TV SHOWS THAT WENT FROM BLACK AND WHITE TO COLOR

[alg2468]

Is there a list anywhere of TV shows that went from black and white to color in the 1960's?

 

[KeithE4]

Is there a list anywhere of TV shows that went from black and white to color in the 1960's?

Probably everything that was on CBS and ABC that had started prior to 1964 and was still on in 1966. I don't remember if NBC carried anything in B&W after 1963.

 

[Davros2006]

I can easily name a few...

Password (1966)
To Tell the Truth (1967)
All the CBS soaps that were on the air at the time each switched (they all switched in '67)
Coronation Street (1969; it temporarily went back to black-and-white in 1970 before returning to colour for good in 1971)
Hockey Night in Canada (1966) (although any archival material that was originally broadcast in colour in the '60s and early '70s survives as B&W kinescopes)
What's My Line? and I've Got a Secret (1966, but survives as B&W kinescopes)
Concentration (between 1966 and 1968; one of the last NBC shows to switch to color)

 

[easttxtv]

Is there a list anywhere of TV shows that went from black and white to color in the 1960's?

Probably everything that was on CBS and ABC that had started prior to 1964 and was still on in 1966. I don't remember if NBC carried anything in B&W after 1963.

Another World debuted in b&w in 1964, would go to color by 1966-67. Strange, since it's studio in Brooklyn had done years' worth of color-format programs before it's debut. Also, before that, The Doctors debuted in b&w in 1963 (not sure when they went to color exactly). Much of the 1960s run of Match Game was b&w as well.

 

[Markieo]

Bewitched
I Dream Of Jeannie
Gilligan's Island
My Favorite Martian
Hazel
The Farmer's Daughter
Gunsmoke
F Troop
Gomer Pyle, USMC
The Andy Griffith Show
The Lucy Show
Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea
The Fugitive
Wagon Train
The Beverly Hillbillies
Petticoat Junction
Lost In Space

There are others, can't think of them right now...

 

[Corky Marlowe]

I ventured forth with this topic some months ago, and between the ones I could think of and some that some of y'all thought of, we covered the bases pretty well, EXCEPT...For NBC, because their color evolution began a few years before CBS and ABC (no regularly scheduled color on CBS, period, till the fall of 65). We also thought of at least 2 shows that went from color to black and white (The Joey Bishop Show and the original Bill Cullen Price Is Right). From what I can tell, most of NBC's variety shows had flipped to color by the early 60's...I've even seen some late 50's listings for Steve Allen and Dinah Shore in color, although those may have been during sweeps or when RCA wanted to kick up their color TV marketing a notch.

 

[FreddyE1977]

The Adventures of Superman (George Reeves Series) was one of the earliest. I think it switched not long after NTSC Color got the green light from the FCC. 1954 maybe?

 

[mleach]

The Lucy Show

Not sure if it was the case with the other sitcoms but with The Lucy Show....even though the series was shot in color with the exception of the first season..only the California episodes ( sans Vivian Vance ) were actually aired in color during its original run.

 

[KeithE4]

Is there a list anywhere of TV shows that went from black and white to color in the 1960's?

Probably everything that was on CBS and ABC that had started prior to 1964 and was still on in 1966.

Notable exceptions include The Munsters (CBS) and The Addams Family (ABC).

And, as far as Superman goes, the shows (except for the two seasons) were filmed in color, but aired in black & white when it was first run in syndication and later for one season on ABC.

Per Wikipedia, it first was broadcast in color in 1965, but I wonder if some local stations that had local color facilities prior to '65 were able to broadcast it that way? IIRC, it was carried on WGN-TV Chicago prior to '65, and they had color facilities beginning in 1961. I think I remember them carrying it in color in the early '60s.

 

[bpatrick]

NBC primetime shows in black and white in
the 1964-65 season:

Kentucky Jones
The Bill Dana Show
The Rogues
90 Bristol Court
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
Mr. Novak
The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
Daniel Boone
Dr. Kildare
International Showtime
The Jack Benny Program

This means that The Man From U.N.C.L.E.,
Daniel Boone, and Dr. Kildare were in color
in the 1965-66 season, NBC's "nearly all-color
season." The rest were gone by the fall of 1965.

Here are the color primetime shows for ABC in
the 1965-66 season:

Ozzie And Harriet
The Lawrence Welk Show
The Hollywood Palace
Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea
The FBI
Batman
Blue Light
Big Valley
Gidget
The Double Life Of Henry Phyfe
The Baron
The Flintstones
Tammy
The Farmer's Daughter

CBS's color primetime lineup for 1965-66:

Lassie
My Favorite Martian
The Ed Sullivan Show
The Lucy Show
The Andy Griffith Show
Hazel
Talent Scouts
Daktari
The Red Skelton Hour
Petticoat Junction
The Beverly Hillbillies
Green Acres
The Danny Kaye Show
Gilligan's Island
My Three Sons
Hogan's Heroes
Gomer Pyle, USMC

 

[Toledo Eleven]

The last season of Combat! (and The Fugitive) were the only ones in color. The pilots for Get Smart and Hogan's Heroes were in black and white but the rest of the episodes were in color.

 

[Ultimajock]

...kinda surprised nobody's mentioned either Branded (went from b&w to color back to b&w during the first season!) or The Avengers (which ABC added on the condition that the first full season of episodes it paid for would be produced in color)...

 

[azumanga]

Coronation Street (1969; it temporarily went back to black-and-white in 1970 before returning to colour for good in 1971)

Corrie's reversion to black and white in October 1970 was due to a "work-to-rule" declared by technicians working for the ITV companies, when sound technicians were denied pay raises, while camera staff got raises after color was introduced to ITV in 1969, leading to all ITV programs being produced and broadcasted in black and white. It was not until February 1971 when color returned to ITV, and The Street.

