....and "The Patty Duke Show" was in its third season and still shot in black and white?
This was before fall 1966, when all shows were shot in color.
Expect everything to happen all at once?
ABC was largely still in black and white when Gidget started, so I suppose the question isn't so much "Why was Patty Duke black and white?" as "Why was Gidget in color?"
My guess would be that Gidget was based on pre-existing movies that were in color, and aimed* toward a younger, teen audience which was more easily seduced with novelty and eye-appeal, and also more accustomed to seeing color movies and other color shows. Disney's wonderful world had been "of color" since 1961.
Other thoughts, apropos of Patty Duke, and thus maybe irrelevant:
- Since Patty Duke was an existing show with an audience in place, there wasn't any great impetus to switch it to color.
- Patty Duke's show was produced and shot in New York. I don't know if that makes a difference, but it's something.
- The two shows were made by different production companies (Screen Gems and United Artists). I don't know if that's a factor or not. UA was not highly successful in TV, while Screen Gems was a pretty big - and presumably more free-spending - player.
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*Somewhat more than other shows, anyway. The economics of a three-network, advertising-based business meant that most every show was aimed at a broad audience. Patty Duke was kind of teen-aimed - obviously it had a teen lead, or two of them, depending on how you count - but had more of a standard family story. Gidget had surfing!
It was simply a cost issue. The Patty Duke Show was shot in black-and-white because the production company didn't want to spend the extra money for color. ABC wanted it color but the production company balked at the price. This actually caused the cancellation of The Patty Duke Show because ABC decided to make a new color show instead.
George Carlin: It's all bullsh-t and it's bad for ya.