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Shows That Aired In Both Black & White And Color

I think I've mentioned it before, but there was
one point (around 1962) when
the ABC o&os carried "The Flintstones" in color,
but the rest of the network did not. I once saw
a listing for it in the New York Metropolitan edition
of TV Guide that showed it in color on Ch. 7 but
not on Ch. 8 Hartford/New Haven. As I think we
all know by now, the first ABC series to air in color
on the full network was "The Jetsons."

A couple of other notes: Walt Disney moved his
show from ABC to NBC in 1961, following the expiration
of his ABC contract, BECAUSE NBC had color and ABC
didn't. NBC president Bob Kintner (who had held the
same job at ABC when Disney started there in 1954)
had once told Disney to bring his show to NBC when
his contract with ABC ran out; his cartoons and movies
would look a whole lot better in color.

Also, "Concentration" was the last NBC daytime show
to go to color, in the fall of 1966.
 
For what it's worth with pro football:

NBC began airing a number of AFL games in color (mostly Jets games) when they started doing AFL games in 1965, then most of the schedule in 1966 and then the full schedule in 1967.

CBS only did the Thanksgiving Day game and the post season NFL games in 1965. Then about two or three NFL games a week in color in 1966, then all but one or two games a week in color in 1967, then the full NFL schedule in 1968.

ABC did the long-abandoned College All-Star football game from Chicago's Soldier Field in B/W all the way through 1970. Soldier Filed had poor lighting until the Bears moved in in 1971.
 
Newname said:
"The Flintstones" aired in black and white in first run on ABC, but, to my knowledge, all syndicated airings were in color(I wasn't even aware the show had ever been in black and white til 'Entertainment Tonight' aired a brief bw clip accompanying some story in the early '80s).
Click to expand...

When ABC started The Bugs Bunny Show in 1960, I assume the show was in B&W even though the original theatrical cartoons were in color. If this is the case how long was it before they were shown in color?
 
Rin Tin Tin
Lassie
not sure about Flipper
Woody Woodpecker, Wally Walrus & Andy Panda
Ed Sullivan
*never got into those computer colorized versions of shows like what they did to the 3 stooges.
 
Wasn't ABC going to bring back The Patty Duke Show for a fourth season in color but United Artists didn't want to spring for color film?
 
Wasn't ABC going to bring back The Patty Duke Show for a fourth season in color but United Artists didn't want to spring for color film?
That's the story...That tidbit popped up on a thread somewhere else concerning "accidental" cancellations.

A couple people brought up the fact that "American Bandstand" was ABC's last B/W show, and "Concentration" was NBC's, but what about CBS? My guess would be one of the soaps...Anyone know?
 
Braves2005 said:
The Farmer's Daughter did air in color in its last season (1965-1966)
Click to expand...
Indeed it did, but there are 2 or 3 episodes from that season that appeared in B&W! Maybe they were filed for season 2 and delayed?
 
Corky Marlowe said:
Wasn't ABC going to bring back The Patty Duke Show for a fourth season in color but United Artists didn't want to spring for color film?
That's the story...That tidbit popped up on a thread somewhere else concerning "accidental" cancellations.

A couple people brought up the fact that "American Bandstand" was ABC's last B/W show, and "Concentration" was NBC's, but what about CBS? My guess would be one of the soaps...Anyone know?
Click to expand...

CBS for years aired a Sunday morning religious show called "Lamp Unto My Feet" ( I am pretty sure that was the title ). It wouldn't surprise me at all if that was the last CBS show to have gone color. I would assume we are talking by 1968 here.

For the record I have seen a handful of local religious TV shows remain telecasting in lovely B&W as late as 1984. Yes 1984 ! ! !
 
Corky Marlowe said:
Wasn't ABC going to bring back The Patty Duke Show for a fourth season in color but United Artists didn't want to spring for color film?
That's the story...That tidbit popped up on a thread somewhere else concerning "accidental" cancellations.
Click to expand...

That is true. "The Patty Duke Show", still very popular in the 1965-1966 season was slated to join the growing list of ABC shows being brought to you, now in color for the '66-'67 season. But, United Artists would not pony up for color film, at an additional cost of $10,000 per episode (still easy to recoup with advertising dollars, due to the shows' popularity). However, since ABC wanted to become an "all color" network, "The Patty Duke Show" was axed for the 1966-1967 season due to UA's stinginess. It's a shame too. I still love that show to this day. I hope for the day that it's available on DVD.

Ironically, another United Artists show was already being produced in color ("on another network"). "Gilligan's Island" was already produced in color on CBS by the 1965-1966 season (the shows' second season). CBS was a latecomer to color. But they wanted to make a "splash" during the second half of the 1965-1966 season. "Gilligan's Island" was one show that broke the NTSC color barrier on CBS. Many other popular CBS shows were part of this slowly evolving color experiment, including "Perry Mason" and the only color episode of the series called "Case of The Twice Told Twist" , which aired in February, 1966.
 
