What TV shows suffered in the switch from black and white to color?

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Joel1963, Nov 9, 2015.

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  1. Spaghettiows

    Spaghettiows Forum Resident

    Location:
    Silver Creek, NY
    I grew up in a solidly middle-class neighborhood, but color TVs really did not become common until the mid-late 70s. Many of the parents grew up during the Depression and/or World War II and did not spend on "extravagances" such as a color TV. My dad was a steelworker and WWII vet, but he finally succumbed in 1974 after years of begging from six kids. I think it cost around $450 which was a lot for a blue collar worker, even a union member, in 1974. We would try to guess the color of the cars that stars of the shows drove. If you were not around, you cannot imagine how big of a deal that was back then to get a color TV.
     
  2. Dr. Pepper

    Dr. Pepper What, me worry?

    Yeah, Gunsmoke changed it's whole format right before it went to color. The black and white shows were usually written by the wonderfully gritty John Meston and they focused on Dillon and to a lesser extent Chester, Doc, and Kitty. The color episodes were focused on the guest star of the week and Dillon, Festus, Doc and Kitty had little more to do in the episodes than the cast of the Love Boat did on their show. Oh, and Meston's final episodes as a regular writer are before the first color season.
     
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  3. Ghostworld

    Ghostworld Senior Member

    Location:
    US
    All of them.
     
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  4. HGN2001

    HGN2001 Mystery picture member

    I would propose that variety shows fared pretty well switching to color. Ed Sullivan and Danny Kaye and Red Skelton, etc., all looked better in their color versions. Game shows too.
     
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  5. cathandler

    cathandler Senior Member

    Location:
    maine
    For all the grousing about how bad the color Andy Griffith Show episodes were, the sitcom was the #1 show on TV when Griffith pulled the plug in 1968. Go figure.
     
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  6. Jack Lord

    Jack Lord Forum Resident

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    I prefer the color episodes of Daniel Boone, particularly the ones with Ed Ames.

    I don't prefer them, but I do think My Favorite Martian made the transition well.
     
  7. Upsiditus

    Upsiditus Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cleveland, Ohio
    "The Adventures of Superman" would appear to be the prime example of show that was filmed in B&W only because of budgetary restrictions rather than any "artistic" reasons. Actually, I thought the budget was always low, and yet they jumped the gun on color by a full decade. I find that very strange.
     
  8. Upsiditus

    Upsiditus Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cleveland, Ohio
    Yes, the vast majority of black&white movies/TV shows/photographs were filmed that way due to budget constraints (some B&W photos and movies pre-date color technology), and not any sort of "artistic integrity." Remember the world was never B&W.
     
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  9. evillouie

    evillouie Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toledo
    If I remember correctly, there were plans for a third season of the Addams Family, and supposedly it was going to be in color. I'm not sure that would have worked, as the B&W added to the creepy look of the show. And similarly, when they made those Munsters movies right after the show ended, they were in color and looked completely wrong.
    The Addams Family & The Munsters were definitely 2 shows that were meant to be in black and white.
     
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  10. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Yes, it's sobering to reflect that Andy Griffith was in the Top 10 for its entire 8-year (249 episodes) run, which is not something many shows can say. The infamous "Rural Purge" was one reason that the successor show Mayberry RFD was cancelled, along with several dozen other old- or rural-skewing shows in favor of younger, more hip "urban" shows like All in the Family and Mary Tyler Moore. That decision was made by CBS exec Jim Aubrey, aka "the smiling cobra." He was disliked by many in the industry, but from a ratings and profit point of view, ultimately he was correct.

    There are all kinds of weird database problems that happen everywhere in life, particularly hugh data conglomerates like TV Guide and the cable-TV program guide sources. I don't think it was done deliberately -- it's just run-of-the-mill incompetence.

    TV Guide also had the habit of designating a lot of children's shows as cartoons, when they might actually be live action; Fireball XL-5 and the other early 1960s Gerry Anderson puppet shows fall into that category.
     
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  11. bmasters9

    bmasters9 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Fountain Inn, SC
    It was the same w/the 1957-66 Perry Mason on CBS-- there were plans for a 10th go in color, but that one color experiment ("The Case of the Twice-Told Twist") was all she wrote, at least until the abortive 1973-74 Markham New Mason, and the NBC movies going from 1985-95 (26 of them which had Raymond Burr; the remaining 4 after his passing).
     
