Hanna-Barbera Productions is a cartoon animation studio, started by Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera in 1944. They were the first animation studio to produce cartoons exclusively for television broadcast. Until then, cartoons were produced to be shown in theatres, and later might be rebroadcast on TV. Various animation short-cuts became Hanna-Barbera trademarks, like plots being advanced by cartoon character seen only as talking heads, and crashes and disasters happening somewhere just off the frame, not seen but only heard as sound effects. Their production of The Smurfs in was perhaps the greatest of their achievements, with a 9 year run and two Emmys for Outstanding Children’s Entertainment Series. The Smurfs television show enjoyed continued success from 1981 until 1990, when Hanna-Barbera simply was no longer able to compete with the changing role of American animation. The mythos of the Saturday morning cartoon was falling apart, and more advanced animation techniques were in use. In short, The Smurfs' day had come and gone.

In 1991, Hanna-Barbera was acquired by Turner Broadcasting, which in turn was acquired by Time Warner in 1996. By then, several of H-B's animators and writers had left the company to help resurrect Warner Brothers Animation.

Time Warner eventually merged Hanna-Barbera with the Warner Brothers Animation facilities (though they operated as separate units, and continue to do so), and turned H-B's focus toward the Cartoon Network cable channel. A newer, fresher batch of cartoons were produced starting in 1995, leaving the old days of the Smurfs behind (though older Hanna-Barbera cartoons are still rerun regularly in many markets and on Cartoon Network).

After Bill Hanna's death in 2001, it was decided to retire the Hanna-Barbera name, and the company now operates under the Cartoon Network Studios title. (Though organizationally speaking, Cartoon Network Studios is a unit of Turner Broadcasting, while Hanna-Barbara remains part of Warner Bros., despite being nonexistent. Same difference, really.) The H-B name is still used on legal documents and copyright notices, however.

Hanna-Barbara/Warner Bros. retains the distribution rights to the Smurfs animated cartoon series in English-speaking countries, and is the licensor of home video rights in the USA. In May, 2004 the DVD department of Warner Bros. Home Video sent DVD retailers a release list of anticipated Hanna-Barbera DVD Collection titles. It included "The Flintstones," "The Jetsons," "The Snorks," "Tom & Jerry," "Yogi Bear," "Magilla Gorilla," "Scooby Doo" and "THE SMURFS!" It said "The Smurfs Season 1 Coming Soon 2005!" Unfortunately, the July 2004 newsletter from Warner Bros. said that they were delaying four of the Hanna-Barbera collection DVD sets, and one of them was the Smurfs. In the August newsletter, the Smurfs had been pulled from the list entirely. In September it was reported that there would be a two disc DVD set in 2005.