Is the b&w era of TV on DVD slowly coming to an end? - Page 3

Some great discussion in this thread; I've enjoyed reading it.

 

I agree that we're nearer to the end than the beginning of B&W on DVD.    I'm hopeful that CBS/P will find a way to continue releasing the shows that have been started so that fans of Perry Mason, Rawhide, The Untouchables, Gunsmoke, and HGWT can finish off their collections.  The syndication bible website hasn't been updated beyond S6 of PM for example. 

 

Beyond that, we've seen many of the "A" list  and even some of the "B" list titles being released (at least partially) so from a marketability standpoint it may fall on the independents to take a chance on what titles remain. There are still some glaring ommissions.  Why Maverick hasn't gotten released is a mystery.  Then there are shows like the original Defenders that are quite highly regarded but have gotten lost over time due to lack of exposure.

 

I am still not sold on the MOD route although I realize that's where the market is headed and many consumers are ok with it.  Products are priced too high in my view and the lack of English subtitles, fresh transfers, etc. just make seem like an inferior product to me compared to the high quality releases we've gotten used to at retail.  Shows like Jack Benny and Burns & Allen are enormously entertaining and I'd like to think they are worthy of a better release than a DVD-R that replicates what I could do  with my own off air recordings.

 

There were quite a few first episodes of a series, such as Get Smart and O.K. Crackerby, who's pilots were filmed in Black & White, so those first shows were shown in B&W while the other 25+ episodes were in color.  The same can be said for Jeanne who's fist season was more than three fourths in color.  I would consider NBC 100% in color by October of 65 and that would be the 65-66 season.  It was certainly more in color that CBS filming The Lucy Show in color, but televising them in Black and White or ABC reverting Wagon Train back to Black & White after a season of color. 

 

Here is the clip of the NBC Color Peacock on the front of the first Get Smart show.  "The following program is brought to you in Living Color on NBC - It just starts in Black & White"

 

 

 

All of Jeannie's first year was black and white. They were later colorized for some syndicated airings and for one DVD option.

Excluding black & white pilot episodes, I don't know of any shows that switched to color mid-season, but I'm sure someone will chime in if there were.
Here's a bit of trivia: There is one show that started out in black & white, switched to color for one season, and then went back to black & white for it's final season - can you name it?
I believe it is the only show ever to switch from color to black & white, though again I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

Science Fiction Theatre had its first season in Color, but then switched to B&W for its final season.

That's a terrific trivia question. I hope you'll tell us the answer if someone doesn't geuss it eventually.
 

 

Indeed I will. Though as I expected, Regalus just posted another show that did the color to B&W switch. I also just realized that while Hazel's first season was B&W, a single episode from that season entitled "What'll We Watch Tonight" was filmed in color. The storyline was about Hazel buying a color TV and they so they filmed it in color to promote the sales of color TVs.

That is the correct answer, sir! That didn't take long to solve.

Congrats, Gary!

The Joey Bishop Show switched to B/W when it moved to CBS.

Yes, actually "The Joey Bishop Show" also answers the trivia question. Its first season on NBC was B&W, then it changed formats and also switched to color for Seasons 2 and 3 on NBC, then it went back to B&W for its fourth and final season on CBS.

I truly learn something here almost every day. I had NO idea The Joey Bishop Show was ever shown in color. We didn't have a color set in those days, so I didn't take any notice of whether shows were in color or B&W. It wasn't a favorite show, but I do remember watching a few episodes.

Does anyone have any information on how much the first Color TV Sets were when they first came out? (I have a feeling they were VERY Expensive)!

I remember when the first VCRs and Giant-Screen TVs came out in the 1970s, VCRs went for $2,500.00 and a Projection TV cost more than some Cars! Today you can get a decent-sized TV Set for less than $200.00, and if you really need a VCR, check out the Garage Sales, a Buck or Two will take it away!

In the early '50s, CBS and NBC (owned by RCA) had one of those "new product" wars we know so well. It was the same old story: They introduced two different, incompatible systems of color television broadcasting and reception. RCA-NBC won out, and by 1954 they were ready to sell color sets to the public and start broadcasting color shows.

When first put on sale in 1954, a 12-inch color set cost $1,000. Larger screens cost more, of course. The Inflation Calculator says that $1,000 in 1954 is the equivalent of $8,000 today! It goes without saying that very few color sets were sold in the early days.

^^ You're right, they were expensive little buggers!

MAVERICK has to be top tier. Only a 3 episode sampler has been released by Warners so far. Certainly the first 3 seasons with James Garner should come out.

LOVE THAT BOB has had only one low budget release with public domain episodes (about 20 of the 173 episodes are PD) and the quality wasn't that great. Show lasted 5 seasons and was a popular rerun for years, should qualify as second tier.

