The Dick Van Dyke Show - colorized on CBS

CBS To Air ‘Dick Van Dyke Show’ Colorized Classic Episodes During Holiday Frame »

Two episodes of the classic series have been colorized and will air on CBS Sunday night, December 11th. CBS has apparently had success with colorizing I LOVE LUCY and THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW last year. What's next, THE TWILIGHT ZONE?

 

I used to feel strongly about stuff like this, but I watch shows like Dick Van Dyke for the performances and the writing, and if color helps it get seen by a few more people, so be it...especially since it's a one-off special.

 

Exactly. If the colorization is good (meaning realistic) and it's out there specifically as a major network prime time holiday treat, great. We're not talking about permanently altering or destroying a great piece of visual art here.

 

I prefer the original B&W version, but agree with you. Besides, I don't believe our vote counts. ;-) Additionally, if I happen to watch the broadcast, I can just turn off the color. Not ideal but that's the way it goes.

 

As I said in the other thread that posted this, I don't know why they didn't choose to colorized the only Christmas episode they did in 1963 for a least one of the two shows.

 

Got to agree with SteelyNJ. We're not talking Citizen Kane or The Third Man here. The whole series would have been in color if that had been an option from the beginning.

CBS could have made it more fun by including some vintage commercials, though.

 

Eww

 

Hey it's just another alternative, they aren't destroying and denying us the black and white versions. This isn't like Bewitched where the original black and white versions aren't available (the B&W set is the colorized versions with the colour turned off)

 

I've always been a fan of THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW. Indeed, in its first season, I was one of the early adopters while the rest of the country was watching something else (Tuesdays at 8, the choices were BACHELOR FATHER or the second half of LARAMIE). The rest of my family was probably watching BACHELOR FATHER - and I liked that show too - but something about THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW grabbed me early. It took about half a season for me to convince my family to switch over to CBS at that hour. Today I own the original DVD season sets and the newer Blu-rays from Image.

I find the show to be quite complete in its original black & white, and somehow color doesn't add anything to it in the few color shots of the sets and the few colorized scenes I've seen. It just feels wrong to me. Even the latter day revisits to the show, its sets, its actors, felt wrong to me being in color.

Nevertheless, I'm intrigued with seeing the show in a new way. I'm pretty sure I'll still be happy with the magnificent black & white Blu-ray set I've got, but it could be fun to see it all "prettied" up.

 

Sound is lousy, but.....

 

Just saw the I Love Lucy colorized show last Friday. Always wondered how colorization works....what is the science on how to do it properly? Surely they don't just randomly assign colors to what's on screen? It's a newb question but one I've always wondered about.

 

Gross. Why does CBS have to colorize things when they should just leave it in their original black and white format?

 

It's the only way they'll get new, young, fresh, eyeballs on these half a century old properties in prime time. Plus the curious old timers who will see how the colorization looks. It's either that or mediocre or bad ratings for a rerun of their current programs on that night.

 

That makes a lot of sense.

 

And you know, b+w or colorized, I'd rather see the Adventures of Rob Petrie and his gang than Madame Secretary or whatever procedural they've got for that night.

 

I've watched several colorized programs and have turned off the color on my TV to revert to a B&W image. The result was quite watchable... and while it's possible there was a loss of the some of the B&W gradation, the average person wouldn't have been alarmed by the image. It certainly was not a complete grey image.

Perhaps there are various techniques for colorization that impact the B&W image more than others do. If you can think of any specific examples where a colorized program "blanded out" the B&W images, it would be interesting to check it out.

 

Perhaps it is a form of atonement. If they hadn't been so stubborn in adopting color in the 60s, these shows (Griffith, Van Dyke) might already have been filmed in color!

 

I think we had a thread about this already, but I will reiterate that these shows were lighted, set-dressed, and shot for best results to be seen in black and white.
Colorization is ridiculous, and a comment on current trend in attention spans.

BUT- if this means newer audiences get to enjoy the acting and brilliant writing otherwise ignored, then what can ya do?
Also regardless of color, wouldn't the general pace be too stately for modern audiences? They do bore easily you know!

 

Alan Brady wears a toupee...

OOPS

 

And it's also at the wrong speed and is progressive-scan and shot off a monitor. Not a great way to judge a test. To me, it looks a bit too brownish.

Whatever you do, don't mention his nose job.

 

From what I read Carl Reiner had final approval on everything and even dictated which lines/scenes could be trimmed to get more commercial time without compromising the show. If that is the case, and as much involved he is in preserving the legacy of the DVD Show, color or not I think it will be a very enjoyable 60 minutes.

I don't like colorized shows BUT if this is what it takes to get these shows on network air today then so be it. I see a lot of people complain "They need to show like (insert title) again, why won't they do that instead of the junk they have on today?" Then when the network actually schedules airings of the actual original series then everyone complains "It's colorized, I won't watch, they ruined it, etc etc etc." Like I said I don't like the colorized shows but if that is what it takes for 60 minutes I can enjoy the show in a different light.

 

Nice piece on how this was done, including the efforts made to determine the correct colors....

How producers brought ‘Dick Van Dyke’ into living color | New York Post »

 

That was interesting, but they don't actually go into "how" the film was colorized.

Below is my guess at how it is done. Professionals on the board: feel free to correct me!

They use some kind of software that identifies objects in the frame. Then, I think they have to manually assign the colors to each object. Then, I guess the software applies the same colors to subsequent frames.

But, I'm sure there are places where the software can't accurately identify the object, or where it misjudges where an object ends. I assume someone has to manually "tweak" individual frames or sequences.