According to a report by the Oxnard Press-Courier in 1965, Carroll and Amsterdam sought $12,000 apiece from Hanna-Barbera, arguing it had violated their contracts by only using their voices once on “The Jetsons” and then scrapping them, rather than allowing them to voice Jane and George across the show’s initial 24-episode season (which aired from 1962 to 1963). “I knew full well we wouldn’t win, but I wanted my voice to be heard that this was wrong,” Carroll told Nesteroff. “Even my agents lied. So, you know. There you are. You’re not going to win when you fight the big fellas, but at least you can put up a little yowling.”
In truth, Carroll and Amsterdam were apparently let go for a positively unsexy reason. As detailed in a column posted by the Milwaukee Sentinel in 1962, the pair had been forced off “The Jetsons” as a result of “too many sponsor conflicts, what with Morey being a regular on ‘The Dick Van Dyke Show’ and Pat likewise on ‘The Danny Thomas Show.'” The case was settled in Hanna-Barbera’s favor by 1965, although Carroll told Nesteroff it wouldn’t have happened at all if the studio had been honest in the first place:
“Because when people are honest you’ll get much more fairplay … at least from this gal … than if you lie and fib and try to cover up. A waste of everybody’s time. Just be honest and people can adjust to it.”
Make what you will of the lawsuit, but it didn’t hurt the careers of anyone involved. Carroll and Amsterdam continued to act until their respective deaths in 2022 and 1996. Meanwhile, it feels like Hollywood is practically determined to try and revive “The Jetsons” at some point, for better or for worse.