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CBS to air colorized 'Dick Van Dyke Show' episodes

frankberry said:
Another thing to consider ... CBS is attempting to attract younger viewers who may be turned off by black and white.
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While that may very well be true if CBS really REALLY wanted to get the younger audience then they should do something more than just turn an old black & white show into color. Add in images such as a laptop in Dick's office or a can of some kind of energy drink in Mary's kitchen or having Buddy, Sally and Dick puff on those e-cigarettes instead of Kents. On the other hand is any of this possible ?? Can it be done ??
 
hamster said:
While that may very well be true if CBS really REALLY wanted to get the younger audience then they should do something more than just turn an old black & white show into color. Add in images such as a laptop in Dick's office or a can of some kind of energy drink in Mary's kitchen or having Buddy, Sally and Dick puff on those e-cigarettes instead of Kents. On the other hand is any of this possible ?? Can it be done ??
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http://www.ew.com/article/2011/07/07/how-i-met-your-mother-reruns-bad-teacher-zookeeper
 
anotherguy said:
For shows that started in black & white but went to color, to me there's nothing wrong in colorizing the older episodes. In the case of The Andy Griffith Show, the show going downhill wasn't so much because of going color but Don Knotts leaving like was mentioned earlier, and the storylines not being as good later on.
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I still don't think it's a good idea to colorize any B&W TV show or movie. Leave them as they were.

But to me certain shows like The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, The Addams Family, and the Munsters, are better in black & white because of the eerie feel it gives them.
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I prefer to think of them as being in a somewhat different reality. That goes especially for comedies. The Marx Brothers, Three Stooges, and Laurel & Hardy just wouldn't be the same in color -- other than those that were originally shot in color, of course. The Stooges' Nertsery Rhymes (MGM 1933, with Ted Healy) was one that was originally filmed in two-strip Technicolor, for example.

One area where colorization makes sense to me is to add color back into shows where most prints have faded. I remember reading somewhere that this was done with MASH and possibly other shows in the 90's.
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I think they're doing that. I note that the color episodes of Bewitched, airing on Antenna TV right now, give two copyright dates: 1966 and 1994, and they look as good as when they first aired. Perhaps they got (re)colorized, hence the new copyright?

The original Star Trek is another one that should have been restored, if it hasn't been already. The old films are so faded now, you can see the special-effects editing cuts in the film.
 
KeithE4 said:
I prefer to think of them as being in a somewhat different reality. That goes especially for comedies. The Marx Brothers, Three Stooges, and Laurel & Hardy just wouldn't be the same in color -- other than those that were originally shot in color, of course. The Stooges' Nertsery Rhymes (MGM 1933, with Ted Healy) was one that was originally filmed in two-strip Technicolor, for example.
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I referred to old movies in my post, but old TV shows should also remain in B&W if that's how they were filmed/taped. I mentioned I Dream Of Jeannie as one that looks better in color than B&W, but that still doesn't mean that the B&W episodes should be colorized.
 
Gilligan's Island was another one of the sitcoms that transitioned from B&W to Color, I believe in season 2. However, I recall a years ago TNT colorized season one. Funny thing is the colorized episodes don't look very good compared to those filmed in color.

I will probably watch the Dick Van Dyke colorized episodes more out of curiosity than anything else. I would guess many baby boomers like myself will do the same.
 
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Out of morbid curiousity, i'd be willing to try and watch a fully colorized "The Wizard Of Oz", but the dream sequence styling [making most of the film in color] is lost when the entire production is shown in color. Was the full color version ever commercially released?
 
Fakeem said:
Out of morbid curiousity, i'd be willing to try and watch a fully colorized "The Wizard Of Oz", but the dream sequence styling [making most of the film in color] is lost when the entire production is shown in color. Was the full color version ever commercially released?
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There was never a full color version. The Kansas sequences were printed in sepia to resemble old black and white photographs. "Miracle on 34th Street" - one of if not the first film colorized - was shot on newsreel stock (and on location) deliberately to give the film an air of realism - not fantasy. In the 30s and 40s, technicolor was mostly reserved for fantasies (cartoons, musicals) and black and white for realism (gangster movies, film noir, westerns).
 
FreddyE1977 said:
It's a shame they have to do this to attract a new generation of viewers.
The shows themselves are classic.
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Why is it sad? You still have the option to watch the original B&W shows or you can simply turn down the color knob on your TV and achieve the same result.

Newer generations almost always treasure the old stuff to some degree but given a choice they will opt for new technology. I love the look of a 1930's Ford Phaeton but I would not want one as my daily driver.
 
Oscar Madison said:
The aforementioned producers and creators of the show could have shot the show in color. They chose not to.
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The choice was made by CBS, which was producing just about everything in black-and-white at that time.
They were experiencing a severe case of butt-hurt over the FCC reversing itself and going with the RCA color system
and not theirs. Thus they slow-walked their conversion to color.

When they took The Joey Bishop Show from NBC they actually converted it BACK to black-and-white....the only
series to ever do so.

The decision was in no way driven artistically.
 
landtuna said:
Why is it sad? You still have the option to watch the original B&W shows or you can simply turn down the color knob on your TV and achieve the same result.

Newer generations almost always treasure the old stuff to some degree but given a choice they will opt for new technology. I love the look of a 1930's Ford Phaeton but I would not want one as my daily driver.
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By your logic no one will be watching Casablanca or The Grapes of Wrath within a couple of decades.
 
FreddyE1977 said:
By your logic no one will be watching Casablanca or The Grapes of Wrath within a couple of decades.
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I agree, but not for the reasons you propose. Casablanca will continue to be of (declining) interest to those youngsters having an interest in the war years or the actors themselves. Same with GofW except interest in the Great Depression has already reached the bottom of the barrel. Ask any person 40 or younger ten questions about WWII or the GD and I will bet they can't answer 3 correctly.
 
FreddyE1977 said:
By your logic no one will be watching Casablanca or The Grapes of Wrath within a couple of decades.
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Who, indeed, watches them now other than film students and people who lived during or close to the time those events portrayed in the movies occurred?
 
There are many film fans who are not in film school who like classic movies. True, WWII movies don't have much appeal, but be careful to rule out baby boomers for classics from the late 40's to the late 60's. The audience for these is perhaps stronger than most know.
 
KeithE4 said:
I note that the color episodes of Bewitched, airing on Antenna TV right now, give two copyright dates: 1966 and 1994, and they look as good as when they first aired. Perhaps they got (re)colorized, hence the new copyright?
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Did the '66 and '94 dates have something to do with copyright renewals (then 28 years) by Screen Gems (or whatever the surviving company was named)?
 
FreddyE1977 said:
When they took The Joey Bishop Show from NBC they actually converted it BACK to black-and-white....the only series to ever do so.
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Don't forget Wagon Train, where this also occurred--on the same network:

'57-'62, NBC, one hour, B&W
'62-'63, ABC, one hour, B&W
'63-'64, ABC, ninety minutes, IN COLOR
'64-'65, ABC, one hour, B&W
 
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