I think I will buy the colorized Bewitched. (1 Viewer)

[Ron Lee Green]

Here's a color pic of Endora from the first season. As you can see, her gown was a pale olive green color, but for the colorization, they made it bright green and purple like the gown she wore during the color seasons.

 

[Jeff Willis]

I'm surprised at the "horse race" between the Color crowd and the B&W crowd. I'd have guessed that the Color "thouroughbred" would have been 'rounding the clubhouse turn and heading down the home stretch while the B&W "old paint" would be bring up the rear

"C'mon B&W old-timer"

 

[Tom_mkfty]

When Bewitched was being originally being broadcast, I assumed it was in colour anyway, even though I had a B&W TV.

I assume any TV show from 1964 and beyond might have been in colour. Outer Limits excluded.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I'm surprised I've read so much support for the colorized version on this site. I don't see supporting colorized flicks/TV shows as different than supporting MAR...

 

[Greg_S_H]

Don't mean to scare you. I haven't heard any word about the R1 release. But, it is my understanding that the Japanese version was only released in color.

 

[Jeff#]

Close, Tom. Although there were some series and specials filmed in color going as far back to the early 1950s, by the fall of 1966 here in the U.S. it became the norm.

I wouldn't buy Bewitched on DVD in either form. I enjoyed the show in reruns when I was a kid but wouldn't want to collect them. The colorization craze was during the second half of the 1980s and barely survived into the 1990s. It ultimately proved to be not commercially successful, and as someone opposed to colorization (with the sole exception of the oldest Popeye cartoons), that's a GOOD thing.

I believe this new release of Bewitched will not sell that well regardless...except among the most devoted fans. The series has been playing endlessly on both cable and local TV for many, many years.

While we're on the top of supernatural sitcoms, I agree that I Dream of Jeannie's first year is best left in black and white. My Favorite Martian's first 2 years were already put out in black and white, and it sold well because that show isn't rerun as much anymore. Fortunately, the third and final season was filmed in color.

One of the most bizarre attempts at colorization towards the end of that era was in 1993. CBS hired retired actor Hugh O'Brien to play Wyatt Earp in his old age in newly filmed footage for a TV movie that aired that year. The special used colorized footage of the 1950s / early 1960s western series The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp mixed in with a new story of Wyatt looking back at the events leading up to The Gunfight at O.K. Corral.

It never wouldn't have gotten made if it weren't for the success of an aging James Arness returning for the GUNSMOKE movie sequels or for that matter "Still the Beaver" with Jerry Mathers, Tony Dow, and Barbara Billingsley. Or Gene Barry in his 70s returning to the role of Amos Burke in Burke's Law, with the original series creator Aaron Spelling as one of the Executive Producers of the 1990s series version. To their credit, CBS did their part of making TV nostalgia viable more than a decade ago. At least none of those series were colorized!

 

[Tom_mkfty]

I think would only buy the first season only.
And the season that has Samantha go back in time to Salem.
I think that is a two parter.

 

[Tom_mkfty]

Looks like this is it.


Season 7
199.7-1396724-Sep-1970*To Go or Not to Go, That is the Question (1)
200.7-2396601-Oct-1970*Salem, Here We Come (2)
201.7-3397108-Oct-1970*The Salem Saga (1)
202.7-4397215-Oct-1970*Samantha's Hot Bed Warmer (2)
203.7-5397622-Oct-1970*Darrin on a Pedistal
204.7-6397429-Oct-1970*Paul Revere Rides Again
205.7-7396505-Nov-1970*Samantha's Bad Day in Salem
206.7-8397812-Nov-1970*Samantha's Old Salem Trip

 

[Joe Lugoff]

When ever colorization comes up, someone always says: "Hey, why not just turn your color off if you don't like it," and someone always correctly replies, "That won't return it to the original B&W image," or words to that effect.

That dialogue has been rerun on this forum more often than any episode of "Bewitched" ever was!

As to whether colorization or panning-and-scanning is the worse abomination: That's like asking me if I'd rather be run over by a bus or a truck.

 

[Tom_mkfty]

B&W bring out tone. (Not needed for Bewitched)
Tone is needed for old movies like Alister Sim's A Christmas Carol.
That tone might get changed if colorized, then watching it in black and white.

