The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961 - 1966)

[Chris2]

Sorry. duplicate post.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

TZ and TDVDS are very different shows. I agree a color Twilight Zone in the 60s would have seemed strange. For TDVDS, Carl Reiner said, “During the course of the show, it was suggested that we do it in color, and they said it would cost $6,000 an episode, and my partners said, “Well, there goes our profit.” So we decided to leave it in black and white. It really lends itself to color.”

Rose Marie felt the show had more life in it and wanted to go on. And it would have had to transition to color for a sixth season, since all US primetime shows were in color by fall of 1966. I’m glad they didn’t; I agree with the Andy Griffith analogy.

Gee, I wish somebody had said all that.

 

[Seaviewer]

In general I'm against colourising but there are a few cases - such as the already mentioned Gilligan's Island and I Dream of Jeannie - where one has the impression that they would have made them in colour if they could so in that sense it's like the correcting of an error.

 

[ClassyCo]

TZ and TDVDS are very different shows.

Very different shows.

I agree a color Twilight Zone in the 60s would have seemed strange.

A colorized TWILIGHT ZONE is practically inconceivable. I doubt I'd watch any colorized episodes if I even had the opportunity.

Rose Marie felt the show had more life in it and wanted to go on.

There are a lot of casts -- or partial casts -- that often want their shows to continue. When Bea Arthur pulled out of GOLDEN GIRLS in 1992, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty weren't quite ready to let go. The producers and writers morphed the other three women into a spin-off called GOLDEN PALACE, that lasted a single season. The heart of the show was lost without Bea on the ship. That's not to say GOLDEN PALACE wasn't a good show, it just means that what made the original so special just wasn't there anymore.​

GILLIGAN were the 64/65 season when the B&W still looked mysterious, soothing and almost hallowed.

You know, there is something special about that first B&W season of GILLIGAN that just makes it, as you say, quite soothing to watch. Perhaps if I had a good colorized version of those initial 36 episodes, I could have both copies in my collection; therefore leaving the option open to watch whichever print I want to.​

 

[Crimson]

But Season 1 of BEWITCHED and GILLIGAN were the 64/65 season when the B&W still looked mysterious, soothing and almost hallowed.

I would substitute "soothing" with "unsettling" for GI. That first season has a disconnected-from-reality vibe, both visually and audially, that I find vaguely creepy. From that starting point, the series could have gone in the total opposite direction in season two: revealing that the castaways weren't stuck on an island, but on some unworldly purgatory.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

I would substitute "soothing" with "unsettling" for GI. That first season has a disconnected-from-reality vibe, both visually and audially, that I find vaguely creepy. From that starting point, the series could have gone in the total opposite direction in season two: revealing that the castaways weren't stuck on an island, but on some unworldly purgatory.

Indeed. And that's the charm of early-'60s B&W...

 

[DallasFanForever]

Indeed. And that's the charm of early-'60s B&W...

I’ll still take the color. But not with Twilight Zone. That would be unfathomable.

 

[ClassyCo]

I’ll still take the color.

And I'm the opposite. I love some classy-looking B&W.

But not with Twilight Zone. That would be unfathomable.

Having THE TWILIGHT ZONE in color would be disastrous. Outright disastrous. I flat refuse to even think about it.​

And that's the charm of early-'60s B&W...

There is something quite charming about early-'60s B&W that makes TV shows and movies from that period very distinctive.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

 

[Bobby Southworth]

So, was DVD ended because they didn't do the color conversion, or would it have been cancelled anyway? I apologize if this was addressed somewhere earlier in the thread. It seems like I remember hearing at some point over the years that DVD chose to end, though, so then I can only assume that the color conversion might have been the reason they 'chose' to end the series, unless there were other factors involved as well.

I agree with other users who have mentioned the early days of color TV. Like others, TAGS is the first one that comes to mind, where I just don't think it looked quite right, but it also didn't help that the best seasons had already happened in b&W. The Twilight Zone. No way.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

So, was DVD ended because they didn't do the color conversion, or would it have been cancelled anyway? I apologize if this was addressed somewhere earlier in the thread. It seems like I remember hearing at some point over the years that DVD chose to end, though, so then I can only assume that the color conversion might have been the reason they 'chose' to end the series, unless there were other factors involved as well.