I'll second DOBIE GILLIS as top tier as well. Apparently the Max Shulman estate is holding that one up.

"Maverick" is probably one of the "caught in the middle" shows. It seems like there are some shows that a studio just can't seem to pull off releasing themself, but at the same time they have too much merit to license out to someone else. As a result, they just sit in limbo. I would have thought "Maverick" would have been released before "Cheyenne", but maybe the feeling is that "Maverick" is too good for WBA but does not yet merit a commercial release.

I've been thinking the same that Maverick should have come before Cheyenne and I think its one of two reasons.

1.) As you mentioned they may still be considering it for retail and are not ready to pull the trigger yet.
2.) There are some music rights or some other clearance issue they have not yet got past.

It will probably still end up in the archive eventually.

The CBS/P Syndication "Bible" website was updated today (1/24/12):

 

Untouchables:  Network 4x3 HD (episodes 1 to 88, Seasons 1 – 3. Season 4 due February 2012.)

 

Looks like that one will be coming to DVD eventually.

 

For color shows, another update for Streets of San Francisco says " Network 4x3 HD (episodes 1 to 72 only.) Seasons 4 & 5 in progress.".  Vegas is also having S3 transferred.

I always felt that CBS' "Field Sequential" Color system (Spinning Wheel) was much better than RCA's NTSC Chroma-Dot B&W NTSC Compatible system. Given time CBS's Engelbert would have found a way to do electronically what was being done mechanically. Not surprsingly, the CBS system (as the first one out of the gate) was used for years in the medical field for close-circuit broadcasts of medical procedures!

It the are having these types of issues with incidental music on the westerns, who only knows that headaches the Detective shows (including "The Roaring 20's" in this group) With one or more musical performances in every episodes!


Has is ALWAYS been an indicator for upcoming DVD releases?

The one time where it hasn't proved to be a reliable indicator is "Love Boat." Since last summer, the guide has listed HD transfers for the first seven seasons, but it's remained stuck on "two and through" for two years now.

"Mannix" was fast-tracked to completion in HD transfers a couple years ago so we already knew that the show was ready for more DVD releases and I think it's inevitable that will be finished.

I'm glad "Streets Of San Francisco" will be restarted because with "Hawaii Five-0" finished, that makes it the one other notable 70s cop show that benefited so much from location shooting and letting the city and locales be part of the storytelling.

Seeing "Barnaby Jones" still stuck at a half season of seven and a half seasons total though remains the most infuriating thing about CBS/Paramount for me.

Yes, but the conversation was shifting gears to the CBS Syndication Bible.

Truthfully, there aren't many B/W shows I'm still losing sleep over not being on DVD or not being finished except for "Burke's Law". Finish that, and I'm one step short of B/W nirvana (which would be made complete if the Nassour heirs give us all episodes of "Sheena, Queen Of The Jungle") whereby anything else is pure icing on the cake. "Burns And Allen" I would love to see but because I transferred the old Columbia House VHS releases with original commercials to DVD, I'm not as mad about that as I would be under ordinary circumstances. "Jack Benny" I recognize the problems because of the nature of what kind of show it was, which means there can never be season releases, plus I doubt very much that the filmed shows on DVD will ever restore the integrated commercials which is the only thing that would ever excite me about a DVD release. So with those two eliminated, all I'm left with is "Burke's Law" and "Sheena" on the Grail list, one more year of "Gunsmoke" to finish out the half hour era for the near-Grail list and that's it. Every other Grail title for me is late 60s to late 70s color for starting up and unstalling.

I say this of course knowing that Timeless will give complete versions of "Cimmaron City" and "Riverboat" which will let me upgrade those sets. I also think in time, though it will be slow, "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" will be finished.

In addition to the black and white shows mentioned, hopefully Gunsmoke will continue getting released. Hopefully the HD transferring means that The Streets Of San Francisco will have Seasons 3 4 and 5 released. I would also like to see Barnaby Jones continued and off course Cannon. It would be great if someone could ask CBS why they have never shown any respect at all to Cannon. Besides abandoning Cannon after 2 Seasons, they never HD transferred Cannon like they have for just about every other show they own. Name any show CBS has put out the past few years and it seems only Cannon has not been HD transferred. It is a shame that CBS has no respect for Cannon!

Robert

Is the B&W era of TV on DVD coming to an end?

Explain whay the Motion Picture Acadamy has Nominated a B&W SILENT MOVIE (The Artist - The First B&W Movie to come out since Young Frankenstein IICRC), not to mention the first Silent Movie since Silent Movie (Which was produced by the same person as Young Frankenstein, Mel Brooks).