AMC to air ALL episodes in black & white

[kidgloves]

Nice. Starting Thursday Feb 14th http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/liv...ursdays-402640

[aaron2]

Great! waiting for this Starting on 14feb valentine's day?

[Neil]

What the hell!?!? Feb. 14, 6:30 p.m. 101 They're showing this program at 6:30pm in the evening???? Surely it should be on late!?

[bassman]

In the past they've aired TWD at all hours of the day. They run a marathon before every new premiere. The last one began around nine in the morning, iirc.

[MinionZombie]

In the past they've aired TWD at all hours of the day. They run a marathon before every new premiere. The last one began around nine in the morning, iirc. Quite surprising to us Brits as we have something called "the watershed" at 9pm - you could never air an episode of TWD before 9pm without breaching Ofcom rules (media regulators in the UK) and gaining a fine for the channel which did so. I take it you guys have another sort of system, some kind of block or pin number required to watch TWD at that time of day, or can anyone channel hop onto AMC and watch zombies chow down on guts?

[bassman]

Parents can set a pin number for whatever channels they like on their personal cable/satelite receivers, but there's nothing universal. So if it's not set to be locked by the owner, you could just surf channels and land on TWD early in the morning.

[MinionZombie]

Parents can set a pin number for whatever channels they like on their personal cable/satelite receivers, but there's nothing universal. So if it's not set to be locked by the owner, you could just surf channels and land on TWD early in the morning. Interesting. Here in the UK we also have - on Sky satellite boxes for example - an option to set an 'upper limit' before you require the entry of the PIN number. The levels are set according to BBFC ratings (U, PG, 12, 15, and 18). Although what's really annoying is, there is no way to turn it off entirely - you don't have to have that option enabled, but even if you don't, there's still a 'back up' (which can't be over-ridden) which requires you to insert the PIN number when you, for example, want to watch a 12, 15, or 18 rated film that you've recorded before a certain time in the day. In a house full of adults it's annoying to constantly be having to enter a PIN number, I have to say ... good for households with kids parented by adults who have sod all idea about technology though ... I just wish there was an option to turn that off entirely for all-adult households.

[krakenslayer]

The US TV ratings system is weird, though. From what I gather, you can show people getting shot in the head at nine in the morning, string-bikini-clad whores writhing in submissive sexual positions in mysogynistic rap videos at all times of the day, but if you said "fuck" or showed an actual nipple at 10pm on network TV, there'd be an uproar. Is that a fair assessment? Anyway, this black and white thing seems like a bizarre move. If people really needed to see it in B&W, couldn't they just turn down the colour saturation on their TV set? Are they short of new programming that day? What next? An Lost marathon with a blue filter on the screen?

[shootemindehead]

"...Anyway, this black and white thing seems like a bizarre move." I know. It's fecking ridiculous. I just understand this nonsense at all.

[bassman]

Of course you could turn down the color on your screen, but that's beside the point. AMC was going to air the series again anyway, so why not show it in B&W to reference the source material and classic horror films?

[krakenslayer]

Of course you could turn down the color on your screen, but that's beside the point. AMC was going to air the series again anyway, so why not show it in B&W to reference the source material and classic horror films? Because I think it's a lazy gimmick. The series was intended to be seen in colour, for a start. Night is scary and tense in black and white because the cinematography was geared towards it, the lighting, etc. geared towards getting the most atmosphere out of a high contrast greyscale medium. Ever watched a "colorized" version, or Dawn or Day in black & white? Nowhere near as effective. Now, removing the colour is so easily done that it can be achieved with your remote control at home. Showing the series in colour (as it was meant to be seen) doesn't limit people from seeing it in black and white, but showing it in black and white DOES limit people from watching it in colour, its intended, most effective medium. No big deal, there's worse things happening in the world after all, just seems like a bizarre decision.

[MinionZombie]

It is a bit of a gimmick, isn't it? But I suppose it's to try and rake in a few more viewers (as they've no doubt aired those episodes in colour numerous times already). However, if they don't increase the contrast a bit at least, then it seems a bit daft in a way - without doing that, then you get a bit of a wishy-washy black and white ... it just becomes a loss of colour, rather than a near-approximation of genuine black and white. For one thing the costumes and on-screen colours haven't been designed with black and white in mind. That was something they had to bear in mind during the black and white days to allow for the best contrast, but also to get a good depth to the material, and so certain clothes stood out from certain pieces of the set/decoration. I saw some screenshots of the B&W version of 1x01 and it did look more like the 'wishy-washy' absense of colour, rather than an approximation of genuine B&W film. I don't blame them for doing it though - to some people it'd be interesting, I'd imagine, the sort of people who rarely (if ever) watch B&W stuff. Although the sort of kids who enjoy 'second screen' technology would no doubt call it "gay" and switch off ... ruddy kids ... heck, ruddy people that exist, thus creating an actual market for "colorized" films.

[AcesandEights]

Of course you could turn down the color on your screen, but that's beside the point. AMC was going to air the series again anyway, so why not show it in B&W to reference the source material and classic horror films? Why not, is right. It's a fun nod to the source material, not sure why people are having such a problem with it, aside from this being the internet and all

[bassman]

Why not, is right. It's a fun nod to the source material, not sure why people are having such a problem with it, aside from this being the internet and all I notice that the people complaining are the ones that don't get AMC. Just sayin...

[kaushalsingh]

But why are they doing it anyways? Did i miss something in early posts?