Beyond Balderdash: Question 8 Answer and Scores

S

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
What happened on Sept. 25, 1964?

  1. Xerox released the first photocopier (BigBlue)
  2. the half hour Saturday morning cartoon "The Beatles" premiered on ABC-TV (sageridder)
  3. Chicken Little was first published (Zhaneel)
  4. the game "Yahtzee!" first appeared on store shelves (Apollo)
  5. the Gomer Pyle Show went on the air (correct)
  6. the Civil Rights Act was signed into law by President Lyndon Baines Johnson (TomB)
  7. the death of William Faulkner (Nightstalkers)
  8. the first public Exhibit of a Picasso Painting opened at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City (train)
  9. the first episode of Gilligan's Island aired (EricBess)
    [/list=1]

    BigBlue would have made out like a bandit if he got the correct answer as three people chose his, but alas, them's the breaks. EricBess sort of got a gimme as since he put down another TV show and it wasn't the correct answer, he figured the other had to be. But the answers were pretty spread out except for 1.

    Nightstalkers, TomB, Zhaneel chose 1.
    EricBess and sageridde chose 5.
    train chose 6.
    BigBlue chose 8.
    Apollo chose 9.

    Scores:
    sageridder: 37 (33 + 1 for initial, 1 for final, 2 for correct)

    TomB: 33 (30 + 1 for initial, 1 for final, 1 for other person)
    BigBlue: 26 (21 + 1 for initial, 1 for final, 3 for other people)
    EricBess: 23 (18 + 1 for initial, 1 for final, 2 for correct, 1 for other person)
    Apollo: 22 (20 + 1 for initial, 1 for final)
    Zhaneel: 21 (19 + 1 for initial, 1 for final)
    train: 16 (13 + 1 for initial, 1 for final, 1 for other person)
    Melkor: 8
    Nightstalkers: 8 (6 + 1 for initial, 1 for final)
    whuppinboy: 2
 
B

BigBlue

Guest
Dang it... I was debating the merits of Gomer Pyle...

Shoulda gone with my gut...

I was really surprised no one bothered with a beatles answer...
 
E

EricBess

Guest
I first contemplated a "Space Race" answer, then a Beetles answer, then finally, settled on a TV answer. After I typed my answer, just for kicks, I looked it up (Gilligan's Island, that is) and discovered that it actually happened Sept 26, 1964. I thought I might have actually stumbled on the right answer, but submitted it anyway.

So given the one day difference, I figured another TV show premering during the same week was probably a safe bet.
 
B

BigBlue

Guest
Wow, I figured GI was late 50's. I guess I figured TV was in color by '64 and early episodes of GI are in B & W. course so was Gomer I guess...

When did Color TV come out, or was it just that some programs stayed B & W due to cost?

Looking it up...... January 1, 1954... so I don't understand why reruns of GI and GP show up in B & W, unless they couldn't record them in color...
 
E

EricBess

Guest
I know some of it had to do with prohibitive costs. I have vauge recollection of B&W vs. Color and I wasn't even born until '69.

Consider this - Think of some new technology that was developed recently. If you can remember further back, even better. Ideas would be Computers, DVD drives (or even players)...Oh, here's a good one that everyone can relate to: Plasma TVs. Okay, if you have that in your head, then hopefully you can relate to the following example.

Okay, now, consider the cost of these items when they first came out. I remember a computer called the "Next" who had this great idea of putting everything into a computer and selling it like that. What's "everything"? CD drive, sound card, network card... Point is, at the time, the "Next" computer cost $5K+ while a PC cost less than $2K. Sure, you didn't get all of the features, but so what.

Now, consider you are a developer and you have your choice of programming software for a Next computer or a PC. Realistically, how many people are going to own a Next? Most people are going to look at the cost difference and decide "I don't need such and such a piece" and they will save money by picking and choosing their components. It wasn't that Next didn't have a good idea. They just tried to do it way before the technology was ready. Now days, you couldn't imaging buying a computer that didn't have all of that and more. In fact, I don't think you could even if you wanted to.

So, and this is just me making assumptions, I would say that even if the technology existed for color filming, it was more expensive to do, and most people didn't have color TV's anyway. Sure, popular shows could probably afford it, but if almost nobody was going to get the benefit, what was the point?

Once color TVs were inexpensive enough to truely become a viable option, then it made more sense for the TV industry to start catering to that crowd.

So even though the technology existed back in 1954, it probably wasn't feasible until late 60s or early 70s.
 
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