http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4W7XEjUIhmA

..."Chevrolet's Bewitching Bonanza" was a special "extended commercial", originally seen at the end of the "BONANZA" episode "The Hostage", on September 27, 1964 {the body of the episode was presented uninterrupted and "commercial-free"}.

Chevy, of course, was the program's primary sponsor, and wanted viewers not only to be aware of their new models for 1965, they wanted to remind them about the other series they co-sponsored in the 1964-'65 season. So they created this "preview" of their new Chevy models and their "salesmen" who would pitch them on their shows: the casts of "BONANZA" [of course], "BEWITCHED" {Quaker Oats was their "alternate sponsor"}, and "THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E." {half-sponsorship, I believe}.

What's interesting is that this was the ONLY time that season that Elizabeth Montgomery, Agnes Moorhead and Robert Vaughn were seen in color outside of their own series....1964-'65 was still a period when very few network TV shows were telecast in color- and Chevrolet could only afford to fully sponsor one of them in color at the time. Partial sponsorship deals didn't count, so "BEWITCHED" stayed in black and white until the fall of 1966 (mostly because ABC and producer Screen Gems/Columbia were in no hurry to spend money for color filming until then). "THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.", however, was converted to color in the fall of '65 when NBC began scheduling 95% of its prime-time schedule in color. The other two networks later joined them for 100% color at night in September '66.


:tv:

^ Cool!! Thanks for the insight!! :cool: :D