# Shows that went from B & W to Color **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 29, 2004, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-went-from-b-w-to-color/237135 "2004-03-29T19:19:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-went-from-b-w-to-color/237135/21 "2004-03-30T22:06:46Z")
The Munsters The Addams Family Green Acres (Not sure about that one, actually - I could be thinking of an older Petticoat Juntion episode). ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-went-from-b-w-to-color/237135/22 "2004-03-30T22:23:49Z")
> [@Dooku](#): > > The Munsters > The Addams Family > > Green Acres (Not sure about that one, actually - I could be thinking of an older Petticoat Juntion episode). Green Acres was always in color while the other two were always in b & w (except for that horrific mid-70’s Munster movie. The only Addams Family stuff that was color were the movies. There was a rumor that they made a color version of the show in the late 90’s, but this is just an urban legend. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-went-from-b-w-to-color/237135/23 "2004-03-30T22:44:23Z")
Huh. I could’ve sworn I’ve seen The Munsters The Addams Family episodes in color. Must’ve dreamed them. 😉 OK, how about: General Hospital Another World Days Of Our Lives ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-went-from-b-w-to-color/237135/24 "2004-03-30T23:04:03Z")
> [@Dooku](#): > > Huh. I could’ve sworn I’ve seen The Munsters The Addams Family episodes in color. Must’ve dreamed them. 😉 > > OK, how about: > General Hospital > Another World > Days Of Our Lives They all crossed over. In fact, there’s a few clips from the b&w General Hospital that were riffed in MST3K. ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-went-from-b-w-to-color/237135/25 "2004-03-30T23:20:58Z")
What about **Hazel**? Personally, I don’t count shows like Dragnet because it went off the air and was revived several years later. To me that makes 2 series, one in b&w, one in color. Does anybody elser remember this about Lost In Space - the final episode in b & w ended with the Jupiter 2 blasting off, and in the middle of the blast off it suddenly went to color. I _know_ I’m not imagining that, because it stuck with me as a kid that it was an interesting way of making a transition. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-went-from-b-w-to-color/237135/26 "2004-03-30T23:52:25Z")
> [@photopat](#): > > Does anybody elser remember this about Lost In Space - the final episode in b & w ended with the Jupiter 2 blasting off, and in the middle of the blast off it suddenly went to color. > > I _know_ I’m not imagining that, because it stuck with me as a kid that it was an interesting way of making a transition. I have the first season box set of Lost In Space and you’re close. The entire final scene is in color, but they don’t blast off. Don is at a drill sight mining the last of the fuel they need; Dr. Smith, Will, & the Robot at a statue unveiling by Dr. Smith when Judy comes to warn them about an impending earthquake; John, Maureen, & Penny are in the ship when the quake hits. Before anything can happen, you see the “To Be Continued. NEXT WEEK! Same Time. Same Channel” blurb. ---
**Author:** ![PastAllReason](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f07891/32.png) [@PastAllReason](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastAllReason)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2004, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-went-from-b-w-to-color/237135/27 "2004-03-31T01:33:32Z")
> [@DakotaDog](#): > > Coronation Street > Hockey Night in Canada > The Friendly Giant Front Page Challenge ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2004, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-went-from-b-w-to-color/237135/28 "2004-03-31T04:20:57Z")
> [@Art Vandelay](#): > > “Dark Shadows”, like most of the daytime soaps, have been on forever and broadcast in black & white, then color. _Dark Shadows_ was always taped and broadcast in color from the start. When you see black and white episodes today in rerun, you’re seeing b/w kinescope films of those episodes when the original color videotape has been lost. [More here.](http://www.mpimedia.com/darkshadows/history/hist8.html) As for the networks’ switchover to all-color programming, a little timeline: June 1951: CBS makes first network color broadcast, using its [field sequential color system](http://novia.net/~ereitan/Color_Sys_CBS.html). Nov. 1951: Manufacture of color television sets halted for duration of Korean War by National Production Authority. Only 100 sets had been manufactured. March 1953: CBS announces it is abandoning its color system, which is incompatible with existing black and white sets. Dec. 1953: The FCC approves the [RCA dot sequential system](http://novia.net/~ereitan/Color_Sys_RCA.html), which is compatible with existing black and white sets. NBC (owned by RCA) and CBS make their first color broadcasts under that system. 1954: 55.7% of American households have television sets. Summer 1954: First network color series, the NBC sitcom _The Marriage_, starring Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy, is broadcast live. 1962: ABC makes its first color broadcasts. 1964: Only 3.1% of television households have color sets. 1965: NBC, whose parent company manufactures RCA color television sets, announces that its fall prime time schedule will be broadcast entirely in color. Fifty percent of CBS’s regular prime time schedule is broadcast in color. 1966: CBS and ABC announce that their fall prime time schedules will be broadcast entirely in color. Nov. 1966: NBC becomes the first 100% color network with the conversion of its last black and white daytime programming to color. 1972: 52% of television households have color sets. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2004, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-went-from-b-w-to-color/237135/29 "2004-03-31T05:56:41Z")
Cool topic! Does _Upstairs/Downstairs_ count? It’s kind of a weird case; started in the UK as B&W for the first couple of eps, then went to color for another few episodes; a strike (allegedly) led to some more being taped in B&W before finally settling on color. The series was later purchased by _Masterpiece Theatre_ in the U.S., which didn’t want to broadcast any of the B&W episodes. So the first episode was actually reshot in color, and the remaining B&W episodes wouldn’t air here\* for a long time (not until the late 1980s, in fact). Since U/D is a serial, this mish-mash led to some confusing continuity and plot gaps for the Anglophiles pathetic enough to be utterly hooked on this melodrama! Ah but we all loved it anyway. 😉 - I think some of the episodes were also ignored because of their content. _This post is in memory of the wonderful Alistair Cooke, without whose introductions to Upstairs/Downstairs and the other Masterpiece Theatre productions wouldn’t have been the same._ ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2004, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-went-from-b-w-to-color/237135/30 "2004-03-31T17:22:30Z")
