First color program you ever saw?

[Dave A]

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.

[Eric H]

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!

[holmesuser01]

Originally Posted by Eric H

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!

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... 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...

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

[oldtvman]

Originally Posted by Dave A

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.

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.