little House on the Prairie” (Wednesday and May 14 at 10 a.m. on KTLA Channel 5). So why isn’t wife Mary happier?

Astronaut Tony Nelson lets Jeannie out of the bottle as “I Dream of Jeannie” (Friday at 6:30 a.m. and Saturday at 2:30 a.m. on cable channel TV Land) begins another run. You can bet that the fiancee that “Master” has in that premiere episode won’t be around much longer.

See if you can spot David Caruso of “Michael Hayes” and “N.Y.P.D. Blue” on a “CHiPs” from 1983 (Friday at 5 a.m. on TNT). How about A. Martinez--the former soap heartthrob who went on to “The Profiler”--from a 1981 episode (Wednesday at 5 a.m.)? Here’s an easier one: Sonny Bono in an ’81 show (Tuesday at 6 a.m.)