 

[Greg_S_H]

I don't know what is or is not "needed" for Bewitched, but the bottom line is that someone other than the original creative team is making artistic choices here. They are getting them wrong, too. According to a post David*P made (and he supports the color version, I believe):


Beyond incorrect choices, I just love a good black and white image. The prints TV Land uses for the B&W episodes of I Dream of Jeannie just look magnificent. I personally can't see why anyone would want anything than what was originally intended, but that's why we're all different, I guess. Some would say, "But, they only shot in B&W for budgetary purposes." Maybe. But, every visual decision they made took that into account.

Please note that this is discussion and not flaming. I'm not looking to make you or anyone else here angry, but the subject line does invite examining it from the other side, I think.

 

[Carlos Garcia]

Some shows are best remembered in black and white. I can't imagine The original Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, Alfred Hitchcock Presents (even though the DID colorize Hitch's openings for the 80's series...BLECH), or The Munsters in color. The same goes for classic movies like Citizen Kane, Psycho, or Night of the Living Dead. These were shows and movies that were purposely lit a certain way to give each scene a unique feel in black and white. Color would take away every little detail the filmmakers originally intended the viewer to see. By the same token, there are certain old movies I wish would've been shot in color (Yankee Doodle Dandy comes to mind) that weren't, but because it was never intended to be seen that way by the filmmakers, I refuse to see any of the colorized versions.

 

[Roman-K]

Twilight Zone is a good example of a show I would not like to see in color. On the flip side I preferred Gilligan's Island S1 in color. Watching the B&W dvd took something away, but maybe I got used to the syndicated color versions. For me it's a tough call, guess I'd buy either as long as they were uncut.

 

[David*P]

I do support it only because, like others have said, it makes watching the show a whole new experience. Now, if for some odd reason the original b&w copies were suddenly destroyed because someone felt that colorized was best, well, I'd be FURIOUS! I do want to see BW in it's original form so I am buying the b&w s.1 set. But I also think it's fun to see how it was colorized (even if some of the color choices were wrong) so I will ALSO be purchasing the colorized set.

I will also say that I hope IDOJ s.1 is released in both original b&w and colorized, because that show, to me, definitely is better in color.

Now there are several shows that I just feel would be a waste of time to colorize and it would probably upset me if they were, even though it's not a big deal. Those shows are I Love Lucy (which I don't really care for anyway, but it needs to remain in B&W), The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Addams Family, and The Munsters. Those three shows are brilliant in the black and white and work better in black and white, especially the AF and Munsters. Having seen the Munsters movie "Munster, Go Home", I can definitely say I'm glad the show was in B&W. It just serves the show better.

 

[Patrick Soucy]

Okay, thanks for the answer.

In fact, I'm all with you guys, colorisation made on the Three Stooges was an abomination.

Original unmodified stuff = Priceless

 

[SteveJKo]

Truer words have never been spoken!

 

[Garysb]

The B&W Bewitched was not shown in syndication for a number of years. When Nick-at-Nite started showing them, they advertised them as not having been shown in 10 years.
When it was on local stations, they always started with the 3rd year. The colozized ones were shown on Hallmark Channel.
I guess what I am saying is that the first 2 years of Bewitched are probably less well known then the later seasons. The same thing is true of I Dream of Jeannie . The first season in B&W was not shown on local stations for many years.

How many shows switched from Black & White to color ?
The only shows I can think of are Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Lost in Space,My Favorite Martian and the Joey Bishop Show.
I think the pilots of Get Smart and Hogan's Heroes were in Black and White but the rest of the 1st season was in color.
I believe NBC was the first all color network and that happened in the Fall of 1966.

 

[Jason-D]

A few other shows that switched from B+W to color during their runs are Gunsmoke, My Three Sons, and The Wild, Wild, West. There are probably others as well.

 

[Ron Lee Green]

The Andy Griffith Show
Gilligan's Island
Beverly Hillbillies
Petticoat Junction
My Three Sons
Dark Shadows
The Lucy Show

 

[Joe Lugoff]

There were many more. The first season of "Hazel" was B&W, the other four color.

In the Fall of 1965 CBS made a big deal about a lot of their shows switching to color. They included "The Lucy Show" for its fourth season (which had Seasons 2 and 3 filmed in color, but shown in B&W, so only Season 1 remains in B&W now), "The Andy Griffith Show" for its sixth season, "Petticoat Junction" for its third, "The Beverly Hillbillies" for its fourth, "Gilligan's Island" for its second, "My Three Sons" for its sixth (and first year on CBS after five on ABC), "Lassie" for its twelfth and "My Favorite Martian" for its third and final.

At some point "The Jackie Gleason Show," "The Red Skelton Hour" and "Gunsmoke" switched to color, but I'm not sure when -- it might also have been that same 1965-66 season.