The original "The Outer Limits," was produced by UA in B&W. When the series was resurrected in the 90's, it came back in color.

Somehow, I always thought the series looked better in Black & White. Had a more cinematic quality.

Gary Begin/Consultant
Identity Programming
Jackson, TN
www.garybegin.com
 
This is a subject, that, being a self-proclaimed TV Historian, I'm quite interested in, especially shows that DIDN'T make the cut. Thanks for the Patty Duke Show story, that's one of the shows that, to me, came "painfully close" to making it in color but, to quote Maxwell Smart, "missed it by that much".

Other shows falling under this category would be:
Dick Van Dyke
Donna Reed
Munsters
Addams Family

Had they gotten to the 1966-1967, they would have most certainly been in color as, AFAIK, all prime-time shows starting with this season were in color.

As much as I would have loved to see them in color, the fact that they never made it cements their status as "Classic" TV.
 
It's probably good that "The Munsters" & "The Addams Family" never made it to color...The creepiness was enhanced by B/W. Also, the official story on DVD was that Carl Reiner had always planned to call it quits after 5 years.
 
Corky Marlowe said:
It's probably good that "The Munsters" & "The Addams Family" never made it to color...The creepiness was enhanced by B/W.
Click to expand...

The same goes for the original Twilight Zone and Outer Limits, although I liked the 80's TZ also.
 
Corky Marlowe said:
It's probably good that "The Munsters" & "The Addams Family" never made it to color...The creepiness was enhanced by B/W. Also, the official story on DVD was that Carl Reiner had always planned to call it quits after 5 years.
Click to expand...

The Munsters did do a movie--- "Munster Go Home" which was in color and released in June, 1966.
 
anotherguy said:
Newname said:
"The Flintstones" aired in black and white in first run on ABC, but, to my knowledge, all syndicated airings were in color(I wasn't even aware the show had ever been in black and white til 'Entertainment Tonight' aired a brief bw clip accompanying some story in the early '80s).
Click to expand...

When ABC started The Bugs Bunny Show in 1960, I assume the show was in B&W even though the original theatrical cartoons were in color. If this is the case how long was it before they were shown in color?

The 1965-66 season, when Bugs aired Saturdays at noon on ABC.

"The Flintstones" was in color on the full network by the 1963-64 season
at the latest, although I seem to recall seeing it in color on WRAL Raleigh
in 1962.
Click to expand...
 
anotherguy said:
Corky Marlowe said:
It's probably good that "The Munsters" & "The Addams Family" never made it to color...The creepiness was enhanced by B/W.
Click to expand...

I think it was The Great TV Sitcom Book that stated the walls in the Addams Family's house were supposed to be blood red. IMagine that in color, in the mid 60s?

Also fun to think what the Dick Van D. show would've looked like in color. Bet it would have had the same "look" as the Mary Tyler Moore show, just four years later.

Two other shows that went from B & W to color -- not mentioned yet -- Howdy Doody, and The Tonight Show.
Click to expand...
 
Some newscasts, especially local ones, would have broadcast in color from the studio but used black-and-white film, or vice-versa. CHEX in Peterborough was still using black-and-white film for newsgathering as late as 1977, and CKNX in Wingham was in the same position until 1976. CHEX switched directly to ENG, while CKNX switched to color film...Super 8, to be exact.
 
The Munsters did do a movie--- "Munster Go Home" which was in color and released in June, 1966.
[/quote]

On the Munsters DVD collection, the pilot was in color. It lasted only 15 minutes, but it was so bad and corny, that was long enough!
 
stevezodiac said:
On the Munsters DVD collection, the pilot was in color. It lasted only 15 minutes, but it was so bad and corny, that was long enough!
Click to expand...

...on the CBS News memorial special for William Paley aired a few days after his death, a story was told by Mike Dann, then a CBS programming vice-president, indicating that Paley was livid after seeing the Munsters pilot and learning programming head Jim Aubrey had given the series a spot on the schedule. That same 1964-65 season, Aubrey had allegedly put three pilotless Keefe Brasselle productions on the CBS schedule -- The Baileys of Balboa, The Reporter and The Cara Williams Show, all single-season stiffs -- due to Mob pressure stemming from Aubrey's violent sexual relationship with a starlet who also headlined yet another CBS series that stiffed that very same single season. Paley obviously believed, rightly, that greenlighting series on the basis of crappy pilots was no better than greenlighting series without pilots in the first place. Anyway, as Dann told it, Paley yelled at Aubrey, "That show is not CBS!" It took another pilot (this time in black&white) with a retooled cast -- and The Munsters becoming the only Nielsen Top 20 hit among CBS' new series that season -- for Paley to be pacified...
 
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