 

[mleach]

I was checking out the Toronto listings on here from 1970. Looking at them I was surprised to see that some shows on a big station like CFTO channel 9 and in a city the size of Toronto, even in 1970 they were still airing some local shows in B/W. Canada uses the same set up as the states uses, one would think CTV & CBC would have gone full color around the same time as CBS and ABC did but they didn't at least many of their stations didn't. Wonder why?

 

[mjlarochelle]

I was checking out the Toronto listings on here from 1970. Looking at them I was surprised to see that some shows on a big station like CFTO channel 9 and in a city the size of Toronto, even in 1970 they were still airing some local shows in B/W. Canada uses the same set up as the states uses, one would think CTV & CBC would have gone full color around the same time as CBS and ABC did but they didn't at least many of their stations didn't. Wonder why?

Canadian regulators refused to permit color broadcasting until July 1, 1967. CBC and CTV began producing a lot of network programming in color at that time, but local stations were slower to adapt. As late as 1972 or 73 some smaller-market stations were still doing local black-and-white production - and at least a couple stations were still using black-and-white 16-mm news film as late as 1977, when many U.S. stations and some Canadian stations were already using ENG. CHEX in Peterborough, Ontario went straight from BW 16mm film to ENG in 1977, while CKNX in Wingham, Ontario switched from black-and-white film in that year...to Super 8 color film! I know CKNX was still doing local live production in black-and-white as late as 1972, although I believe they did have a color transmitter for CBC and some syndicated programming.

CFPL in London was doing all local production in color by 1970, and even before color broadcasting was allowed they did produce some news films in color on an experimental basis; every year they show their color film of that city's Western Fair from 1956, a full 11 years before they were allowed to broadcast in color.

 

[bpatrick]

I ventured forth with this topic some months ago, and between the ones I could think of and some that some of y'all thought of, we covered the bases pretty well, EXCEPT...For NBC, because their color evolution began a few years before CBS and ABC (no regularly scheduled color on CBS, period, till the fall of 65). We also thought of at least 2 shows that went from color to black and white (The Joey Bishop Show and the original Bill Cullen Price Is Right). From what I can tell, most of NBC's variety shows had flipped to color by the early 60's...I've even seen some late 50's listings for Steve Allen and Dinah Shore in color, although those may have been during sweeps or when RCA wanted to kick up their color TV marketing a notch.

Even though NBC broadcast practically all of its 1950s shows in color at least once,
I'm pretty sure that Steve Allen, Dinah Shore, and Perry Como were always in color;
likewise, The Price Is Right and the Bert Parks episodes of Masquerade Party were
in color (except that in the fall of 1959 Masquerade Party was on CBS and in b&w;
otherwise it was in color in the 1958-59 season and again from January-September
1960).

I didn't have listings for "Branded" and "The Avengers" handy, except for one for "Branded"
which shows it in b&w. I'm also not positive, but I have seen listings from the fall of 1965
that show ABC's short-lived sitcom "O.K. Crackerby" (with Burl Ives) in color. I say "not
positive," because it could have been a typo on TV Guide's part, just as the October 1967
Florida listings elsewhere on this board still show "Concentration" in black and white. Also,
the particular listing I've seen for "Crackerby" is out of the North Carolina edition; it shows
WRAL carrying the show in pattern Thursdays at 8:30, which it did not do. It carried movies
from 7 to 9, then joined the network at 9 for "Bewitched." (That meant that the Thursday
episode of "Batman" aired Fridays at 7, just before "The Green Hornet," in 1966.) So I can't
vouch for the accuracy of "Crackerby"'s being in color.

 

[stdjsb25]

Let's see....there was the great Soap Opera conversion on CBS from 1967-68. "Edge of Night", "Search for Tomorrow", "Guiding Light" "Love of Life" and "As the World Turns" all went to color within weeks and months of each other, while at the same time, SFT and GL also expanded to 30 minutes months after they went to color. I believe that EON was CBS' first soap to transition to color in March 1967.

 

[Hal Erickson]

The FIRST soap opera telecast in color was the obscure NBC daytimer "Ben Jerrod", which debuted April 1 1963 opposite the premiere episode of "General Hospital." Guess which soap didn't survive past its first three months on the air.

 

[FreddyE1977]

As late as 1972 or 73 some smaller-market stations were still doing local black-and-white production - and at least a couple stations were still using black-and-white 16-mm news film as late as 1977, when many U.S. stations and some Canadian stations were already using ENG. CHEX in Peterborough, Ontario went straight from BW 16mm film to ENG in 1977, while CKNX in Wingham, Ontario switched from black-and-white film in that year...to Super 8 color film!

Another thing to consider, aside from cost, was that the black-and-white reversal films could be processed more rapidly than color. Nowdays we seem to forget that the film had to be developed and rough-edited before it hit the air. News photographers worked diligently under very tight deadlines to get film of breaking stories on the air by 6 or 11. For reasons of timeliness black and white might have been their choice, particularly in a small station where darkroom facilities were limited.

 

[bpatrick]

The FIRST soap opera telecast in color was the obscure NBC daytimer "Ben Jerrod", which debuted April 1 1963 opposite the premiere episode of "General Hospital." Guess which soap didn't survive past its first three months on the air.

Where did you live? At that time "General Hospital" aired at 1 PM (ET),
not moving to 3 until December 30. "Ben Jerrod" aired at 2 (ET), right
before another soap that debuted April 1, 1963 and fared much better:
"The Doctors."