First color program you ever saw?
 

Anyone remember what their first color program they ever saw was and where they saw it?

For me, 1956 "The Perry Como Show" in NYC at a friend of a friends house.

The first color program I saw on our first color set was in December 1963, the show "You Don't Say", a quiz show on at 3:30 pm EST on NBC. We had our first 21" round tube color set delivered on that Monday morning and we turned it on to watch that quiz show. Then that night, we watched "Wagon Train" in color on ABC, then later, "Sing Along with Mitch" on NBC.

Ironically, the technican came the next day to "set up" our set.

1st color program I saw was some game show back in the late 50's and a football game in the 1957

I can remember seeing The Brady Bunch on my Sisters TV back around 1969 or so.

The first time I actually sat down to watch a full movie in Color on TV was probably when they showed The Poseidon Adventure on TV for the first time (1973?), the set was an RCA.

My Sisters and I went to a friends house for that since we still didn't have a Color set at the time, and wouldn't for six or seven more years!

Prolly one of the Thanksgiving parades/football games on my grandad's 1965 Zenith in his office...

I am thinking I saw Dr. Kildare episode at a neighbors house, 1965? We didnt get a color set till 1972.

I really don't remember the program, but a CT-100 was set up in the lobby of a local theater, and people were invited to see some "first". It may have been the first color broadcast from the local station*, or just the first public showing of the color TV in the town. Whatever the occasion, it was a big deal, the lobby was very crowded, and cake and coffee/punch were served. The program was a dramatic presentation, not much interest to a kid, but the program was color (more or less).

After that, my first regular color viewing was in the mid 60s, when a bunch of the neighborhood kids would gather to watch Star Trek on the one set in the neighborhood (21" roundie Admiral). My wife and I still have fond memories of those early viewings. :yes:

jr

*Aug 11, 1954

Think my first was seeing cartoons in color on a color TV displayed at the electronics dept of the local "Two Guys" store in Hackensack NJ. This back around 1964. Two Guys was a chain operated by Vornado, who has since got out of the store business and concentrated in being a retail mall landlord. I thought the color of the cartoons was overdone, and they looked better in B&W.

I think the first color program I saw was a noon-time local show at NBC in Chicago, from their visitor's gallery overlooking the studio in the Merchandise Mart. Either that, or it was bits of programming on a color set at the RCA exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry.

Don't recall what we watched first in color at home. It was on a Motorola 20 inch (19 inch today) hybrid table model with a walnut grain vinyl covered metal cabinet, bought in 1966 through employee sales. The neighbors helped us watch it. I seem to recall that was one of the first tubes with an internal magnetic shield, which allowed for a smaller cabinet.

If I recall, it was 1972, and the show was "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In". It was a 19" Zenith Chromacolor table model which literally went up in smoke within its first year.

Tom

My ability to remember things kicked in sometime after my grandparents got their CTC-16. I thought it was really cool, the one material possession I wanted for our house when I was really little. Seemed in those days (1967-68), Grandfather was always watching "The American Sportsman" when we were over to visit. He also liked to turn the "color" knob all the way clockwise - looked awful.
When my parents got the CTC-38 (December 6 1969), the first show we watched together was a figure skating event.

First Color Program You Ever Saw
 

It was either the 1965 Acadamy Awards, or "The Beverly Hillbillies" on my parents Zenith color roundie combo with the 25MC33 chassis, in 1965. They had just purchased it for $1,000 from Fredrick and Nelson in Seattle.

I also remember going to the1964-65 New York World's Fair, & going thru the pavillion where you could "SEE YOURSELF ON COLOR TV !!"...They had a moving sidewalk, & all the sheeple got to see themselves on several hapless CTC-15s or 16s, I guess...Poor things had been "on", at that point, for prolly close to 18 months, 24/7, & their tongues were hangin' out...Don't remember much except the pics were very distorted, & the people's faces were a rather sickening purplish/green...

the first i can recall was a rose bowl parade around 1957?when we got a color set,it was the flintstones.the first movie that i watched in color was the wizard of oz.the coming of color was and still is in my opinion the greatest development in television history.the anticipation and excitement.those early sets delivered a fine color picture.we just couldnt keep our hands off the controls!

