SHOWS THAT TRANSITIONED TO COLOR, WHICH HAVE THE LEAST B&W EPISODES

[gregg75]

On Me-TV they aired the first color LOST IN SPACE this evening. WOW it was like night and day.....big difference. Wikipedia says the entire first season (29 episodes) were in black and white.

What other programs have a limited number of B&W episodes (I'd guess most are from the
early to mid 60's)?

 

[cd637299]

I couldn't tell you which show had the fewest B&W shows compared to color ones, but I wonder if the prize for the lowest *ratio* of B&W shows to color shows would go to "Gomer Pyle USMC" - roughly 1 B&W episode to every 4 color.

I think we are only talking about primetime here; daytime can really be a mixed bag here.

cd

 

[oldiesfan6479]

If you go the other way, there's 12 O'Clock High (ABC) with two full seasons ('64-'65
and '65-'66) in B&W and the final half-season (fall '66) with 17 in color.

Same scenario--how about Ozzie & Harriet (ABC) with 435 episodes and only the
last season ('65-'66, 26 episodes) in color.

 

[cd637299]

If you go the other way, there's 12 O'Clock High (ABC) with two full seasons ('64-'65
and '65-'66) in B&W and the final half-season (fall '66) with 17 in color.

Same scenario--how about Ozzie & Harriet (ABC) with 435 episodes and only the
last season ('65-'66, 26 episodes) in color.

Was thinking of bringing up Ozzie, but then you'd have the "Perry Mason" crowd respond with its 1 lone color episode out of 9 otherwise B&W seasons!

There may have been other "experimental" color episodes----oh yeah!! "Hazel" also had 1 B&W season + 4 color, and there was 1 lone color ep in their otherwise B&W '61-62 season.

'Course, if you count pilot eps, "Get Smart" had a B&W pilot + 5 color seasons.

I just remembered another one: Didn't "I Dream of Jeannie" also have 1 B&W + 4 color seasons? (I see on Wiki, yes it did.)

cd

 

[oldiesfan6479]

In the fall of 1965, the first Hogan's Heroes (CBS) was shot in B&W, with all
other episodes in color.

 

[Ultimajock]

...of the 48 episodes produced of Branded, 13 were black&white, all from the mixed first (1964-65) season. A three-part story, "The Mission," had been produced in color that first season and then released as a theatrical feature film in Europe in 1966 under the title Broken Sabre...

 

[therealjm12]

Get Smart: Pilot was in B &W the rest in color.

 

[bpatrick]

Didn't "Wild Wild West" have 1 b&w and 3 color seasons?
Likewise, "Bewitched" had 2 b&w and 6 color seasons, and
"The Beverly Hillbillies" had 3 b&w and 6 color seasons.

 

[nsa1]

The Lucy Show - 1 B&W, 5 color
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea - 1 B&W, 3 color

OTOH:
The Fugitive - 3 B&W, 1 color
Combat - 4 B&W, 1 color

 

[nsa1]

How about long-running shows where the B&W seasons are never or very rarely shown in syndicated reruns?

Gunsmoke - 11 B&W seasons, 9 color seasons
My Three Sons - 5 B&W, 7 color
Petticoat Junction - 2 B&W, 5 color

 

[cd637299]

The Lucy Show - 1 B&W, 5 color

Ah, a technicality! This is true, but CBS had no color facilities (for this I am not counting their 1950s standard) until the '65 season. Apparently, Lucy saw the value in reruns in 1963 and decided to film in color from that point on.

So....for rerun purposes, yes "The Lucy Show" might have the least ratio (in full seasons, that is), B&W-to-color; but as a primetime CBS series*, it was 3 B&W seasons, 3 color! Good input here!

[*Edit: I do remember CBS rerunning the Lucy Show daily, and the 1963-65 shows were indeed in color; in fact, as our local Miami CBS station didn't run it, our ABC station grabbed it for daytime! This was around 1969.]

cd

 

[dave73]

The first 2 seasons of Bewitched were in B&W, while the remaining 6 seasons were in color. The first 2 seasons of Bewitched have since been colorized, & some stations air those episodes, rather than the original B&W episodes.

As for I Dream of Jeannie; the only reason that show was in B&W for the first season, was because the production company (Screen Gems), didn't think the show would last more than 1 season, & didn't want to spend the money to film it in color. I wonder if that was the same same reason Screen Gems chose to film Bewitched in B&W as well, though that show was on ABC, while I Dream of Jeannie was on NBC.

 

[Hal Erickson]

The first 2 seasons of Bewitched were in B&W, while the remaining 6 seasons were in color. The first 2 seasons of Bewitched have since been colorized, & some stations air those episodes, rather than the original B&W episodes.

