# 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:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-went-from-b-w-to-color/237135/41 "2014-08-11T20:53:13Z")
Just FYI, there is a 5 minute Edit time window. If you don’t fix in those 5 minutes you gotta make a new post. Or just leave it and drive the grammer nazis crazy. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-went-from-b-w-to-color/237135/42 "2014-08-11T20:56:51Z")
Also, since this thread is 10 years old, we tend to call them zombies because it was long dead then resurrected. So expect to see some zombie jokes on here. It’s usually best to just start a new thread than to undead a zombie. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-went-from-b-w-to-color/237135/43 "2014-08-11T21:21:11Z")
zombie or no undeading a zombie is perfetly fine if you supply new information, which was done here. expect zombie jokes no matter if the undeadening was a good thing or not. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-went-from-b-w-to-color/237135/44 "2014-08-11T22:08:54Z")
> [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](#): > > 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. 🙂 Addams Family or Munsters? Seems to me I’ve seen clips of both on the Internet (maybe even full episodes; it was a while ago). Didn’t care for either of them. AFAIK, the only Munsters movie ever made came out when I was in fifth or sixth grade (1966 sounds right). It featured Herman’s gold coffin dragster, alongside the traditional Munstermobile. Basically, any show that was on in both 1965 and 1966 **had to** be in color by September '66. I’m 59; our household got its first color TV in 1967. Before that, I used to bike over to a friend’s to watch _ **Batman** _ in color on Wednesdays and Thursdays. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-went-from-b-w-to-color/237135/45 "2014-08-11T22:12:52Z")
> [@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? 1. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-went-from-b-w-to-color/237135/46 "2014-08-11T22:22:33Z")
I remember the show that impressed me most when it switched from B&W to color was _ **F Troop** _, primarily because the cavalry uniforms were so colorful. (It seems to me that the colors broadcast back then were much more vivid than ones you see today on just about every show.) _ **The Avengers** _ also took on a whole new aura when it started to be filmed in color. The one show I liked better in B&W than color was _ **Combat!** _ Even Vic Morrow resisted the changeover because he felt B&W footage reflected the mood of WWII much better. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-went-from-b-w-to-color/237135/47 "2014-08-11T22:42:09Z")
Our first colour TV set was given to us in about 69 or 70 by friends who had upgraded. A Quasar. Had an elliptical tube. Was a console, so we put the old B&W TV on top when we wanted to watch without all the edges of scenes being lopped off by that odd picture tube. Got a table top RCA color somewhere around 72 or so. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-went-from-b-w-to-color/237135/48 "2014-08-11T22:56:39Z")
> [@AncientHumanoid](#): > > Got a table top RCA color somewhere around 72 or so. We had one of those, too. In the wintertime, the color would always switch off whenever the space heater came on, which invariably happened during the teaser on _ **Star Trek** _. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-went-from-b-w-to-color/237135/49 "2014-08-11T23:02:37Z")
I would swear that the fire on the torches and stuff on Tarzan were in color on our B&W set. Probably my 7 yr old mind’s perception filling in the gaps. Remember those conversion screens? Put this whacky screen in front of your B&W tube, and you’re supposed to see colors! I remember it degraded the picture so much it wasn’t worth it. Some friends swore by it, tho ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-went-from-b-w-to-color/237135/50 "2014-08-11T23:17:53Z")
> [@AncientHumanoid](#): > > I would swear that the fire on the torches and stuff on Tarzan were in color on our B&W set. Probably my 7 yr old mind’s perception filling in the gaps. It’s weird that I can remember watching some shows in color long before we had a color set. Maybe I saw them at other people’s homes, or maybe I caught them in syndication after 1967. Memories can indeed be funny things. The only other two shows I distinctly remember going from B&W to color were _ **Bewitched** _ and _ **Gilligan’s Island** _. I saw all of the B&W episodes of the former on Russian TV a few years ago (yes, they often air old American and British series, especially comedies; or at least they used to). The early episodes had an air of cool sophistication about them that was missing from the later, more farcical, episodes. I remember hearing about that “color” screen, but we never had one in our household. Another series that went from B&W to color was _ **Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea** _. It was also at that point that the layout of the submarine changed drastically and the scripts went from being “pretty good” to “really crappy.” I seldom watched it after that. Something similar happened to _ **The Man from UNCLE** _ when they switched to color and started trying to out-camp _ **Batman** _. ---
**Author:** ![JKilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-went-from-b-w-to-color/237135/51 "2014-08-11T23:56:56Z")
_ **Perry Mason** _ went to color just [once](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0673417/). For 52 minutes. In 1966. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-went-from-b-w-to-color/237135/52 "2014-08-12T00:03:30Z")
When I moved into my first apartment, in 1982, I bought a black & white TV - $65, if i recall correctly. 13 whole inches of black & white. Similarly sized color sets were at least a couple of hundred. I didn’t have a color set until I got married in 1986 and started watching my wife’s. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-went-from-b-w-to-color/237135/53 "2014-08-12T00:12:20Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Definitely Gunsmoke. I think the pilot for Wild Wild West was shot in black and white, but all the episodes were in color. > > Don’t forget > > F Troop > Get Smart IIRC > > Believe it or not, the last two production cycles of The Adventures of Superman were shot in color, back in the 50s, while the first two were black and white. The syndicators bet on color someday being the standard, and they were right. Only the pilot episode of Get Smart was in black and white. After that, all of the episodes were in color. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-went-from-b-w-to-color/237135/54 "2014-08-12T00:23:24Z")
Lassie was in black and white from 1954 to 1965 when it switched to being in color. Additionally, five color episodes were filmed in 1962 with series star Jon Provost as Timmy. Timmy and Lassie accidentally take off in a hot air ballon and eventually land in Canada. The episodes were broadcast in color in 1963 on CBS and eventually released as a motion picture called “Lassie’s Great Adventure.” ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-went-from-b-w-to-color/237135/55 "2014-08-12T00:26:23Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Only the pilot episode of Get Smart was in black and white. After that, all of the episodes were in color. That’s because it was originally shown on NBC, the first “all-color network.” IIRC, the entire first season of _ **Wild, Wild, West** _ (1965–66) was filmed in B&W. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-went-from-b-w-to-color/237135/56 "2014-08-14T00:19:24Z")
This halloween special from the 70’s may be why people “remember” the Addams Family as being in color. > **[Halloween with the New Addams Family (TV Movie 1977) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0126771/reference)** > > Halloween with the New Addams Family (TV Movie 1977) Reference View [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-went-from-b-w-to-color/237135.md?page=2)