B&W Bewitched Colorized

[EdLuvsLucy]

I am seeing these episodes colorized for the first time. I didn't know that this had been done. Does anyone know when they did this? I'm glad they are running these on Hallmark. I think they are the best of the series.talk:

[TV Guy]

I understand that they were colorized about two years ago, and originally aired in Canada. N@N doesn't seem to air colorized versions of shows (they didn't with "Gilligan's Island"), so they didn't air these versions.

Agreed -- these are the best shows of the series. The show is much more of a romantic comedy at this point, before it fell into formula.

[lukes42]

So, did they show episodes 1 and 2 today (Dec. 11)? :happyface

BTW, is Hallmark showing these episodes in order like they originally aired, or are they showing them out of order. Just wondering. :cool:

[hch]

Well, at least syndication had finally come to its senses when airing Bewitched from teh first season. Evne though it may be colorized, I'm glad that the first two seasons are going to be shown. There's one other thing that bothers me about it. Some parts of the episodes got edited out! Like for example, in "Be it Ever So Mortgaged" that aired this afternoon on the Hallmark Channel. The scene where Endora gives her "Sparkle in a Star" speech is edited to the first lines, and the scene where Gladys tries to show Abner the suddenly remodeled 1164 Morning Glory Circle. The scene was supposed to be like this: Gladys tries to show Abner the stuff, and Abner is holding her medicine. When the stuff that she sees disappears (a usual sight gag), Abner gives her the bottle of medicine, meaning that she's flipped. But today, they just cut right to the part where he's giving Gladys spoonfuls of her medicine on the couch. Oh yes, and the opening titles are the 1966 ones, not the original 1964 ones, but since they were both the same, I don't really blame them for that. But anyway, they shouldn;t be cutting out scenes and stuff because that's where the show gets misunderstood. It was never edited when it was on Nick at Nite, so why start it now? Let me just stop crying and enjoy the first season of Bewitched. I'm just so happy that they shown these episodes.

[EdLuvsLucy]

Originally posted by lukes42
So, did they show episodes 1 and 2 today (Dec. 11)? :happyface

BTW, is Hallmark showing these episodes in order like they originally aired, or are they showing them out of order. Just wondering. :cool: Yes they did show episodes 1 and 2 on Dec. 11 (yesterday). They always show 2 back to back episodes in the evening then rerun the same 2 the next morning. I live in Pittsburgh at it is on weekday afternoons from 4-5 and weekday mornings from 9-10. Then it also airs Saturday mornings from 7-8. But these episodesare the ones that were on Friday evening and will be rerun again Monday morning. And I like the fact that they do show them in order. My local UPN station is running Bewitched now twice a day and they run in no certian order and are edited poorly so I am glad for The Hallmark Channel.

[TV Guy]

Oh yes, and the opening titles are the 1966 ones, not the original 1964 ones, but since they were both the same, I don't really blame them for that.

I bought a few episodes on home video that are from the first season (1964), and it kind of bothers me that they use a decolorized 1966 version of the credits on those videos. If you'll look closely at the 1964 version (N@N used them), the buildings in the opening shot with the moon and the title have a lot more detail than the the buildings in the 1966 version. Also, there are overhead cabinets in the kitchen, as well as ones below the counter (the 1966 version doesn't have the overhead ones).

Maybe I have too much time on my hands.

[EdLuvsLucy]

I know what you mean N@N did a smilar thing a few years back when they ran The Lucy Show. They chose a few standard openings and used them on every episode. The weirdest part was that some of the B & W episodes had the cartoon Lucy and Viv opening the show while others were decolorized openings from later in the series. It made no sense.

Although I'm glad to see these Bewitched episodes again and the colorization makes it kinda different at the same time it sorta bothers me. I don't see why something that is a classic needs redone. Or why networks won't air B & W episodes of a series that has both color and B & W episodes.

[Larry Tate]

Actually when Bewitched was on N@N it also was edited down to 22 min. exactly like Hallmark did ,only they had some different footage in them as Hallmark cut out about 2 min. that N@N had on & added 2 min. or so that N@N didn't have in their edits.

All the syndicated prints that have been shown over the years are 22 min. ,such as WGN, N@N, HALLMARK, TBS, & EVEN WHEN ABC showed it in the daytime from 1968 to 1973.

Only the Screen Gems Network is different as they only show 10 min. 45 sec.

The Colorization i think is excellent,if one is a purest re B/W then one can simply turn the color off on ones set & then it can be viewed as it was originally seen,i myself love them in B/W.

Larry Tate :) :cool:

[EdLuvsLucy]

What do you mean Screen Gems only shows 10mins 45secs? Do you mean they cut out 10 mins and 45 secs? Even so that is still cut down even more than most networks. I have been recording some of these from Screen Gems and thought that there were alot more commercials.