I remember seeing "The Virginian", also known as "The Men From Shiloh" in color when we were on a visit at my uncles home in 1970. I was ten years old. Three years later, I watched Star Trek at my friends home. My first working color tv set I get in 1977, it was from 1967, and the crt had a weak red gun. One year later, we bought a used eight-year-old hybrid tv, made in 1968.

Although my best freind's parents had a Zenith color set in 1966, I don't rmember what we saw on it until I stayed for dinner and watched Star Trek in the second or third season. My dad bought a CTC-38 in the fall of 1969.

Dad and his siblings bought grandma a CTC-7 economy Anderson model for Christmas of 1957. I distinctly remember the Rose Bowl Parade of 1958 and the Dinah Shore Chevy Show in the following weeks. Her house was the center of the family gatherings to see this miracle. 20+ adults and kids all in the living room to enjoy Living Color during holiday gatherings. Her collie dog figured out that if he sat down in front of the set he would get a lot of attention...mostly yelling.

At age 7, I was unafraid to touch the color controls and adjust the picture...a sign of things to come. And years later, I would ride my bike to her house to watch Star Trek and Dark Shadows in 1964 and beyond.

The set went to my dad who gave it some kind of 70's finish that resembled peanut butter. It was replaced by a RCA 19" color tabletop set which I still have. After the CTC7 died, I salvaged the 3-way speakers and remounted them in my own home-made cabinet for some kind of crude amp. I still have it.

I am old enough to remember the color programs being announced, I think that went away sometime in the 70's as I can recall the Brady Bunch being announced as being "in color".

The FBI, IN COLOR! Bonanza, presented in Living Color Etc...

It was confusing as a small kid with a B&W TV why we didn't see them in color after they had just announced that they would be! :scratch2:

The 1st color set we had was a rather dreadful Sears oddball 17" or so mini-console...It had a rectangular-ish screeen, Sonny Clutter had one on his site several years ago, it was sposed to be the 1st rectangular set. Anyhow, it would frequently "Tear up" before the Sears repair guy got outta the driveway good...My dad replaced it w/one of the 1st Porta-Colors in fall '65 or early '66...Little guy was a TROUPER...It was on, frequently 12-18 hrs a day, 7 days a week..Say what you will about Porta-Pottys, OURS was tough as nails....We finally replaced it w/a Trinitron in '72 or '73....

after the mid-60's color was no longer as special as in the early days. The networks all began significant color programming in 1966 and the idea of seeing something in color kind of lost it's luster. It was those early days when most people didnt even know color existed let alone having seen programming in color. I feel fortunate to have lived thru that magical time

I still have my porta color
 

As soon as I saw the ad for the Ge porta-color I went to the local tv store and bought one I still have the set today. For what it was it was an amazing little tv for the time.

I first viewed a color show in 1954. It was "Life with Father" on CBS. It was telecast live from CBS TV City in Hollywood. I remember how small the screen was compared to the b&w sets on display. It was the first west to east coast series to be telecast in color. The TV store I watched the program on was about a mile from CBS TV City. The first color set we had in our home was an RCA CTC-5 Aldrich model.

-Steve D.

I've read conflicting reports over the years about whether Life With Father was broadcast in color or not, so now we have confirmation. It aired on CBS from November 1953-July 1955. So now I wonder, was it being telecast in color prior to the debut of NBC's The Marriage, widely reported to be the *first* color series? Was it seen in color anywhere other than on the west coast?

The NBC series "The Marriage" was the first network color series. It had a short run. July 8, 1954 to Aug.19, 1954. It originated from New York. "Life With Father" was the first network (CBS) color series to originate from Hollywood. When it first aired in color on Aug. 9th, 1954 it was seen in the east at 10:00pm. It was seen live in the west at 7pm in color. So I was able to be up on that summer evening and see the show at the TV dealer.

-Steve D.

My dad's sis got a CTC-16. I remember the cabinet was beautiful... nothing like the TV we had at home. Seems like we always saw half of a Batman episode at her house, and had to go home to watch the other one on our set.

That was nearly 3 years before we got a color set. Toward the end, the family watched a few of my project B/W sets.

