Each episode of Dark Shadows was recorded and broadcast on the then network
standard 2-inch videotape. In addition, through the fall of 1970, ABC-TV
also made filmed kinescope copies of each episode. These kinescopes were
shot in black-and-white on 16mm film. Even when Dark Shadows went to color,
the kinescopes were still filmed only in black and white, as networks rarely
made color kinescopes.
Kinescopes are simply copies of a program which are filmed off of a
television monitor. The method was conceived in the early days of
television, before videotape was invented, as a method to preserve shows
that were broadcast live. Although videotape became available in the late
1950s, the television networks continued to simultaneously make kinescopes
of shows that were presented live or originated on videotape. Although
vastly inferior in quality to video, kinescopes were still made in the
mid-1960s because various stations across the country did not always
telecast certain shows at the exact time that the network would transmit
them. Since some stations did not yet have the expensive videotape equipment
needed to record a program for a later playback, the network would provide
filmed kinescope copies within days of the original broadcast.
By the fall of 1970, the kinescope process had become outdated, and ABC
ceased making them for Dark Shadows.
Fortunately, the kinescope negatives for Dark Shadows were preserved along
with the videotape masters. In the years since the episodes first aired on
ABC, some of the videotape masters have been lost or damaged. Therefore,
when the series is shown in reruns and on home video, filmed kinescope
prints are used for several of the episodes. These episodes are now seen
only in black and white, even after the series went to color.
Post by The Space BossI've been watching Collection 15, and all of the episodes have been in
color, but then on Disc 3, the second episode is all of the sudden in
Black and White! Not just the episode, but the intro as well, which I
thought strange. What's the deal with that?