Bring Back Old B&W Television

There was a time when television gave the public innumerable hours of enjoyment even though every show was broadcast in black and white.

It was the Fifties, a time when children sat patiently in front of the t.v., watched a snowy test pattern, and anxiously waited for their favorite show on Saturday mornings to magically appear.

Early black and white television was a testament to the good old days, a unique time in history that will never be repeated, but always longed for. It was a simpler time where there was a right and a wrong, and there were no shady gray areas to confuse everyone. It was a time where the bad guys were caught and the good guys were the role models for children and adults alike. Marshall Dillon and Wyatt Earp never had to worry about a lawsuit if they pulled a gun to protect the innocent and apprehend the bad guys. 

I Love Lucy and The Honeymooners allowed people to laugh at themselves and learn that everyone’s family life wasn’t perfect. Bob Hope and Red Shelton believed that a joke could be hilarious. . .and clean enough to be told in front of children.  

Okay, so Timmy and Lassie were always in trouble, as was little Beaver Cleaver, but more often than not, it was while they were helping their friends or neighbors. Rin Tin Tin and Bullet had important jobs to do, and those jobs didn’t involve sniffing out drugs and contraband in schools, cars and airports. 

Finally, it was Chet Huntley and David Brinkley with the Huntley-Brinkley Report who brought news from around the world into American homes every evening. This was real news, not their opinions of the news. It was truly the “who, what, when, where and why” of television news broadcasting. Audiences watched and listened to them as they admitted that they might not have all of the story because it was still unfolding, but they’d get back with additional details. As anchormen, Chet and David kept their viewers up-to-date with only facts, and never insulted their audiences to interpret what had occurred in a newscast. People were allowed to reach their own conclusions.

Wouldn’t it be refreshing to go back to relive those good old days when television was colorless and life was simple? When truth and honesty prevailed in black and white? When trust and honesty ruled the air waves? And where everything didn’t have to have a spin on it?