Flip photos to watch classic TV shows transition to color from black and white

To say the opening credits never looked the same again is an understatement.

It's a fact: People who watch black-and-white TV see the world differently. Science even says they dream differently. But whether you prefer the classic shows in grayscale or the colorful parade of shows that came after, it doesn't change the singular experience of watching a classic TV show transition from the black-and-white world you're used to into a full-color spectacle for the very first time.

So whether you were watching shows like The Andy Griffith Show, Gilligan's Island, Lost in Space or more when they first aired and saw the transformation to color in real time or caught episodes in syndication or on a streaming service, it's likely you remember how startling it was to see characters colored in when they never were before.

Today, many classic shows (like I Love Lucy or The Addams Family) have been colorized, where fancy technical types have gone back and injected color into these retro worlds, but today, we're only interested in shows that started in black and white, then eventually changed to color. Below, we've taken a snippet from the opening credits of classic TV shows, including Westerns, dramas and sitcoms, to help you relive the moment when you watched a show you knew and loved become entirely different, right before your eyes.


What was your favorite show to go from black and white to color?

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3 Comments

jeopardyhead 28 months ago
I was born just as color television was becoming the norm. So for me, much of the transition was the opposite. There were shows that from my earliest memory were color shows (e.g., The Beverly Hillbillies, Bewitched, the "Honeymooners" sketches from The Jackie Gleason Show). Then, years later, I would see clips or whole episodes in black and white, and find it somewhat jarring.
TonyClifton 28 months ago
I LOVED when "Dark Shadows" went color!!!
HGN2001 37 months ago
My favorite memory of a black & white show becoming a color show was THE FUGITIVE. Although I think the black & white episodes were probably better, it was quite memorable to me the night that ABC showed "The Last Oasis" in color.
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