Videotaped or Filmed?

[Munsters#1]

I've always wondered this about the Bewitched TV series. Was the series videotaped or filmed?

[James"Thunder"Early]

I think it was filmed

[Larry Tate]

Yes Every frame of Bewitched was Filmed at Liz Montgomery's insistance.
The Head of the Production company that made Bewitched is called
Screen Gems, it's head in Hollywood at the time, the former child star Jackie Cooper wanted it to be done on Videotape, but Liz Montgomery used her influence with the NY headquarters of Screen Gems to ensure it was filmed instead.

Larry Tate :)

[RossFan1231]

I Really Think It Was Filmed

[Munsters#1]

Well, see I aksed because Bewitched was recently released on DVD in Japan, and they said that the tapes they used had deteriorated.

[Larry Tate]

Yes there was an article on it all in a magazine i saw online, they were refering to the Audio Tracks that apparently had deteriorated in some cases not the visual aspect.

In them as well there are other audio tracks for the episodes that are ok so no harm was there to the episodes.

Larry Tate :)

[treky]

Yea, I read somewhere that that's happened to some TV shows, and as a result, some shows will never be released on DVD.

[TV Guy]

Yes Every frame of Bewitched was Filmed at Liz Montgomery's insistance.
The Head of the Production company that made Bewitched is called
Screen Gems, it's head in Hollywood at the time, the former child star Jackie Cooper wanted it to be done on Videotape, but Liz Montgomery used her influence with the NY headquarters of Screen Gems to ensure it was filmed instead.


All sitcoms were filmed at the time, including the Screen Gems shows. Elizabeth Montgomery didn't have to insist on this; there was no precedent for any sitcoms being videotaped. The first videotaped sitcom, "All in the Family", didn't premiere until 1970. Even after that, all Screen Gems shows continued to be filmed.

[Larry Tate]

The idea of Videotape was new at the time in 1964 & considered by some to be innovative, the Twilight Zone experimented with it for about 1 dozen episodes or so as did a few others, but Liz Montgomery did have to bring the hammer down on Jackie Cooper to prevent his plans to shoot Bewitched on Videotape.

This is documented in a Magazine Article from 1965.

Larry Tate :)

[Munsters#1]

In 1965, Fred Gwynne got all dressed up as Herman Munster, and he did a PSA with Murry the K. It was videotaped in 1965. I have the skit on DVD, and here is a shot of it.

As you can see, it looks grainy and poorly taken care of.

[TV Guy]

The idea of Videotape was new at the time in 1964 & considered by some to be innovative, the Twilight Zone experimented with it for about 1 dozen episodes or so as did a few others, but Liz Montgomery did have to bring the hammer down on Jackie Cooper to prevent his plans to shoot Bewitched on Videotape.

This is documented in a Magazine Article from 1965.

Larry Tate :)

What magazine article? Source?