Classic TV

[Ennis Del Mark]

Any one else love the Wild Wild West?

OMG, YES!!!


Love it, love it, love it.

Robert Conrad AND Ross Martin?  Be still my heart.

[Jeff Wrangler]

You never saw The Wild Wild West, Jeff?!? The only reason you're not being drummed out of the club is that you were probably watching Tarzan on Friday nights instead.  

That's it! Thank you! That solves the mystery! At our house we did, indeed, watch Tarzan, with big Ron Ely in a teeny-weeny loin cloth!

I couldn't say why we--more'n'likely my parents--chose Tarzan. Maybe they considered it more suitable for a kid--me--to watch.  

Actually, some of the reading I've done about The Wild, Wild West does indicate that the show became controversial because of its level of violence. I couldn't say that I was aware of it at the time, but apparently there was something of an outcry over TV violence in the late Sixties. TWWW was considered a particular offender. The few episodes I've seen on "nostalgia TV" don't strike me as particularly violent. It's an action show, "James Bond in the Old West." Of course there will be fights. What did people expect? 

[Lyle (Mooska)]

would you happen to know, was Bonanza filmed in color right from the start (1959)? I did some reading up on the show today, but that was one thing I wasn't able to find out for sure.

I see people have answered you. I didn't know that, but I could swear that I saw
some episodes of this in the not too distant past that were in b&w. Either there
was a reason for that or I am incorrect.

Did you know that some tv shows were filmed in color, but aired in b&w? This was
done because the producer's realized the value of their product would be higher
in syndication as the color tv market grew. But just because they were filmed in
color doesn't mean that people who had a color tv could see them that way
unless the network actually broadcast it that way.  They had to deem it worth it.
I guess local markets had to have different equipment to do it.

For example, I know that the second season of The Lucy Show was filmed in color,
but aired in b&w. They talk about it on the dvd set.

It seems color was standardized on tv in 1967. No show since then has aired as a
b&w series. Has it?  Has one aired that way on cable?  I know that MASH did a
singular "very special episode" that way once.

I wonder what was the last series filmed in b&w?

You were talking about series that first had seasons in b&w and then switched to color.
We should compile a list of those!  I wonder how many that would be? Sometimes you
can find out almost anything like this someone else (like Sheldon Cooper) has already
made such a list on the internet!

I'll start with one:  F Troop.  Season one in b&w and Season 2 in color!

[Lyle (Mooska)]

If you recall when people were talking about Route 66 that I said:

[Martin Milner] was also a regular on Route 66 with George Maharis, but I have never seen
much of that show. By the way, I also used to see George Maharis at my other job I had.
George Maharis is gay, if you believe renting gay porn -- a lot -- is a good indication.

Well, I was just reading an article about Route 66 and I noticed this:

While researching a (sadly still unpublished) book on the show in the ’80s, author Karen Funk Blocher interviewed both Maharis and producer Herbert B. Leonard and learned that Maharis’ claims (reasons why he left) were more than plausible, but she also learned from Leonard that he feared Maharis’ homosexuality would come up in the press and cause a scandal, contributing to bad blood all around. It would be unfortunate if one of the contributing factors to the demise of such a progressive show was such an unprogressive stance, but such a stance wasn’t uncommon in the pre-Stonewall era.

Entire article is here:

http://www.avclub.com/articles/why-the-mostly-forgotten-route-66-was-one-of-tvs-m,93796/

[Lyle (Mooska)]

Did you guys like the Quinn Martin shows from the 60's and 70's that were all
done in the distinctive format whereby they set up the series episode and then
it was done in Acts.  Act I through Act IV and then an epilogue?  I was watching
a CSI recently and thinking if that was done now that CSI would have to have
seven or eight acts with all the commercial breaks they now seem to insist on.

Some Quinn Martin shows ("A Quinn Martin production...") that I can recall are:

*I updated it from a complete list I got on wikipedia:

Very successful:
Cannon
The Streets of San Francisco
Twelve O'Clock High
The F.B.I.
The Fugitive
The Invaders
Dan August
Barnaby Jones
Most Wanted
The Untouchables

Don't know these so well:
The New Breed
Premiere
Banyon
The Manhunter
Caribe
Bert D'Angelo/Superstar
Quinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected
The Runaways
A Man Called Sloane

In order of production the first three were:
The Untouchables
The New Breed
Twelve O'Clock High

I kow that The Untouchables didn't use the Act break format, although it
did have a bumper at the beginning and end of each break. I know that
Twelve O'Clock High had the Act breaks. I don't know what the middle
one is.  Not sure if EVERY show after that did the act break thing, but
it sure made his series unique. I've never heard anyone complain about it.

The Invaders lasted two seasons. It's sense of creepiness and foreboding was
great. It was a premise that was bound not to last very long because you
couldn't very well imagine that, say, after awhile that people wouldn't either
think the main character was crazy or that other people wouldn't have found
out besides him.

Some of the optical effects seem a little cheesy now, but it had some wonderful
episodes. I remember Suzanne Pleshette, Roddy McDowall and Gene Hackman
being in some of the episodes. I don't think any of the retro channels are airing
this now, but both seasons are on dvd. Fox did a two-part miniseries remake of
this show, but it was, alas, not very good.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I see people have answered you. I didn't know that, but I could swear that I saw
some episodes of this in the not too distant past that were in b&w. Either there
was a reason for that or I am incorrect.

