History UsefulNotes / SwitchToColor

With this in mind, to help boost the demand for color sets, NBC decided that in 1965, most of its primetime lineup would switch to color[[labelnote:†]](they billed themselves as "The Full Color Network", which was [[BlatantLies a bit inaccurate]] since a couple of their prime-time shows [''Series/IDreamOfJeannie'' and ''Convoy''] and much of their daytime lineup were not in color)[[/labelnote]]; sure enough, CBS and Creator/{{ABC}} were quick to follow NBC's lead. A year later, all three of the major networks had made the complete switch to color for the 1966-67 television season, though NET (the precursor to Creator/{{PBS}}) was still airing mostly black-and-white programs, mostly because it relies on [[ViewersLikeYou funding from the public]]; their first color broadcast was not until 1968.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' (Creator/{{ABC}}, 1960-66, animated) - Two black-and-white seasons, four color seasons (All episodes were produced in color though).

* ''Series/WagonTrain'' (Creator/{{NBC}}, 1957-62; Creator/{{ABC}}, 1962-65) - Seven black-and-white seasons, one color season [[note]]With a twist: the series went to color in season 7, then switched ''back'' to b&w for the eighth and final season.[[/note]]

* ''Series/TheAdventuresOfOzzieAndHarriet'' (Creator/{{ABC}}, 1952-66) - Thirteen black-and-white seasons, one color season

* ''[[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes The Bugs Bunny Show]]'': (Creator/{{ABC}}, 1960-62, animated) - Originally aired in primetime, reruns aired on Saturday mornings in black-and-white until Fall 1965.

* ''Series/TheFarmersDaughter'' (Creator/{{ABC}}, 1963-66) - Two black-and-white seasons, one color season

* ''Series/TheHollywoodPalace'' (Creator/{{ABC}}, 1964-70) - Two black-and-white seasons, five color seasons

* ''Series/MyThreeSons'' (Creator/{{ABC}}, 1960-65; Creator/{{CBS}}, 1965-72) - Five black-and-white seasons, seven color seasons

* ''Series/VoyageToTheBottomOfTheSea'' (Creator/{{ABC}}, 1964-68) - Pilot episode in color, rest of first season in black-and-white, seasons 2-4 in color

* ''Series/{{Bewitched}}'' (Creator/{{ABC}}, 1964-72) - Two black-and-white seasons, six color seasons
* ''Series/Combat1962'' (Creator/{{ABC}}, 1962-67) - Four black-and-white seasons, one color season

* ''Series/FTroop'' (Creator/{{ABC}}, 1965-67) - One black-and-white season, one color season [[note]]The switch to color was one of the reasons Creator/WarnerBros ceased production of the show, citing that they didn't care for paying the extra expense of filming the show in color[[/note]]
* ''Series/TheFugitive'' (Creator/{{ABC}}, 1963-67) - Three black-and-white seasons, one color season

* ''Series/PeytonPlace'' (Creator/{{ABC}}, 1964-69) - Two black-and-white seasons, three color seasons

* ''Series/TwelveOClockHigh'' (Creator/{{ABC}}, 1964-67) - Two black-and-white seasons, one color season

* ''Series/AmericanBandstand'' (Creator/{{ABC}}, 1957-1987; UsefulNotes/{{Syndication}}, 1987-88; Creator/USANetwork, 1988-89) - Ten black-and-white seasons [[note]](15 if we count the local run on WFIL-TV as ''Bandstand'' beginning in 1952, 17 if we count the early "videoclip" shows of 1950-52 before the more familiar dance show format was adopted)[[/note]], 22 color seasons. [[note]]The show briefly tried broadcasting in color in 1958, but that experiment proved short-lived due to ABC refusing to carry the color signal and WFIL-TV management being unsatisfied with the results. Due to the color TV cameras being larger than the B&W TV cameras, they could only fit one color camera in the crowded studio instead of three B&W cameras -- the management felt the show lost something without the extra cameras.[[/note]]

* ''Series/DarkShadows'' (Creator/{{ABC}}, 1966-1971) - 2 black-and-white seasons, 4 color seasons.

* The Creator/BillCullen run of ''Series/ThePriceIsRight'' (1956-1965) provides an inversion. The prime-time version on Creator/{{NBC}} was broadcast in color; however, when the series [[ChannelHop hopped over]] to Creator/{{ABC}} in 1963, it had to downgrade to black-and-white because that network didn't have the budget to convert for color broadcasting, despite [[Creator/MarkGoodson Goodson and Todman]]'s wishes to make it the first non-cartoon color show on their schedule. The daytime version was in black-and-white on both networks.
* ''Series/PerryMason'' (1957-1966) had one episode ("The Case of the Twice-Told Twist", aired February 27, 1966) produced and aired in color during its final season, probably in an attempt to [[RatingsStunt boost its sagging ratings]] against ''Series/{{Bonanza}}'' and ''The Creator/{{ABC}} Sunday Night Movie'', both color offerings. The show would have gone full color the next season if it wasn't for CBS [[ScrewedByTheNetwork killing its ratings]] by pitching it against ''Bonanza''.

** The seventh season (1963-1964), the second on Creator/{{ABC}}, switched in color alongside an expansion to 90 minutes. Those changes were reverted the very next season; the downgrade, alongside a time slot change, was a major factor in its cancellation in 1965.

* The reason ''Series/ThePattyDukeShow'' (1963-1966) was cancelled despite high ratings was that [[Creator/UnitedArtists United Artists Television]] (UATV) objected to Creator/{{ABC}}'s demand for a switch to color, claiming that it would have been too expensive to do so. Patty Duke suspected that UATV's claim was just a negotiation ploy to keep the show on ABC for another year.