As for I Dream of Jeannie; the only reason that show was in B&W for the first season, was because the production company (Screen Gems), didn't think the show would last more than 1 season, & didn't want to spend the money to film it in color. I wonder if that was the same same reason Screen Gems chose to film Bewitched in B&W as well, though that show was on ABC, while I Dream of Jeannie was on NBC.

There was another reason. The production staff wasn't sure if the special effects would work as well in color--until someone came along with the idea of Jeannie producing different colors of 'genie smoke' to match her moods.

 

[Ultimajock]

...ABC picked up American rights to The Avengers only because Associated British promised to switch production from videotape/kinescope to film and, eventually, colour (even though commercial TV in the UK wouldn't have colour capacity for another three years). Of the three seasons ABC carried The Avengers, it was shown here in black&white from March to December 1966, and the remainder of the ABC run (until May 1969) were in colour...

 

[gregg75]

GILLIGAN'S ISLAND
The 1st season was B&W (36 episodes) but were later colorized for some syndication.
2nd and 3rd seasons (62 episodes) were in color.

F-TROOP
1st season B&W (34 episodes). Season 2 was in color.

DANIEL BOONE
1st season B&W. All others were in color.

 

[trapper12]

I think Bonanza was filmed in color from day one, 1959. Very unusual for those days.

 

[Stanislav]

The Lucy Show - 1 B&W, 5 color

Ah, a technicality! This is true, but CBS had no color facilities (for this I am not counting their 1950s standard) until the '65 season.

That's ABC you're thinking of. CBS had color capabilities (in fact, they started colorcasting using NTSC right after that system won the color war and was authorized); they just didn't use color very much, save for some movies and the occasional special, until the mid-60's. In fact, Ed Reitan's website quotes a technician of that era as saying that they had a devil of a time aligning and tweaking their color equipment for those sporadic colorcasts, because it would sit cold and idle for long stretches of time.

 

[bpatrick]

GILLIGAN'S ISLAND
The 1st season was B&W (36 episodes) but were later colorized for some syndication.
2nd and 3rd seasons (62 episodes) were in color.

F-TROOP
1st season B&W (34 episodes). Season 2 was in color.

DANIEL BOONE
1st season B&W. All others were in color.

I think I've told this before, but the reason "F Troop" didn't go to a third season was because the show went a few thousand dollars over budget with the switch to color, and Jack Warner (who never wanted to film his shows in color in the first place) asked ABC to cancel the show. A few years earlier, Bill Orr (Warner's son-in-law and head of Warner's television division) had suggested they film "Maverick," "Cheyenne," "77 Sunset Strip," "Hawaiian Eye," "Surfside 6," and the rest of the studio's Westerns and detective shows in color. Our shows are on ABC and they don't have color, argued Warner. Sure, but years from now, when these shows are in syndication, they'll seem like new because we can show them in color, Orr responded. Warner won the argument; "Maverick" had a small syndication in the '70s (perhaps because of James Garner's popularity on "The Rockford Files") but only in the last couple of years have the Westerns (specifically, "Maverick," "Cheyenne," and "Lawman") been popping up on the Starz Westerns channel, and I think some of the detective shows aired on one of the nostalgia channels before that.

And don't correct me and add "Wagon Train" and "The Virginian" to the list of old TV Westerns airing on Starz; they were produced at Universal; likewise, CBS owned "Gunsmoke" and "Have Gun, Will Travel," all of which also air on Starz.

 

[cd637299]

The Lucy Show - 1 B&W, 5 color

Ah, a technicality! This is true, but CBS had no color facilities (for this I am not counting their 1950s standard) until the '65 season.

That's ABC you're thinking of. CBS had color capabilities (in fact, they started colorcasting using NTSC right after that system won the color war and was authorized); they just didn't use color very much, save for some movies and the occasional special, until the mid-60's. In fact, Ed Reitan's website quotes a technician of that era as saying that they had a devil of a time aligning and tweaking their color equipment for those sporadic colorcasts, because it would sit cold and idle for long stretches of time.

Well, what shows/specials did CBS run pre-1965 using NTSC? I'm curious now; I cannot think of one show. I am sure that Lucy must have wanted her show in color.

cd

 

[nsa1]

Maverick, at least in Cleveland, was shown for years, all through the 70's to at least the mid-80's, first on WUAB/43 and later on WOIO/19 in their pre-Fox years. It may have been on WBNX/55 after that as well. I'm pretty sure it was on WUAB at least a couple of years before the Rockford Files premiered.

"Maverick" had a small syndication in the '70s (perhaps because of James Garner's popularity on "The Rockford Files") but only in the last couple of years have the Westerns (specifically, "Maverick," "Cheyenne," and "Lawman") been popping up on the Starz Westerns channel, and I think some of the detective shows aired on one of the nostalgia channels before that.