Yesterday afternoon, my local Fox affiliate ran an episode of Perry Mason (the original series, not the '80s-'90s TV movies) in color. My question to all of you in the know is this: whatupwitdat?
CBS resisted the RCA color system for as long as it could....I think there was one Lassie in color as well...
Yes, just one, and if I remember correctly (I read an article about this many years ago), it was the last episode of the regular series. AJH
Not true. All Twilight Zones are B&W. When they resurrected the hour eps from limbo a few years ago they COLORIZED the episode Miniature, starring Robert Duvall. Fortunately, all video releases of it are in the original B&W.
Larry, look again. I believe there is one color episode of the Zone out there...I remember from childhood the "ballyhoo" over it.
I remember seeing a few episodes of Lassie in color years ago - that show was on for a long time. I don't think there were even any people in at least one of these IIRC - it had Lassie in the fields, and some other animals.
Steve, I seem to remember a color Timmy Lassie movie that was shown on CBN (present-day ABC Family Channel) when I was a kid. Let me see if I can dig up some info.
The Miniature colorization was actually done for the TZ 25th Anniversary Special syndicated in late 1984. I still have a VHS of it. This same computer-colorized version was then added to TZ's syndication package, airing on local stations until the SciFi channel acquired exclusive broadcast rights in the mid '90s. It was at this point that it was scrapped for the B&W.
With regard to the "Perry Mason" color ep, it was from the final season, but was not the final show. The episode in question is "The Case of the Twice-Told Twist", which is a rip-off, er-- a modern-day adaptataion of Dickens' "Oliver Twist", with Victor Buono playing the counterpart of Fagin. During this particular year, CBS was gearing up for going 100% color in primetime, beginning in September of 1966. So, for the 1965/66 season, there was a mandate that **all** of their primetime programs would film at least one episode in color. Even though "Perry" was actually in its last year (and therefore wouldn't be on in September of 1966), the cast and crew went along with the plan. As an obligatory (for me) game-show reference: although CBS' nighttime schedule was 100% color, daytime programming lagged behind. The daytime "Password" converted to color a bit early (in September of 1966), and that's why it exists today in that form. Various other daytime shows would convert in the early spring of 1967, as the New York CBS broadcast and production facilities were gradually converted to color. -Kevin
Kev, Summer of '67 or summer of '66? I remember it as being September '66.. Probably another faulty childhood memory..
Kevin, If you happen to know, was the color episode the one where Erle Stanley Gardner played the Judge, or was that the final episode that wasn't in color? I know I read an article about the color episode many years ago, however, it was so long ago that I can't quite remember the details. AJH
Steve: Your brain was right on the mark with that one... it was, of course, 1966. (Got myself all twisted around on TV seasons...) I've edited the post accordingly. AJH: ESG was only the judge in the final episode ("The Case of the Final Fadeout"), a standard B&W ep, which aired in May of 1966. The sole color episode that I mentioned above ("The Case of the Twice-Told Twist") first aired in February of 1966. -Kevin
Back to Lassie I know there is a reference to the Lassie episode in color in 1965, However I remember, quite well, that CBS aired a color Lassie episode in 1963 as a two part show. It was originally titled "Lassie's Odyssey." CBS which scheduled very little color in 1963 followed the color Lassie show with a color telecast of "Elizabeth Taylor in London." This was a big deal and marked CBS's re-entry into color after several years absence. The "Wizard of Oz" which had been broadcast in color by CBS from 1956 thru 1959 was then shown entirely in b&w until it was re-broadcast again in color in late 1963.
