tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post5772719402613085796..comments2024-03-27T22:27:16.556-04:00Comments on It's About TV: This week in TV Guide: September 4, 1965Mitchell Hadleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08695771505209080030noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-68002608868712189052019-09-05T19:26:40.228-04:002019-09-05T19:26:40.228-04:00The story I heard about CBS going color was that i...The story I heard about CBS going color was that in the 1964/65 TV season, NBC had finished a very narrow second to CBS in the prime-time ratings race, but in homes that had color-TV (Nielsen did publish such data), NBC was the run away leader since most of their programs in the 1964/65 season had been colorcast.<br /><br />Perhaps because his company's field-sequential color-TV system had once been approved by the FCC for commercial color telecasting (only to see that approval rescinded in favor of the NTSC color-TV system), CBS chairman Bill Paley was very reluctant to go into color. The story I heard was that it was second-in-command Frank Stanton who successfully convinced Paley to convert to color, telling the chairman that "If you convert to color, you're gonna stay number one. If you don't, NBC will eventually run away with the ratings race because the number of color-TV sets is about to mushroom".<br /><br />Stanton got Paley to agree to spend some $25 million or so to convert the network to full-color, the idea being that about half of CBS's prime-time lineup (and a couple of daytime shows) would be in color starting in 1965, with all of prime-time (except old movies) going color by the fall of 1966, and the entire program schedule (except for old movies and some sitcom reruns in daytime) going color in early 1967.<br /><br />With NBC and CBS fully committed to color, ABC had to follow suit. But it's my understanding that the costs to that network of converting to color (also about $25 million) ate-up all of that network's profits, resulting in a couple of years of financial losses.Jofushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05591730159623555357noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-46410630032825421282019-09-03T08:31:43.977-04:002019-09-03T08:31:43.977-04:00This was also an important transition period for c...This was also an important transition period for color telecasts. After NBC announced the previous spring its plans to present virtually all of its prime-time schedule (and daytime) in "Living Color" for the fall of '65 [billing themselves as "The Full Color Network"], CBS and ABC also decided to schedule about half of their shows in color that fall...because they discovered that tabulated "Nielsen" rating families who owned color sets watched more color programs than black and white ones. CBS was worried that NBC might overtake them as "the #1 network" because of their "Full Color" programming; at the end of the season, CBS remained #1, with six of their "Top Ten" programs in color {the only black and white program in that "Top Ten" list was ABC's "BEWITCHED").bgraumanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07481033911573623806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-66625162818013307592019-09-02T21:38:34.795-04:002019-09-02T21:38:34.795-04:00Right-o. Fixed - thanks!Right-o. Fixed - thanks!Mitchell Hadleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08695771505209080030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-84102840744171948442019-09-01T19:29:18.680-04:002019-09-01T19:29:18.680-04:00One minor correction for you to make, if possible....One minor correction for you to make, if possible. It comes under the section titled, "Shape of Things to Come". You begin the second paragraph with: "KSTP, Channel 9, the ABC affiliate....." Scotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17269689015712662193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-68322169688652568842019-08-31T13:38:16.776-04:002019-08-31T13:38:16.776-04:00Can't help but recall the SCTV episode, "...Can't help but recall the <i>SCTV</i> episode, "Sweeps Week", where Lorne Greene (Eugene Levy) bellows the theme song to the '50s TV cartoon, "Pow Wow the Indian Boy" to a stunned camera crew. top_cat_jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06365510398800837335noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-67222131815125039592019-08-31T10:04:20.397-04:002019-08-31T10:04:20.397-04:00Maybe it was my age in Fall 1965 (just turned 12) ...Maybe it was my age in Fall 1965 (just turned 12) plus the fact we got our first color TV around the time of this Guide (because of the increase in color broadcasting), but the 1965 TV season was a significant benchmark in my life.JD Rowehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14882261865750361495noreply@blogger.com