We ended up with a Motorola 23" that had the small neon indicator to tell us when a color show was on...:thmbsp: I also know that my dad had a total of 3 picture tubes installed in this set before we moved on up to the first solid-state 25V Magnavox, and away from tube stuff...:thumbsdn:

(I kept the Motorola limping along for a couple of years before the tube went dark again, just like all the others.)

My first was I think in '59. I was playing in a friends yard, ran inside to get a drink, stopped to watch the game show while I gulped my drink, and ran outside. Wasn't impressed at all.

1955 Was the year..either Heidi or Howdy
 

First color show I ever saw was "Heidi", a special broadcast in that year; remember the commercials were even in color. This was on a Motorola set at my dad's boss's house. My dad was worked at the Motorola dealer in Montgomery Al back then; that same year my brother and I would also go watch Howdy Doody in color at the dealer--so that may have been actually the first show I saw in color.

Hey bozey 45,

Good recall,

"Howdy Doody" debut, in color, on NBC, Sept.12th 1955. And the NBC special "Heidi" was telecast live in color Oct. 1, 1955. Natalie Wood was cast as Heidi.

-Steve D.

Okay, getting a bit haughty here: the first color television program I saw was in the summer of 1951. Yes, a CBS color broadcast live from Monmouth Park race track in Oceanport, New Jersey. No, the color got added in my head, but knowing the out-of-sync soup on the family's 16-in. Silvertone was a color broadcast from WCAU was still a thrill. A few years ago, I met a retired CBS engineer who saw live 1951 CBS color at their studios in New York city. He said he didn't actually see that much though -- there were too many guys crowded around the monitor.

As noted before on AK, the first NTSC color I saw was in 1957. I was 17 delivering a load of groceries to a bar in West Conshohocken PA after school on a Wednesday in the spring of that year. There it was. That live hour-long play from LA that ran for a few years (Steve D will recall the name for me :-). I hung out as long as an underage kid in a bar could in 1957. The color and hue -- unlike many in those days -- were set well.

Also, I got to watch the January 1, 1958, Rose Bowl parade at a friend's house in Bethlehem PA.

Pete

Quote from Pete Deksnis: "As noted before on AK, the first NTSC color I saw was in 1957. I was 17 delivering a load of groceries to a bar in West Conshohocken PA after school on a Wednesday in the spring of that year. There it was. That live hour-long play from LA that ran for a few years (Steve D will recall the name for me :-). I hung out as long as an underage kid in a bar could in 1957. The color and hue -- unlike many in those days -- were set well."

Hey Pete,

Think I can refresh your memory. That one hour 1957 color telecast you recall was "Matinee Theater." The show, produced in Los Angeles, aired each afternoon here in L.A. at 12:00. It ran form Oct. 1955 to June 1958. Quite a feat back in the day.

-Steve D.

Color was a big deal back then
 

Just as Dave stated color was indeed a big deal back then people who had color sets back then usually had lots of company to help watch them. The same cannot be said of HDTV today, it is almost a ho-hum technology. The networks made a big deal about color, the people who had sets made a big deal about color and the shows that were in color were highly promoted. I guess it was a better time back then. I havent seen anything in my lifetime that left a lasting impression like seeing color programs back in the fifties.

Ho-Hum technology...Indeed ! I'd say "Big-Woop" technology...All the fol-der-rol & fiddle-dee-dee over HDTV to deliver...a marginally better-at best-slightly wider picture...w/odd digital "artifacts" & motion sequences that make me a bit nauseous. Big-Woop. Hundreds of interactive channels, allowing you to be bombarded w/even more annoying ads than ever before, w/concommitant loss of privacy. Big Woop. Rendering half a zillion TVs "obsolete" requiring expensive HDTV replacements, sets that are markedly INFERIOR (from a repair/longevity standpoint, anyhow) than their old, clunky CRT cousins...Again, Big Woop. Pardon me while I go throw up....

I wonder if everyone over 65 (or whatever) grumbled and whined about color TV in its early days as some do today about HDTV. It would have been something like "the sets are too big and heavy", "they are WAY too expensive", "the picture is not as clear as my regular TV", "everyone I know with a color TV is always having to get it repaired" (you KNOW that would have been one of the biggest whines), "the color looks way too gaudy/bright" (that was MY complaint about almost every color TV I saw when I was a kid), etc. And, then when the first mentions of X-rays started, hoo boy, THAT must have been a big stink, and of course it even led to a specific law being passed.