* ''Series/MrSquiggle'' (Creator/TheABC, 1959-1999) - Switched to colour in March 1975

* ''Series/{{Rush|1974}}'' (Creator/TheABC, 1974-1976) - One black-and-white season, one colour season

* From its 1977 debut onward, the UsefulNotes/Atari2600 video game console featured a "TV Type" switch which was intended for players to change the game's visuals from the original color graphics to a monochrome high-contrast mode better suited for black & white [=TVs=]. Most early games have two such TV type modes, but the switch saw less usage as black & white [=TVs=] became less popular. By the mid-1980s, developers had largely stopped programming a black & white mode, though the switch remained on later 2600 models, and a handful of games use the "TV Type" switch for alternate game functionality or as a pause button.

** The last black-and-white releases were ''A Little Bird Told Me'' ([[Creator/{{VanBeurenStudios}} Van Beuren]]/[[Creator/RKOPictures RKO]]), ''[[WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts Mickey's Kangaroo]]'' (Creator/{{Disney}}/[[Creator/{{UnitedArtists}} United Artists]]), ''Wanted: No Master'' ([[Creator/{{MetroGoldwynMayer}} MGM]]), ''Silly Superstition'' (Creator/{{Universal}}), ''Ickle Meets Pickle'' (Creator/{{Terrytoons}}/[[Creator/{{TwentiethCenturyStudios}} Fox]]), ''[[ComicStrip/{{Popeye}} Cartoons Ain't Human]]'' (Creator/{{Paramount}}), ''[[UsefulNotes/LooneyTunesInTheForties Puss 'N Booty]]'' ([[Creator/{{WarnerBros}} Warner Bros.]]), and ''The Schooner the Better'' ([[Creator/{{ColumbiaPictures}} Columbia]]).

The disclaimers eventually were phased out from programs, though they wouldn't completely disappear until 1972, when sales of color sets finally exceeded black-and-white sets, and research showed that half of all households in America had a color set in at least one room.[[labelnote:†]]NBC kept using the peacock for NBC-produced shows and specials until 1975.[[/labelnote]]

** Israeli-made broadcasts for domestic release, however, were still black and white until 1980, bar two one-off events: Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's 1977 visit to Israel, and the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest in Jerusalem.

* ''Anime/SallyTheWitch'' (the 1966-1967 series, animated) had its first 13 episodes air in black and white before switching to color.

** The first color releases were ''WesternAnimation/FlowersAndTrees'' (Creator/{{Disney}}/[[Creator/{{UnitedArtists}} United Artists]]), ''[[WesternAnimation/WillieWhopper Davy Jones' Locker]]'' ([[Creator/{{MetroGoldwynMayer}} MGM]]), ''WesternAnimation/HoneymoonHotel'' ([[Creator/{{WarnerBros}} Warner Bros.]]), ''Pastry Town Wedding'' ([[Creator/{{VanBeurenStudios}} Van Beuren]]/[[Creator/RKOPictures RKO]]), ''WesternAnimation/PoorCinderella'' (Creator/{{Paramount}}), ''WesternAnimation/JollyLittleElves'' (Creator/{{Universal}}), ''WesternAnimation/HolidayLand'' ([[Creator/{{ColumbiaPictures}} Columbia]]), and ''String Bean Jack'' (Creator/{{Terrytoons}}/[[Creator/{{TwentiethCenturyStudios}} Fox]]).

* The reason ''Series/ThePattyDukeShow'' (1963-1966) was cancelled despite high ratings was that [[Creator/UnitedArtists United Artists Television]] objected to Creator/{{ABC}}'s demand for a switch to color. Patty Duke suspected that it was an unsuccessful negotiation ploy to get ABC to pay more for producing the series.

During this time, the only television stations that continued to broadcast in black-and-white were various local UHF markets across the country. The last station convert to color, Pittsburgh Creator/{{PBS}} affiliate WQEX, didn't do so until ''1986'', and only because their black-and-white transmitter broke down and the parts to fix it were no longer made.

One defining moment of television history was the introduction of color broadcasting. Although experiments in color television began as early as TheFifties, it wouldn't be until the mid-[[TheSixties sixties]] that color would become commonplace on American TV sets, and not until TheSeventies in most of the rest of the world.

* ''Series/TheAdventuresOfSuperman'' (1952-58, syndication) was filmed in color starting in 1955, but was not broadcast as such until 1965. The earlier black-and-white episodes had Superman's actor George Reeves wear a brown suit since it looked better in monochrome; the black-and-white prints of the color episodes required adjustment of the contrast so that Superman's suit would look like it did in the earlier seasons (otherwise the red and blue would have been almost indistinguishable from one another).

* ''Series/TheAdventuresOfSuperman'' (1952-58, syndication) was filmed in color starting in 1955, but was not broadcast as such until 1965. The earlier black-and-white episodes had Superman wear a brown suit since it looked better in monochrome; the black-and-white prints of the color episodes required adjustment of the contrast so that Superman's suit would look like it did in the earlier seasons (otherwise the red and blue would have been almost indistinguishable from one another).

* During Creator/{{NBC}} [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyAv1IlkiHQ coverage]] of the assassination of UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy, there are a few instances where the studio footage from [[UsefulNotes/DFWMetroplex Dallas-Fort Worth]] affiliate WBAP-TV 5[[note]]now NBC O&O KXAS-TV[[/note]] is briefly seen in color early on in the coverage before the station switched to black and white to match both the filmed reports from the station as well as the network coverage (also in black and white).