I agree with other users who have mentioned the early days of color TV. Like others, TAGS is the first one that comes to mind, where I just don't think it looked quite right, but it also didn't help that the best seasons had already happened in b&W. The Twilight Zone. No way.

Yes, Carl Reiner had asserted from the beginning that the show would only run five years. And he stuck to it.

Rose Marie said, probably correctly, that if they'd made the switch to color, the show could have run three more years. But I'm kind of glad they didn't. It gave Mary -- who was already channeling Mary Richards in Season 5 of TDVDS -- a chance to have a four-year break to do movies and stage, so she would be ready to return to series TV and find her attic apartment by 1970.

And, amazingly, Van Dyke is about to turn 101 next month! So, take that Turmeric!

 

[Bobby Southworth]

If anything for me, when I see a show like TAGS in B&W, and then the color seasons, the color somehow almost takes it back 10 years.. It gives me the feel for what it would be like looking at color photos from the mid to late 50's. DVD probably could have gone a little longer, but.. I'm going to agree because I am such a fan of MTM show... probably was best to have some space between the two shows, for a couple reasons.

As I'm sure we all know, Mary chose to follow a similar example by ending her own series before it was being shown the door, but I do have to wonder how much longer it would have lasted..it had dropped from roughly top 20 to top 40 by the end of season 7, and then I have to wonder..contracts would have been up for Ed and Gavin..and I think I've heard the production team was ready to move on..so..had Mary decided to do an 8th season, it could have been a very different show. That said..I'm speculating a little, but I know season 7 is usually when re-negotiating of contracts happen, not that they don't happen at other points, but the 7th year always seem to be a crucial period. I don't think Ted Knight really wanted to continue as Ted Baxter. Could Ed, Gavin, and Ted been convinced to stay for another season? Would Mary have continued if everyone else wasn't ready to leave, or was she ready to go back to the big screen? Confused? Feel like a dope? These questions, and many more will be answered on the next episode of "Soap". Back to DVD. Just give me a chance to talk anything about MTM show, and look what happens.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

If anything for me, when I see a show like TAGS in B&W, and then the color seasons, the color somehow almost takes it back 10 years.. It gives me the feel for what it would be like looking at color photos from the mid to late 50's. DVD probably could have gone a little longer, but.. I'm going to agree because I am such a fan of MTM show... probably was best to have some space between the two shows, for a couple reasons.

As I'm sure we all know, Mary chose to follow a similar example by ending her own series before it was being shown the door, but I do have to wonder how much longer it would have lasted..it had dropped from roughly top 20 to top 40 by the end of season 7, and then I have to wonder..contracts would have been up for Ed and Gavin..and I think I've heard the production team was ready to move on..so..had Mary decided to do an 8th season, it could have been a very different show. That said..I'm speculating a little, but I know season 7 is usually when re-negotiating of contracts happen, not that they don't happen at other points, but the 7th year always seem to be a crucial period. I don't think Ted Knight really wanted to continue as Ted Baxter. Could Ed, Gavin, and Ted been convinced to stay for another season? Would Mary have continued if everyone else wasn't ready to leave, or was she ready to go back to the big screen? Confused? Feel like a dope? These questions, and many more will be answered on the next episode of "Soap". Back to DVD. Just give me a chance to talk anything about MTM show, and look what happens.

They announced prior to Season 7 started that it would be the last year for MARY TYLER MOORE, so the audience knew it was coming to an end. Also, ALL IN THE FAMILY had been moved from its Saturday night perch preceding MTM, and MTM was now up against Season 2 of STARSKY & HUTCH (don't laugh -- it made a dent). So MTM's numbers were drooping -- and, after all, every show has its natural arc.

I think seven seasons were right for MTM, and Moore has often asked "what were we thinking??" by shutting down her own show, but it ended at the right time and allowed Mary another break where she could try out a couple of variety show efforts which failed, and make a couple of TV movies before relocating to Chicago where she could play passive-aggressive mind games with her youngest son so troubled over his brother's death and haunted by memories of Eddie Cronin's inappropriately swollen crotch.

TDVDS's Season 5 also had a finality about it that, in retrospect, feels vaguely strained. But any B&W show which didn't make the switch to color in the fall of 1965 generally does.


Thoroughly mod Mary