Monday Reading And The Dick Van Dyke Show

Genesis 43-45.
Matthew 15.


I posted last week on the loss of Dick Van Dyke Show characters.

One of the things that always intrigued me about that show was that it was at the end of the black and white era of TV.  So, no episodes were ever in color.

I always considered the show a little mysterious for that reason.  I had no idea what color the living room was, the kitchen was, the bedroom, the office, the clothes they wore...you get the picture.

And it bugged me.  I have know idea why. 

I really became a little obsessed over this when I was in high school in the late '70s.  I was a big fan of the show, and watched reruns at least daily. 

This is going to sound weird, but it got to the point where I would dream about the show being in color!  You know, the "lost episode" type of thing.

Then I'd wake up, be disappointed, and go back to my wondering.

Amazingly, during that time period, I was able to find a few color photos of the cast in books I checked out from the library.  Believe it or not, the first color photo I saw was in a book on TV Guide covers.

Bingo!  There they were- Rob and Laura Petrie in living color!  I even found a color cover photo with Rob, Laura and Alan.

That satisfied my curiosity for awhile, and would just have to do for then.

A few years later, in the early 80s, I heard (probably on Entertainment Tonight, I used to watch that a lot back then) about the new computer colorization that was occurring with some old movies.  I think Laurel and Hardy was one of them. 

So of course, my mind went immediately to the Dick Van Dyke Show.  When would they get around to colorizing the program I always wanted to see in color?

Well, the answer seemed to be "never".  Because it didn't happen.

So then, this thing called the internet became a hit.  So I'd search for color pictures of the Dick Van Dyke Show.

As you can see, I found some.  Wow.  So cool.  And as the years went on, I found more and more.

Imagine my surprise when I found out in 2016 they were finally going to colorize some DVDS episodes.

And imagine my extreme disappointment when I missed the broadcast and forgot to record it.

Two years in a row.

After decades of waiting for this very thing to happen, I felt like George Constanza- "Lord of the Idiots".

Thankfully, I was able to view 2 episodes this year online.

So now, after 40 years, I've finally seen the show in color. 

It was actually the only thing on my bucket list, so now I may die in peace.

Hey, what can I say?  I'm easily entertained.