Younger people may be wondering what’s up with the colored bird. I remember when color tv first came out as a consumer item.I THINK it was NBC that used the peacock as a means of checking and adjusting the colors on your tv set. Other networks had different things. Our local station just had a series of bars with the different colors. It was a long time before we were able to afford a color tv. My friend’s parents had one almost as soon as they became available and I thought that was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. I know that had nothing to do with the strip…..just sharing memories.
I used to like the animation for “in living color” because the bird opened his tail and the colors would “swirl” and then settle. NBC toyed around with a capital N for the logo, but a potato grower had the same one, so the peacock came back. It was not used for color testing that I know of; it was a big deal in the days TV was switching to color programming.
The Painted Bird is a controversial 1965 novel by Jerzy Kosiński which describes the world as seen by a young boy, “considered a Gypsy or Jewish stray,” who wanders about small towns scattered around Central or Eastern Europe (presumably Poland) during World War II.
The first sets were color, green and white, not black and white. They were also a bit oval as the “tube” was a glass vacuum tube and round was the easiest to produce.
Real peacocks are colorful and rather messy intimidating birds of very good size. NBC is just sort of messy
When the Beatles movie “A Hard Day’s Night” was aired on NBC, it had been filmed in black-and-white. The announcement at the beginning of the mov ie showed a penguin on a white background waving his little wings as the announcer said, “The following program is brought to you in living black-and-white on N.B.C.”
zero over 14 years ago
She comes in colors everywhere, she combs her hair - She’s a rainbow. Him? always thought he was a pinko…
Manitobaman over 14 years ago
Younger people may be wondering what’s up with the colored bird. I remember when color tv first came out as a consumer item.I THINK it was NBC that used the peacock as a means of checking and adjusting the colors on your tv set. Other networks had different things. Our local station just had a series of bars with the different colors. It was a long time before we were able to afford a color tv. My friend’s parents had one almost as soon as they became available and I thought that was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. I know that had nothing to do with the strip…..just sharing memories.
Frankr over 14 years ago
NBC still uses a highly stylized version of the peacock as their current logo.
In the early days at the start of each show an announcer would say “The following program is brought to you in living color on NBC”.
Not unlike today’s shows being touted as available in HD.
Purdey over 14 years ago
I used to like the animation for “in living color” because the bird opened his tail and the colors would “swirl” and then settle. NBC toyed around with a capital N for the logo, but a potato grower had the same one, so the peacock came back. It was not used for color testing that I know of; it was a big deal in the days TV was switching to color programming.
emjaycee over 14 years ago
Wasn’t there an episode of “Rocky and Bullwinkle” where they cooked the NBC peacock for dinner?
ksoskins over 14 years ago
The Painted Bird is a controversial 1965 novel by Jerzy Kosiński which describes the world as seen by a young boy, “considered a Gypsy or Jewish stray,” who wanders about small towns scattered around Central or Eastern Europe (presumably Poland) during World War II.
Nighthawks Premium Member over 14 years ago
….and that Whitey Ford was a white guy
ChukLitl Premium Member over 14 years ago
When they dumped the N & brought back the bird it was “NBC, proud as a peacock.” Pride goes before the fall.
napaeric over 14 years ago
The first sets were color, green and white, not black and white. They were also a bit oval as the “tube” was a glass vacuum tube and round was the easiest to produce. Real peacocks are colorful and rather messy intimidating birds of very good size. NBC is just sort of messy
MrPinkle over 14 years ago
When the Beatles movie “A Hard Day’s Night” was aired on NBC, it had been filmed in black-and-white. The announcement at the beginning of the mov ie showed a penguin on a white background waving his little wings as the announcer said, “The following program is brought to you in living black-and-white on N.B.C.”
Frankr over 14 years ago
I’m glad I’m not the only old person here
Frankr over 14 years ago
Did I say old? I meant mature.
napaeric over 14 years ago
Yes, mature now. But I refuse to grow up. Just starting that second childhood, can’t wait for puberty again.
captainedd over 14 years ago
They made those uniforms multi-colored so that the people would want to buy the color TV’s - after all, I believe that RCA owned NBC at the time…