Why is the pilot episode in black and white when every other episode in the series is in color? Was it budgeted for filming in black and white only? Was it commissioned before most shows had moved over to color? It seems odd that one week an episode airs in black and white and then the following ones air in color.
shareI don't know, but I suspect it was for budget reasons. Many more pilots are made than picked up, so it makes sense to not spend more money than you have to on them.
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It's all like some bad movie.
It's interesting to note that Get Smart came out in 1965, which was the first year that the networks began broadcasting in color full time. Prior to that most shows were broadcast in black and white. So it's perhaps not surprising that the pilot, which was probably shot a few months before the series, was filmed in black and white, while production of the series began after the full time switch to color was made. Just a theory.
shareYeah, that was a also a theory I mentioned. It makes pretty good sense.
shareI believe the Hogan's Heroes pilot episode was also in black and white.
shareIt had to be simply the timing of it all. I believe the records will show that almost all network series in 1964-65 were in black-and-white and every network prime time program in 1966-67 was in color. That in between year was when you could find many series of each kind. Pilot episodes were made without knowing if the show would be sold or if they would be aired that 65-66 year in black and white or in color. Thus, I imagine almost all pilots at that time were in black-and-white--the cheaper method.
shareProbably the same story with Hogan's Heroes? It's pilot was in black and white but the series proper was in color.
shareOn the other hand, the pilot for "The Munsters" was in color, while the series was in black & white!
share1966 was the first season all shows were in color, not 1965. The Munster's, The Addams Family, Combat and the first season of Wild,Wild West were some that were B&W in 1965.
shareYou're missing a more interesting point. Namely, that "Get Smart" was
a BRAND NEW series, yet unproven as a hit in its first year, and was
given color. "I Dream of Jeannie", which also debuted the same year, on
the same network, was shot in black-and-white. Why was preference given
to one over the other? Both shows lent themselves well to color. Moreover,
the biggest hit of the 1964-65 TV season was "Bewitched." Yet it was
still being shot in black-and-white, even though it went to its second
season that fall. I've heard that ABC - then the lowest of the three
networks - dragged its feet with the new process.
I normally don't care, as I don't value color "more" than black-and-white
(I absolutely abhor colorization of any kind, so stupid and pointless).
But I'm glad "Get Smart" debuted in color. So "James Bond." And
then there were Barbara Feldon's blue eyes...
BONANZA on NBC from 1959 to 1973 was always in color.
GIDGET with Sally Field was on ABC 1965 to 1966, all in color.
LOST IN SPACE (CBS 1965-1968) the pilot was filmed in February 1965 mostly in color (the cyclops was featured in a B&W episode and the exact same footage is briefly seen again in at least two color episodes, the exact same footage of the flying jet-pack is used in the B&W episodes as the color episodes, as were many other special effects) but it (the pilot) was never broadcast as a single complete episode due to cast (smith/robot) additions, rather some scene's were converted to black and white then inserted to certain episodes through out the first season all in black and white, while the second ('66-'67) & third ('67-'68) would use the original 1965 color footage.
These are only three examples, one from each network.
What's your point? We all know "Bonanza" was a rarity in how far back
it went for a color TV show (1959). But it, again, was NBC.
NBC - "the proud peacock" - was still the leader in transitioning to color.
ABC was the slowest.
A real surprise for me was once getting to see the pilot episode of "VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA". It was filmed in color-- but broadcast in B&W, along with the rest of the 1st season.
The Sci-Fi Channel one year had a day where they ran nothing but TV pilots, and somehow managed to dig out the color version of that.
(And for those easily confused, no, I'm NOT talking about the feature film, but rather the episode where Lee Crane / David Hedison becomes the Captain of the Seaview, after the previously-assigned Captain was murdered by enemy agents. The opening teaser sequence was redone almost verbatim in the pilot episode of Gerry Anderson's "UFO"!)
"I Spy" also debuted in 1965 in color.
shareIt was for financial reasons. It was the pilot. Why would you spend more money on a show if it has not been picked up yet? When it gets picked up, then they get network money, so they could film in color.
shareThe pilot was originally made for ABC which was slow to go to color. They saw it, passed on it, but NBC saw it and liked it so it went on the air with only the pilot being in BW. "I Dream Of Jeannie" was in BW in its first season because the special effects, they said, couldn't be shot in color at the time. I don't mind the first season of "Jeannie" being colorized because it looks convincing, and I wouldn't mind seeing the "Mr. Big" pilot ep of "Get Smart" colorized either. Colorization has come a long way from that horribly-colored "Topper" movie that was shown on Cinemax years ago. It looked like someone had watercolored over the BW film.
shareThe technical quality of colorization isn't the issue. Even if someday it can be done so perfectly that no one can tell the difference between it and actual color film, it will still be wrong.
shareI've heard/read that it was in B&W to save costs until they knew the show would take off.
shareOh that was only because it was the color of the uniforms of the airline that he worked for.
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