Maybe there was a technical problem in the broadcasting? But you say your memory is of more than one episode?  

Did you know that some tv shows were filmed in color, but aired in b&w? This was
done because the producer's realized the value of their product would be higher
in syndication as the color tv market grew. But just because they were filmed in
color doesn't mean that people who had a color tv could see them that way
unless the network actually broadcast it that way.  They had to deem it worth it.
I guess local markets had to have different equipment to do it.

I did not know that. That's interesting.

It seems color was standardized on tv in 1967.

Well, that certainly squares with my memory of approximately when my mom and dad bought our first color console set. I'd ask my dad, but I doubt he'd remember exactly when it was.

You were talking about series that first had seasons in b&w and then switched to color.
We should compile a list of those!  I wonder how many that would be? Sometimes you
can find out almost anything like this someone else (like Sheldon Cooper) has already
made such a list on the internet!

I'll start with one:  F Troop.  Season one in b&w and Season 2 in color!

I forgot about F Troop! And that's even on my list of series "first seasons" that I'd like to add to my library some day. My memory is that when F Troop went to color, they did away with the theme with the lyrics that explained the set-up of the show:

The end of the Civil War was near
When quite accidentally,
A hero who sneezed
Abruptly seized
Retreat and reversed it to victory.

His medal of honor pleased and thrilled
His proud little family group.
While pinning it on some blood was spilled,
And so it was planned
He'd command
F Troop!

(From memory--honest!--so please pardon any misquotes.)

 

I mentioned Bewitched! and The Beverly Hillbillies, but in strictest honesty I know only that their first seasons were in black and white. I don't know if they went to color as early as the second season, or if it was even later in the run.

I know the first season of Daniel Boone was in black and white and the second season in color because I own both seasons on DVD.

Edit to add: Better add I Dream of Jeannie to that last, too. I recently saw some episodes of that show in black and white, which surprised me because I only remember the color episodes. (Kind of sad to see Larry Hagman so young and handsome, and now he's gone.  )

[Jeff Wrangler]

"A Quinn Martin production..."

Now, there's a phrase that takes me back.

Did you guys like the Quinn Martin shows from the 60's and 70's that were all
done in the distinctive format whereby they set up the series episode and then
it was done in Acts.  Act I through Act IV and then an epilogue?  I was watching
a CSI recently and thinking if that was done now that CSI would have to have
seven or eight acts with all the commercial breaks they now seem to insist on.

Seems to me that a lot of the scripted dramas I watch now still seem to follow that pattern, though some shows (e.g., Law & Order: SVU) dispense with the epilogue:

Prologue
Main Title
(Commercials)
Act I
(Commercials)
Act II
(Commercials)
Act III
(Commercials)
Act IV
(Commercials)
(Sometimes Epilogue)

Some of those shows on the list we watched, others I remember the titles or something about them (e.g., didn't watch The Invaders but remember Roy Thinnes was in it), and others I draw a complete blank.

[Ennis Del Mark]

Love THE FUGITIVE!

I'd like to get the whole series for my brother, who REALLY loves it.  (And I could borrow it.)

Quinn Martin certainly was a prolific producer.  He worked his way up at Desilu during the 1950s.  In fact he was married to I LOVE LUCY writer Madelyn Pugh for a while (in the Connecticut shows you'll notice her listed as Madelyn Martin) but he screwed around on her and the marriage collapsed.

Stupid man.  She was attractive.

[bubba]

I gotta go google Desilu productions and see all what they were involved with at the time?  I am thinking tons of old shows!

[Jeff Wrangler]

I gotta go google Desilu productions and see all what they were involved with at the time?  I am thinking tons of old shows!

Yeah. I seem to remember Desilu was a real big deal in Hollywood at one time.

[Lyle (Mooska)]

Desilu was responsible for bringing Star Trek, The Untouchables and Mission: Impossible
to TV!  I know some shows that were filmed AT Desilu, like My Favorite Martian and
The Dick Van Dyke Show, but I don't know if Desilu was actually responsible for them.
I've always found it interesting that some network shows are shot at other network's
facilities. Three's Company (ABC), Dancing with the Stars (ABC) and American Idol (FOX)
are all filmed at CBS Television City, for example. (Three's Company actually filmed in three
separate studios all over Los Angeles during it's run. Another studio was Metromedia.
All in the Family did as well (two locations).

[bubba]

Television shows produced or filmed by Desilu

    I Love Lucy
    The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour
    The Lucy Show
    December Bride
    Private Secretary
    The Ann Sothern Show
    Our Miss Brooks
    The Jack Benny Program
    Make Room for Daddy
    The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
    The Real McCoys
    The Andy Griffith Show
    The Dick Van Dyke Show
    My Three Sons
    The Untouchables
    I Spy
    Whirlybirds
    Harrigan and Son
    Mannix
    Family Affair
    Mission Impossible
    Star Trek
    Gomer Pyle, USMC
    That Girl
    Meet McGraw
    Hogan's Heroes

Some of these programs were created and owned outright by Desilu; others were other production companies' programs that Desilu filmed or to which Desilu rented production space.


WOW!


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desilu_Productions

[Jeff Wrangler]

I have a very vague memory of Whirlybirds, little more than the title, actually.

[Ennis Del Mark]

Any fan of MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE and/or STAR TREK and all their various offshoots should thank Lucy.  As president of Desilu, she was the one who made the final decisions to film the pilots.

[bubba]

We owe Lucille Ball a lot!