Don’t forget _The Flinstones_! The first two seasons would have been in b&w, since, as **Walloon** points out, ABC didn’t begin color broadcasts until 1962. In our house, we didn’t get a color TV until 1968, so _everything_ was in black and white! ---
**Author:** ![slu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/74df32/32.png) [@slu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slu)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2004, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-went-from-b-w-to-color/237135/31 "2004-03-31T18:27:24Z")
I am only 28, but only a bit over 50% of households had color TVs in 1972…that is unbelievable to me!! Can any dopers older than myself share when they got thier first color TV? Forgive the hijack, but it is hard for me to fathom anything other than color…and it is not like I am a teenager… ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2004, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-went-from-b-w-to-color/237135/32 "2004-03-31T20:03:58Z")
> [@Labdad](#): > > Don’t forget _The Flinstones_! The first two seasons would have been in b&w, since, as **Walloon** points out, ABC didn’t begin color broadcasts until 1962. Although the first two seasons (1960-62) of _The Flintstones_ were broadcast on ABC in black and white, they were shot in color, which is how you see them today in reruns, or in the newly released [DVD](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0001CNQUS/qid=1080762958/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-0305937-5798561?v=glance&s=dvd). ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2004, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-went-from-b-w-to-color/237135/33 "2004-03-31T20:27:35Z")
> [@slu](#): > > I am only 28, but only a bit over 50% of households had color TVs in 1972…that is unbelievable to me!! [Color TV Households, 1964—1978](http://www.tvhistory.tv/Color_Households_64-78.JPG) [Color vs. Black and White TV Sales, 1970—1977](http://www.tvhistory.tv/TV_Sales_70-77.JPG) [Britain](http://www.tvhistory.btinternet.co.uk/html/colour_chronology.html) did not get color television until 1967, and by 1972 only 17% of British households had color receivers. Color sets did not outnumber black and white sets until 1976. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2004, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-went-from-b-w-to-color/237135/34 "2004-03-31T20:44:46Z")
> [@slu](#): > > I am only 28, but only a bit over 50% of households had color TVs in 1972…that is unbelievable to me!! > > Can any dopers older than myself share when they got thier first color TV? > > Forgive the hijack, but it is hard for me to fathom anything other than color…and it is not like I am a teenager… My family got our first color TV pretty late in the game … sometime in the late 1970s. _The Incredible Hulk_ with Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno was the first show I can remember watching in color. Sports on television – and Saturday morning cartoons – became an entirely new experience. We kept out old B&W console television to use as a TV stand for the new 19" color set, as the console had a “garage door” that could hide the screen. A few times, the color TV went out for some reason or other, and we’d be relegated to watching the B&W console again. It worked – albeit with miserable reception – through the mid-1980s. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2004, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-went-from-b-w-to-color/237135/35 "2004-03-31T20:52:52Z")
In 1969, console-style (floor standing) Magnavox color television sets began at $570. That’s $2,858 in 2003 dollars. A portable color model with an 11-inch screen cost $200, or $1,003 in 2003 dollars. Can you see now why most homes still had only black and white sets? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2004, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-went-from-b-w-to-color/237135/36 "2004-03-31T21:58:47Z")
Ahhhh, our first color TV. I remember it well. (Warning, italics indicate terms you may not be familiar with.) The 21-inch b&w model that we had had ever since I could remember was finally getting to the point where my father couldn’t fix it anymore, no matter how many _tubes_ he took to the drugstore to test. My mother picked out a huge _“mediterranean-style”_ cabinet model GE. Then we installed it. Since we lived at the bottom of a hill, we didn’t get good reception. My father had always taken care of that by aiming our _rooftop antenna_ at a building on top of the hill and catching the signal as it reflected. The picture was fine on our old black and white set, but the color picture had _ghosts_ all over the screen. We would adjust the _fine tuning_ knob until we got a reasonably decent picture. Then we’d start to play with the _tint_ control. For some reason, our TV seemed to give black people orange skin. After we finished adjusting all the controls, we’d sit on the couch and enjoy glorious color TV – until we had to change the channel by \*turning a knob \* and start the adjustments all over again. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2004, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-went-from-b-w-to-color/237135/37 "2004-03-31T22:33:52Z")
Age 40. Born January 1964–did not have a color TV until I got married and my first wife and I bought one in the summer of 1985. Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2004, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-went-from-b-w-to-color/237135/38 "2004-04-01T03:32:54Z")
I’m nearly 40 and I remember having a color TV all my life. Well…except when I was in college and couldn’t afford one. **Mr. Blue Sky** , thanks for the info. I guess I just don’t remember that scene as well as I thought. ---
**Author:** ![TorontoBleecker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@TorontoBleecker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TorontoBleecker)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-went-from-b-w-to-color/237135/39 "2014-08-11T20:39:02Z")
Two more B&W to colour [/COLOR](Canadian spelling, British connection) Hazel 1961-66 (first year colour, all other season’s colour) Shirley Boothe wanted colour. Love on a Rooftop 1966 Premier episode and a couple B&W then the rest of that one season colour. MY FIRST TIME ON ANY MESSAGE BOARD ANYWHERE! ---
**Author:** ![TorontoBleecker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@TorontoBleecker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TorontoBleecker)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-went-from-b-w-to-color/237135/40 "2014-08-11T20:42:08Z")
Tried to edit and fix, spelling mistakes. I’m learning, okay! Cheers [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-went-from-b-w-to-color/237135.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-went-from-b-w-to-color/237135.md?page=3)