The World Used to be Black and White

“Keep Ted Turner and his goddamned Crayolas away from my movies”. - Orson Welles
Sums up my feelings perfectly on the subject.

 

I grew up in the 50's and 60's so everything I watched was original and b/w. For some reason no one seemed to question why they weren't in color. My favorites in no particular order:

The Mickey Mouse Club (sparked a lifelong desire to fuck Kurt Russell)
Abbott and Costello
Ozzie and Harriet
Leave it to Beaver
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Munsters
Addams Family
I Love Lucy
The Ed Sullivan Show
The Twilight Zone
The Adventures of Superman
Alfred Hitchcock
Sea Hunt
Father Knows Best
Make Room for Daddy
The Dick Van Dyke Show
Dobie Gillis
I've Got a Secret
To Tell the Truth
The Honeymooners (Ralph Kramden is unequaled)
The Fugitive
Perry Mason
Sargeant Bilko
Bewitched
Car 54 where are you?

Tons of others but I think they were made in color even though I was probably still watching them on our B/W TV.

 

So many folks have such strong feelings about The Twilight Zone, I wonder if there should be a thread dedicated to it?

 

Rod Serling was ahead of his time, IMO and rarely was there an episode of the Twilight Zone that didn't address larger social issues of the time and personal issues, which are timeless, really.

I still watch the marathons and my two kids are hooked to his genius.

I enjoyed Night Gallery as well but something was lost in the color.
--- merged: Jun 19, 2012 at 5:48 PM ---

Alfred Hitchcock, master of light, dark and shadow, cannot be colorized with the hopes of enhancing anything. I think it's a travesty to colorize that which was artistically meant to be most effective and dramatic in B & W.

 

The Outer Limits, very Twilight Zone-ish
Lassie
The Honeymooners

 

I watched whatever my parents had on or what they put on to 'babysit' me when I was really young (This is a partial list).

Of the bunch, I have the fondest memories of The Red Skelton Show and The Jonathan Winters Show because I thought they were just the greatest comics ever--and still do. I was also really fond of Mike Douglas for how he let his guests reveal themselves in what seemed a non-intrusive way. The guy had mucho class.

I was influenced the most in what would continue to be my taste in TV & film by The Twilight Zone. No one does it better than Rod Serling.

The Jonathan Winters Show

Star Trek

Outer Limits

The Twilight Zone

Gunsmoke

Bonanza

The Adventures of Superman

Alfred Hitchcock

The Ed Sullivan Show

Red Skelton Show

Mike Douglas (talk show)

Hazel

I Dream of Jeannie

Avengers

Andy Griffith Show

Lassie

Captain Kangaroo

The Munsters

The Addams Family

The Dick van Dyke Show

Batman

Dark Shadows

F.B.I.

The Saint

Mission: Impossible

My Favorite Martian

Perry Mason

Dr. Kildare

Flipper

Flying Nun

Get Smart

The Fugitive

Gidget

Gilligan's Island

Gomer Pyle

To Tell The Truth

This is Your Life

Lost In Space

Leave It To Beaver

I watch very little TV now despite having hundreds of channels versus just 3. Yes, that is a diss at modern television programming.

 

I loved My Favorite Martian! And I probably wouldn't have enjoyed Inspector Gadget nearly as much if it weren't for Get Smart!

 

Fangirl, I'd forgotten about some of the ones you listed. Hazel. How could I forget Hazel. And Lost in Space and I agree, Jonathan Winters was a comic genius.

Outer Limits, probably even more than the Twilight Zone, warped my way of looking at the world forevermore.

 

Sky King

 

Jonny Quest (might have been in color, can't remember)

I was surprised to find, when googling for the year it came out - 1964) that it only lasted one season.

 

My brother and I were allowed to stay up late on Friday and Saturday nights to watch Nick at Night. The programming has changed in the last 20 years, but back then it was almost all black & white shows. My favorites were the Patty Duke Show and The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. I still get the Patty Duke theme song randomly stuck in my head every now and then.

 

When I was cobbling together my list I paused a few times trying to recall: was the show made in colour but we only had the B&W TV until '74 so I may be thinking 'black and white' show--but it was in fact, colourized? Plus some shows started in B&W and then moved to colour production. Then I thought, I'm over-thinking this.

 

I Spy - black and white (Bill Cosby/Robert Culp) in black and white

 

I'm starting to get into Burns & Allen and Jack Benny on late-night TV. Sometimes, old schtick is the best schtick.