I recorded a few of the B&W episodes when Bewitched ran on N@N and I noticed that they always seemed to cut the open right before the credits but no matter how you look at it something is always cut, sadly.

[Larry Tate]

Ooops !!,EdLuvsLucy,that was a typo,i meant 20 min. 45 sec. re how long the Screen Gems Network episodes are
,& yes you are right about the way N@N used to edit them,it is a shame that they edit them down to make room for more

commercial space,the N@N & TBS ones were different prints even though they both were exactly 22 min. long,so if you could splice them together then you would pretty much have them in their entirety.

The SGN ones had promos & little special pieces as well that took out time from the actual footage in the second commercial break.

Larry Tate :crazy:

[WstrnElect]

I hadn't heard about colorizing the first 2 seasons. I am a purist, and much prefer to see the original episodes as filmed, but this is one of the very few cases where it wouldn't bother me too much (the other is Gilligan's Island). Because the shows did start filming in color shortly thereafter, correct color references are available, rather than some computer artist making the decision on their own as to what the colors should be. It also helps meld the series back together, and allows younger viewers who completely ignore anything in B&W to see the very best episodes of this show, IMHO.

TV Land is apparently keeping the original eps in their native B&W though, and you won't hear any complaints from me.

BTW, the practice of using the same opening credits and theme song is not new, and has been done on many series over the years when they went into syndication for various reasons, some more legitimate than others. In the case of BW, the opening credits when the series was in first run on ABC usually included sponsorship worked into the opening credits (animated by Hanna Barbera, BTW). I know that somewhere on the web, I have seen a clip of a BW opening with a Chevrolet plug built right into the opening. In syndication, this sponsorship was no longer relevant, so a "generic" opening was pasted over. It irritates me a little, because all of the Dick York eps show the copyright date of 1966, which makes it hard for people like me (who don't have EVERY episode memorized) to tell what season it's from.

Other notable shows did the same thing. A unique case is I Love Lucy, which has a very interesting follow up. TV Land was able to contact one of the original producers of I Love Lucy to help them RESTORE the original animated opening sequences, which were replaced by the "Heart" opening pasted over all the episodes in 1957 when the series went into syndication. In the restoration process, the sponsorship was animated right over with TV Land logos, and actually is a brilliant and poignant tribute to television history and preservation. A couple of other shows that wiped out original opening sequences were all but the very first few episodes of The Lucy Show. Most of the 1962-1964 shows had the 1965 "kaleidescope" opening pasted over them. This wasn't done for sponsorship reasons, so I'm not sure why it was done. Another show was Emergency!, which used the final season opening sequence on all syndicated episodes, obliterating Nelson Riddle's great theme song.

[The Obsolete Man]

That's the thing, though... Nick at Nite used some variation of the '64 B&W Credits when they aired Bewitched in the mid 90s.

Oh, and you really want to talk about messed up opening credits... Screen Gems did the same thing with the Monkees... every episode has the second seasoning credits (with the infamous Monkeewalk), even though there was nothing in the season one opening which would necessitate covering up.

[AtlantaBravesFan29]

It also happened with The Partridge Family in syndication when they used "Come On, Get Happy" in the first season when in actuality it was "When We're Singing" in the first season and they didn't use "Come On, Get Happy" until the second season. At least Fox Family(now ABC Family) when they aired The Partridge Family they got to air the first season with "When We're Singing" as its theme.

[jehobden]

TV Land is also airing the 1964 B&W eps w/ the decolorized 1966 credits. I would prefer to see the correct credits w/ each ep, whether it's the opening from 1964 (B&W, York), 1966 (color, York), or 1969 (Sargent). I never noticed the better detail in the kitchen cabinets on the 1964 credits, but I seem to remember that the theme song was slower.

[TV Guy]

The theme that the TV Land prints are using over all the Dick York episodes is the slowed-down first season theme (which the N@N prints used over the correct 1st season opening credits several years ago). Back in the 1980s, the color Dick York episodes used something close to the correct theme, but it used to trail off (really badly) where the sponsor tag used to be. So when new prints were made, that theme was replaced with the first-season theme. Too bad that the people who prepare the rerun packages aren't die-hard fans -- maybe then they'd get the openings right.

[Jack1000]

I would assume that Bewitched in it's original uncut format comes in at exactly 25 minutes. Is that the legth of the Columbia House Tape Editions?

Jack

[Larry Tate]

Bewitched Uncut which is how they are on Columbia House are with a few exceptions all a little over 25 Min. but vary from 24 Min. even for # 80 to 25 Min 31 sec. for # 29,most are in the 25 min. 10 sec to 25 min. 25 sec. range.

Larry Tate :)