The last regularly scheduled black and white network tv show

[KyDXIn]

This question arose from a discussion in the "Best of McHale's Navy" thread.

With the passing of Ernest Borgnine, I checked to see if any of the McHale's Navy shows were filmed in color. It looks as though all episodes where filmed in black and white, and the last episode aired August 31, 1966.

Was the finale of "McHale's Navy" on August 31, 1966 the last network show airing in black and white due to improving technical abilities?

 

[MCarney]

ABC still had daytime programming in B&W as late as summer 1967, when both "Dark Shadows" and "American Bandstand" went to color.

 

[Ultimajock]

...ABC was running The Avengers in black&white in December 1966, so I suspect that would have been the last prime time example. Peter Bogdanovich claims he pleaded with ABC and Paramount to make the 1974-75 sitcom version of Paper Moon in black&white, but they didn't...

 

[cd637299]

ABC still had daytime programming in B&W as late as summer 1967, when both "Dark Shadows" and "American Bandstand" went to color.

I'm not sure if our OP meant just primetime or not, but I totally forgot, because there was a thread about this----

The ABC game show "Everybody's Talking" I believe was totally B&W until the end of 1967; there was mention in the "Talking" thread about a strike that year, and it ran possibly as reruns until its cancellation (Dec 67?)

I'll have to check out the Wesley Hyatt book (The Encycopedia of Daytime Television) to see if there were others at that time.

cd

 

[rnigma1]

I recall that the producers of the 1983 "Casablanca" series (with David Soul in the Bogie role) wanted it to be shown in B&W, but the network refused.

TV Guide used to mark color shows with a "color" or "C" designator, but sometime in the early '70s they changed to marking black and white shows with the "BW" symbol, when the magazine felt that color shows were finally becoming more common than B&W.

When NBC converted to stereo audio in the '80s, I believe that "Night Court" was the last mono holdout.

 

[KyDXIn]

I was really looking at primetime shows during the 1960s. The 1980 consideration was a choice by the producers to record in black and white as a part of setting the mood of the program. I'm looking at this from a feasability issue. In theory, a program could have been filmed and/or broadcast in color after the technical issues were resolved in the 1950s. But for most production companies, it was not economically feasible to film the show in color. I know even when I was in high school in the early 1980s, our first videotape machines recorded in black and white. Color videorecorders were available but at a cost that was prohibitive to our school's budget.

I know all the episodes of the Dick Van Dyke show were recorded in black and white and that finale was in June of 1966. It sounds like Dark Shadows did continue past the end of McHale's run, so that might be the last black and white network tv show.

Thank you all for contributing to the discussion.

 

[FreddyE1977]

I think if you mean dramatic or comedy series it was probably The Munsters.

ABC News remained in black and white until the fall of 1967 I believe.

 

[Ultimajock]

I think if you mean dramatic or comedy series it was probably The Munsters.

...The Munsters left CBS in May 1966; The Avengers ran in black&white on ABC through December 1966, switching to color in January 1967...

 

[cd637299]

I understand that CBS wanted another year of the Dick Van Dyke show, but it had to be in color. The staff decided to go out on top....

cd

 

[johnbasalla]

I had heard that Rose Marie wanted "The Dick Van Dyke Show" to go another season because they would be in color. Others preferred to go out on top.

 

[Fenway1912]

The last prime time series to launch in b&w was 'Wayne and Shuster Take an Affectionate Look At' which aired in the summer of 1966 on CBS.

The shows had been taped for CBS at CBC in Toronto which had not converted to color yet.

 

[Fenway1912]

When did Jackie Gleason start taping in color in Miami? I seem to recall he was about the last to switch simply because Wometco who owned WTVJ balked at buying a color production truck.

 

[Ultimajock]

...I think Gleason started using Philips PC-60s in 1966. In fact, that's why he revived the Honeymooners sketches and dropped the American Scene Magazine title...

 

[johnnya2k6]

As for PBS:

Washington Week (in Review) was still in black-and-white until about late 1974-early 1975, when originating station WETA finally had enough funds to afford color equipment.

And MisteRogers' Neighborhood may have debuted in B&W in 1968, but the next year or so they would be in color with "Mister Rogers" split into two words and show's logo changed into the more familiar one we know of.

 

[bpatrick]

I'm almost certain that "Everybody's Talking" was the last black-
and-white show on the commercial networks; its last telecast was
December 29, 1967 and was a rerun. Another black-and-white show,
"The Family Game," had been replaced on December 4 by "How's Your Mother-In-Law?"
(in color); "Treasure Isle," also in color, had debuted on December 18 (all
of these shows were on ABC).

 

[azumanga]

MisteRogers' Neighborhood may have debuted in B&W in 1968, but the next year or so they would be in color with "Mister Rogers" split into two words and show's logo changed into the more familiar one we know of.

Actually, when Mister Rogers started colorcasting in 1969, it was still "Misteroger's Neighborhood" -- it did not become "Mister Roger's Neighborhood" until around late 1970 - early 1971.

 

[Corky Marlowe]

Washington Week (in Review) was still in black-and-white until about late 1974-early 1975, when originating station WETA finally had enough funds to afford color equipment.

I remember seeing a special on the 1974 National Spelling Bee produced by DC's PBS affiliate...In glorious monochrome.

 

[joebtsflk1]

back to Dark Shadows...it should have stayed in b/w. Color ruined the mood.

 

[anotherguyTN]

Wasn't there something in another recent thread concerning Concentration being the last show in black & white, possibly for NBC, until some time in the late 60's?

 

[cd637299]

Wasn't there something in another recent thread concerning Concentration being the last show in black & white, possibly for NBC, until some time in the late 60's?

Yes, and being on NBC, it was quite the issue, I would think.

Puzzle designer Norm Blumenthal did not want the rebuses to be easy (like part of a yellow banana), so every rebus was in monochrome. (There were color primetime shows in the summer of 1961, and I could not explain that.) He relented in 1966, when NBC started the show in color, but there was still a pinkish color to the puzzles, so it was still one color.

See the 1973 Concentration on YouTube---the last show of the original Concentration on NBC. It's a color kinescope. You will get the idea.

I'd like to contact Norm. Not only did he think up all the "rebi" on the program, but also all the rebuses in the Milton Bradley home games, which went up to as recent as 1984. He's a fountain of knowledge on game shows.

cd