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  12. fr in sc

    fr in sc Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hanahan, SC
    I remember when the first family on our block got a color TV in the late sixties; we all kept going over to their house to watch shows.
     
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  13. The Panda

    The Panda Forum Mutant

    Location:
    Marple, PA, USA
    My old man was obsessed with color TV. I would guess we had a huge one by around 1966. He had to have it, just like he had to have a Cadillac (albeit a used one),. He got the TV in time for the Rose Parade and invited people up and down the block to come over and watch it. The thing was, he was already known as a mean, nasty man, so very few people showed up. I remember he couldn't believe how people would choose to stay home and watch B&W when color was available. He had no clue how he was hated.
    The second set he bought (wish I could remember the company) was indestructible. After he got his third color monster, the old one went up to my room in the mid 70's. It was still working when I moved out in the early 80's.
     
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  14. All Down The Line

    All Down The Line The Under Asst East Coast White Label Promo Man

    Location:
    Australia
    The Black and White Minstrels would have but I think it was no longer made when colour came to Australia in the mid 70's!
     
    Last edited: Dec 10, 2018
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  15. JQW

    JQW Forum Resident

    It kept going until 1978, when finally axed. The first series in colour must have been in 1970, after BBC1 went colour at the end of the previous year.
     
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  16. carrick doone

    carrick doone Whhhuuuutttt????

    Location:
    Vancouver, Canada
    Oh gosh yes! My family converted to colour in 1976. We were one of the last families but a colour tv was expensive and an extravagance. Very working class family. Also we lived in a small town and had exactly one tv station so that made it harder to justify. Still it was great when the switch happened. We plunked the 19 inch colour right on top of the console tv / stereo and it held that position until my parents sold the house.
     
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  17. cathandler

    cathandler Senior Member

    Location:
    maine
    Aubrey can be blamed for a lot of things, but the rural purge was not one of them. He actually greenlighted the rural fare that CBS's 1960s ratings dominance was built on. Despite his success, he was fired by CBS in 1965, years before the "purge." Fred Silverman was the "villain" in the rural purge, at least at CBS.
     
    Last edited: Dec 11, 2018
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  18. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Not according to Wikipedia:

    CBS vice president Michael Dann personally disliked the dominance of rural-oriented programming; he nonetheless believed that the programs brought high total viewership and did not care about demographics. Dann's superior, CBS president James T. Aubrey, likewise believed rural sitcoms were a crucial part of the network's formula for success, noting that at the time, advertisers wanted the audience that watched rural sitcoms. Robert Wood, a later president of CBS, pressured Dann to cancel the rural programs.

    It does go on to say:

    The purge was instigated by CBS executive Robert Wood who replaced longtime CBS programming head Michael Dann with Fred Silverman, following research highlighting the greater attraction to advertisers of the young adult urban viewer demographic.

    So let's just say it was a combined decision from a lot of CBS execs, but it started with Dann and Aubrey.

    Rural purge - Wikipedia
     
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  19. seacliffe301

    seacliffe301 Forum Resident

    This has always driven me nuts. I've actually given up the practice of "volunteering" my services although last year I couldn't stand it anymore.
    I was at a friend's house, who's TV always looked terrible. I said "where's your damn remote, I can't take this anymore").
    His contrast was always set so high, fleshtones were always blown out with no saturation. Why some people think that looks good is beyond me.
     
    Last edited: Dec 11, 2018
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  20. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    You are doing God's work. On behalf of the entire Hollywood community, we humbly thank you.
     
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  21. Upsiditus

    Upsiditus Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cleveland, Ohio
    I remember there was one episode of MASH that was filmed in black and white.
     
  22. Jimmy B.

    Jimmy B. .

    Location:
    .
    Bewitched, The Andy Griffith Show, and The Beverly Hillbillies.
     
  23. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    none...it was most exciting back the to see my favorite shows finally in "Living Color"!
     
  24. sons of nothing

    sons of nothing Forum Resident

    Location:
    Illinois
    Pretty sure The Munsters was only B&W for the series, but the movie was in color.
     
  25. Jose Jones

    Jose Jones Outstanding Forum Member

    Location:
    Detroit, Michigan
    Andy sold out! :biglaugh:
     
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