The first time I remember seeing color TV for sure was about 1971 maybe, when I was 11. I went to a friend's house and saw The Flintstones, and I remember Fred's tie was orange and Dino the dinosaur was purple. In 1974, my mother and my aunt's family got together and bought my grandmother a 19" Hitachi color TV for Christmas, for over $400 (a massive amount of money in my family at the time). I would go over to her house and watch it a lot, and that is when I learned how to properly adjust a color TV ("Wow, this can be adjusted so colors look like they do in real life! The first thing to do is turn the color knob down eighty percent from where it was when it matched all the other color TVs I have ever seen!"). Five years later, I had earned enough to buy my own brand-new color set, and a VCR right after that.

20+ years after color TV was introduced, there were still people who refused to own a color TV and it was because of some of the reasons you mentioned. Back in April, I obtained a brand new 22" B&W solid state Sylvania console from 1978 that was never sold by a TV dealer. He explained to us that even as recent as the late '70's-early '80's, there were still some people (usually senior citizens) who insisted on a B&W TV. He said that some people were afraid of the X-rays from a color TV and others claimed that color didn't "look right" or it hurt their eyes. I think Zenith probably made the last 22" B&W and '81 was the last year. I think 19" B&W's stayed around for a few more years.

I know a man in his early '70's who told me that his father wouldn't have a color TV if someone gave him one. After his father passed away in the early '80's, the family gave his Mother a color TV. She pitched such a fit about it and they ended up giving her back the 12" B&W TV just to keep her quiet.

And, I knew some older people as recent as the mid '90's who still had nothing but B&W TV.

I'm not making fun of these people as I would probably throw a fit if someone tried to sneak a new HDTV in on me. I don't watch that much TV and what I do watch is mostly older stuff and I can watch it on a B&W or color TV, just as long as it's adjusted properly. And, I certainly don't feel like I need to see every detail of a blade of grass or someone's nasal hairs. And, I'm only 33.

The question I always got was "when do you think they will perfect color TV?" - so people may not have been able to diagnose what was wrong with the picture, but they knew they didn't like it. (My answer was "I hope they never do - that's my job!") Of course, when people came to my house and saw a correctly adjusted set, they thought much more highly of color.

living color ?
 

Go speed racer, go speed racer goooooooo!
I was impressed when the NBC logo would say, "in living color", then cockroaches would start crawling out of the TV.

Knobs and customers
 

I was always amazed going to peoples homes that had color and it was rare to see a set adjusted properly. Most people were content just setting on the couch and watching tv. Back in the day there was a big difference between color signals from different networks. I guess most people were happy just watching a picture. Until they started running sets with microprocccessors the set up issue always existed. Even today most old people are afraid of many of the new technologies where as kids grow up with this stuff and it becomes second nature to them. I miss the day of walking into someones house and watching green martians on Bonanza or The Virginian.

I guess my first show in color tv show was Gilligan's Island/I dream of Genie my aunt had the only color tv I seen around until about 71, then my parents brought home an Admiral combo it worked until late 77 until it blew a capacitor I remember the sparks shooting out the bottom it went to the land fill after that. Was replaced by a 77/78 RCA XL 100 and I got a 25mc33 my mom said wont go in the living room very sternly to my father.

Whoa! There are really a lot of old dudes in the audience, aren't there Pete?:D

HA! I resemble that remarque!

My first color experience was when I lived in St. Petersburg, FL.

I saw the Howdy Doody Show in 1957 on a CTC-4 at the home of the owner of the TV shop where I hung out after school. I went to school with his kids and got invited over that day. The color was great since the set was set up by an RCA field service tech who visited the shop every few months.

Later I got to watch Bonanza and The Perry Como Show every couple of weeks. More really great color...

With regard to "Matinee Theater" I remember watching a few minutes of that at the TV shop, when, during the course of the show, a lady appeared on camera wearing a brilliant blue dress. She had very blonde hair, but her red lipstick was smeared about three inches to the right of her mouth, hanging there in thin air! Can you say differential phase and gain???
Cliff