Im only 23 but this one of my dads favorite shows growing up so I would watch the reruns in the early 90s all the time. I know that the show was in black and white but I could have sworn some of the episodes were in color. Did they go back and make some of the episodes in color after its original airing or is my mind playing tricks on me.
shareNone of the original full-length episodes were in color. However, there's a number of things which may be clouding your mind...
- The original 15-minute pilot episode was filmed in color and has since become available on DVD. The producers chose to go with black & white instead when they began filming the series.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9cZGWV7B-k
- The episode "Family Portrait" was later colorized and made available on DVD as a stand-alone episode and was later included in the full series DVD set.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTPGlBuYxNo
- The Munsters' theatrical movie Munster Go Home was filmed in color at the same time that the TV series was filmed, so it definitely has the look and feel of a color TV episode (although Marilyn was re-cast).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak-5BrFmArc
- The Munsters' Revenge was a made-for-tv movie from 1981, and it marked the last time that Gwynne, De Carlo, and Lewis would appear in a Munsters production as their iconic characters. Marilyn and Eddie were recast, and the production is easily distinguishable from the earlier 60s productions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr5djyKfKdY
In addition to these, there were many photographs of the Munsters taken in color which have appeared in books, magazines, and online over the years. Most of the merchandise and other tie-ins were also in color.
So there's a lot of ways in which the mind might be tricked into thinking that some of the original episodes were in color. But the series itself never made the transition to color as so many of its contemporaries did - in fact the cost of a such a transition is considered a very likely factor in the cancellation of the show.
I wonder why they decided to colorize Family Portrait. Harvey Korman is in it and it was the original Marilyn's last ep. but there's nothing special about it. I would understand if it was a two part ep. but I wonder what the reason was.
shareI don't think we'll ever know why that particular episode was chosen - as you point out, it's not a stand-out, it's not a fan-favorite, and it's not a two parter (of course, there were no two-parters).
Perhaps the episode was selected by the company that did the colorization because they thought it would make a good demonstration to pitch the colorization of the entire series. Regardless of why Family Portrait was selected, it's obviously a failed trial balloon.
It was my choice, and I picked this episode to get colorized with its own DVD release as an honor to the original Marilyn who never should have been replaced
shareI remember watching at episode(can't remember which one) and it was in color with a greenish credit format. Know what i am talking about? Can you help me figure this one out???
share