When did Gilligan's Island start filming in color?

Although it only aired for three seasons from 1964 to 1967, all 98 episodes of “Gilligan's Island” aired in syndication for years, giving the sitcom a devoted following that spanned multiple generations. But if you're of the generation that saw the show when it first aired, you might remember the first season that debuted in black and white.

Ten years before “Gilligan's Island” hit the airwaves, NBC became the first US network to carry a coast-to-coast color broadcast, broadcasting the Tournament of Roses parade in Pasadena, California, across the country on New Year's Day 1954. would later host “Gilligan's Island,” CBS had surpassed NBC in being the first color broadcast in the U.S. Although it was not a coast-to-coast broadcast like the Rose Tournament Parade in 1954, CBS's 1951 musical variation special ” Premiere” was the first commercial color program to air in the US on a five-station network on the East Coast. perhaps a little too early, since no one had the television necessary to actually watch CBS Field's sequential color TV system.

In the late 1950s, color televisions were somewhat more common, but even then most US households still watched in black and white. Beginning in the 1960s, NBC aired regular color broadcasts while the other networks remained in monochrome, while CBS aired only the odd color special. It took until the late 1960s for the networks to switch to mostly color broadcasts, and by the mid-1970s, about half of US households owned color televisions.

Consequently, when Gilligan's Island aired from 1964 to 1967, it made an ever-expanding transition to color, switching from monochrome shooting to color after the first season. But if most homes in the US still had black and white TVs at the time, why not? CBS – who wanted to separate the titular island from “Gilligan's Island” — switch?

Although later in color when shown in syndication, the 36-episode first season of Gilligan's Island aired in monochrome in 1964. By the time Season 2 debuted in September 1965, things had changed. First, because the “Gilligan's Island” theme song for Season 1 was sung by a folk group The Wellingtons (who later portrayed the fictional band The Mosquitos series), Season 2 debuted with a brand new theme song. Perhaps more importantly, however, it marked the series' transition from black-and-white shooting to color.

The series' third season was then also shot in color, as were three television movies: 1978's Gilligan's Island, its 1979 sequel The Castaways on Gilligan's Island, and the 1981 film. “The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island” (which almost featured a completely different basketball team). But what compelled CBS and series creator Sherwood Schwartz to switch to color as early as 1965, especially when, despite the growing popularity of color television, America was still in the black-and-white era?

There seem to be several stories as to why Gilligan's Island was shot in black and white for the first season. According to a ventilatorspecial feature included on the show's DVD collection, series creator Sherwood Schwartz states that this was simply due to the fact that “nothing on TV was in color”. Meanwhile, Professor actor Russell Johnson claimed that “it was too expensive” to film in color.

In a way, both statements are somewhat accurate. At the time of Gilligan's Island, color represented the general direction that TV was going anyway. Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color debuted on NBC on September 24, 1961, introducing color to a new generation and convincing more people to go out and buy color televisions. This trend continued into the 1960s, and both ABC and CBS decided to switch to color in 1965, adding “color” buffers at the ends of their shows' title cards. This was, of course, the same year that “Gilligan's Island” season 2 aired, so it seems like the series was just crossing the line between the old standard and the new.

Meanwhile, as one Redditor has pointed out, attempts to colorize the monochrome inaugural season left a lot to be desired, with several commentators noting how important color was to the show when it was changed and bemoaning the lackluster look of the color episodes. Even Sherwood Schwartz himself noted the success of Gilligan's Island for the visual style of the characters, which was most clearly defined by their different colored uniforms. Unfortunately, Schwartz's show aired just a year too early to pick up color every season.