The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: thomas_meighan on July 31, 2014, 12:40:42 AM
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As NBC and CBS began using the NTSC color standard in 1953 and 1954, there were a number of instance where they aired a single episode of a series, or brief string of episodes, in color. It's fascinating to look at the "Colorcasting" sidebar in Broadcasting magazine from the mid-1950s and see how diverse the networks' efforts were.
As noted in Broadcasting, game shows were aired in color (or were planned to be aired in color) on at least the following instances in 1954:
Feb. 9: Judge for Yourself (NBC)
Mar. 15: Name That Tune (NBC)
Mar. 19: On Your Account (NBC)
Aug. 25: The Big Payoff (CBS)
Sep. 19: What's My Line? (CBS)
Oct. 23: Two for the Money (CBS)
As the year went on, NBC began concentrating on color inserts for "Today" and "Home" and its big-budget primetime color series. CBS continued to experiment, even airing some of its daytime serials in color: "Love of Life" on September 8, "Search for Tomorrow" on November 17, "Valiant Lady" on December 1 and 2, and "The Guiding Light" on December 30.
I haven't had the chance to go through 1955 and 1956 yet, so there might be more surprises lurking. Thus far, it appears that the first game shows regularly aired in color were the primetime versions of "Tic Tac Dough" and "The Price is Right" beginning in September 1957.
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The advent of B&W to Color is a very interesting topic to me as well. I've always looked at the '60s as the biggest change; at the beginning of the decade, B&W outnumbered color. However, at the end of the '60s, everything (not counting reruns) was in color.
I also look at the 1966-1967 primetime season as the dividing line. This was the first season that all primetime shows on all three networks were in color. There were so many shows, still in B&W for the 1965-66 season, that I wonder how they would have looked in color had they gotten one more year...
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Interesting facts, from the Chicago Tribune TV listings:
-The first full-time color game show was Break the $250,000 Bank, debuting in December 1956.
-Daytime Cullen Price started airing in color on December 14, 1959.
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I must admit I'm fascinated by this era as well. I love looking at the old TVGuides and how they'd make special mention when a show was in color. Of course, by the early '70s, so many shows were in color that TVGuide switched to mentioning when it was in black and white!
in addition to my game show video collection, I've also been on the hunt for any primetime shows with original commercials from the mid-60s. it's interesting to see the sponsor control back then, as well as sometimes shows being in color and commercials in black and white, or vice-versa.
In looking at shows from the '50s and early '60s, most of the color shows were on NBC, since they had a financial stake in the sales of color sets at the time.