Anyone Here That Actually Preferred Black & White TV?

I know it shows how old I am, but I grew up with black and white television and the first time I saw color television it seemed awfully "glaring" to me with too much emphasis on reds and greens.

To me though there is something special about black and white television for some reasons. I've always preferred newscasts in black and white as it reminds me more of the feel of a newspaper.

No. You're a dinosaur.

I can't wait for holographic TV's to be invented. Fuck B&W TV's.

I've read that they might never have them for various reasons. And that it is possible that a market might not exist due to special requirements and the 'intrusive nature" of holograms.

No.

dp

You may have grown up with *A* black and white television, but you definitely didn't grow up during the *era* of black and white teevee. I'm older than you by a few years and my earliest recollection of watching teevee is watching color broadcasts (which makes sense because widespread color broadcasting began the same year I was born). The Ed Sullivan show was in color by the time I was old enough to remember things.

I do agree that early color teevee shows are pretty garish () to watch, TOS being an example.

You could have said the same about plasma screen or LCD years ago but they exist today.
I'm not talking about trek holodeck stuff but a 3D imaging that doesn't require those fucking glasses.

TOS being PRECISELY what I'm thinking of.

Of course, it could've been that the older televisions had poorer resolution and thus "hid" some of the effects problems.

For example in the original "The Doomsday Machine" I don't think I noticed the occasional examples of the Planet Killer "looking transparent" in closeups until seeing it years later on better televisions.

I prefer b&w for programs that have always been in b&w, like "The Twilight Zone", "The Outer Limits" (Original), "The Honeymooners", "Psycho", etc et al! And b&w has usefulness when used for things like flashbacks &/or other artistic applications, depending on the program.

Wait, I think I saw this movie once...

If Reese Chinerspoon's chin was in 3-D you'd be climbing over the back of your set to get away!

No.

There are a lot of old black and white shows I love, but they're black and white because that was the tech at the time. I don't love them because they're black and white, I love them because they're good shows that happen to be black and white (God, I fell like I'm talking about having multi-ethnic friends! ). If they were in color I'd still love them. In fact, some started out in black and white and became color in later seasons - Gillgan's Island, Jeannie, Wild Wild West, Lost in Space...

That said, good black and white cinematography, such as the location scenes in Naked City, is an art form all itself, and can be a delight to watch.

The only things I can truly say I liked in B&W were the classic horror films, The Outer Limits, Twilight Zone, Dark Shadows (TV), etc.

B&W adds something to that classic sci-fi and gothic horror gene.

Mostly the lighting, because with B&W, it has to be done differently.

That was mostly because they knew they were broadcasting to both black and white viewers and color TV users. The colors had to be different enough for them to seem different on the black and white sets.

Dark Shadows only ran the first year in B/W.

I know. I have them all on old VHS tapes.

I always thought it lost something when they went to color.

Of course not, but it is noticeable that movies and TV in the age when colour was a novelty definitely overdid the bright, primary colours.

This includes the original Star Trek.

It actually had more to do with "look at this cool new technology" than anything else. Same goes for NYPD Blue-style shakycam, CGI and 3-D in movies, etc. New tech and techniques are always overused in the begining, before people learn restraint.

[pie]Impossible![/pie]

Things should present in the original format. When Ted Turner was colorizing everything, I wanted to kick the screen in on my TV.

I just turned off the color whenever one of his bastardizations was on.

I think that was more of an American thing. You look at the Pertwee years of Doctor Who and it's surprising just how drab they looked compared to the more colourful Tom Baker years.

I prefer the B&W seasons of Andy Griffith, which also happen to include Don Knotts (who left after Season 5).

Yes, but that's because you're British. Look at your food. Besides, I don't think most homes even had color TVs until, like, the early 1990s.

I like The Twilight Zone.

I'm ashamed I lived in a world before 16:9 TVs. I would kill myself if I lived in the B&W era.

What would you do if you lived in the days before television?