Even with high ratings on it's last season, ABC did not renew the Patty Duke show, claiming that switching to color programming was way too expensive. All television programs were making the color switch during late 60s.


http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5976154/the_patty_duke_show_pg2.html?cat=37

In 1966, United Artists, the company that produced the show, refused ABC's demand that they switch to color film. Patty Duke suspected at the time that this was a negotiating ploy by UA to extract more money from ABC although she never found out for sure. ABC, for their part, decided to cancel the show instead.

United Artists TV seemed to be notoriously penny-pinching -- read about The Outer Limits and what their producers went through. Stingy! Of course other companies were pretty much the same when when it came to budgets...

Gee, and to think United Artists instead was willing to open up its wallets for color film-stock for their upcoming 'hits' the following season, like "Hey Landlord" and "It's About Time." Oh, well. It would have been nice to see TPDS in color, but I suppose it was a fairly moot point anyway, as I always assumed Patty Duke was more than ready to move on to other things, having reached adulthood and finally having charge of her own career for the first time in her life.

The Patty Duke Show was a unique case with Patty playing in the dual role of Patty and Cathy. For that reason it was felt the show would have been too costly to produce in color episodes for a 4th season in 1966-67. This problem could easily have been solved by writing Cathy out of the series. But I agree that Patty Duke was ready to move on and do other things as she was tiring of the series by the third season.

the expense of switching to color was part of the reason why a few shows were cannceled at that time.

It's easy to forget that "The Patty Duke Show" was fairly complicated for its day. While Rita McLaughlin did a lot of the over-the-shoulder "back shots" where Patty was talking to Cathy (or vice versa), any other scenes involving both Patty and Cathy on-screen required Patty to be filmed on one side of the screen, while the other side of the picture was blocked out. Then Cathy was filmed so she appeared on the other side of the screen...then both halves were processed to make it appear as the two were on the screen at once. And that doesn't include dubbing both characters' voices.

And TPDS was not the only show with this problem. When Elizabeth Montgomery began appearing as both Samantha and Serena, filming had to be done much the same way with an actress standing in for Samantha (or Serena) as needed. You may also remember "Bewitched" was aired in black-and-white until the start of the 1966-67 season (with Liz doing the quote that is the title of this post to announce the fact she was now in color!).

While much can be made about salary demands (and no doubt some of it was true!), this labor-intensive production made identical anything really expensive back in the 1960s!

The Patty Duke Show was a unique case with Patty playing in the dual role of Patty and Cathy. For that reason it was felt the show would have been too costly to produce in color episodes for a 4th season in 1966-67. This problem could easily have been solved by writing Cathy out of the series. But I agree that Patty Duke was ready to move on and do other things as she was tiring of the series by the third season.

Cath is needed in this series if it went on to a 4th season. She's 1/2 of the identical cousins show after all.

It's easy to forget that "The Patty Duke Show" was fairly complicated for its day. While Rita McLaughlin did a lot of the over-the-shoulder "back shots" where Patty was talking to Cathy (or vice versa), any other scenes involving both Patty and Cathy on-screen required Patty to be filmed on one side of the screen, while the other side of the picture was blocked out. Then Cathy was filmed so she appeared on the other side of the screen...then both halves were processed to make it appear as the two were on the screen at once. And that doesn't include dubbing both characters' voices.

And TPDS was not the only show with this problem. When Elizabeth Montgomery began appearing as both Samantha and Serena, filming had to be done much the same way with an actress standing in for Samantha (or Serena) as needed. You may also remember "Bewitched" was aired in black-and-white until the start of the 1966-67 season (with Liz doing the quote that is the title of this post to announce the fact she was now in color!).

While much can be made about salary demands (and no doubt some of it was true!), this labor-intensive production made identical anything really expensive back in the 1960s!

Amazing primitive technology to create a weekly series about identical cousins portrayed by one Oscar-winning actress.

By the halfway point of the 3rd season I think the producers depended more on the over-the-shoulder shots vs the split screen technique. Episode 18 Poppo's Birthday was the last time that split screen technique was used for Patty & Cathy.

In his autobiography, Sidney Sheldon claims the main reason "Patty Duke" was cancelled was the power struggle between Patty and her former guardians John Ross.

Cath is needed in this series if it went on to a 4th season. She's 1/2 of the identical cousins show after all.
They would have needed a whole new theme song...and theme songs aren't cheap!

They could've simply switched to an instrumental version of the same song.No new theme necessary

They could've simply switched to an instrumental version of the same song.No new theme necessaryIt would not have been the same without the lyrics.

I was disappointed that there was not season four in color. I would have looked forward to that!

I've never been a big fan of Cathy, so I wouldn't have minded having a 4th season in color without Cathy, it could have been said that she moved back overseas to continue her education. Compose a new theme song, give boyfriend Richard and brother Ross more involvement in the episodes, along with Patty's other friends and classmates, and a 4th season in color with this new format would have been a real blast! :D :lol:

The whole concept of the show is identical cousins with Patty Duke playing both parts. It would not have gone over well without Cathy.

The whole concept of the show is identical cousins with Patty Duke playing both parts. It would not have gone over well without Cathy.

Maybe, maybe not. We will never know anyway. But it's interesting to speculate the possibilities about what a 4th season in color might have been like.

Personally, I'm happy to have as many episodes as we got. Having them on disc to rewatch whenever is the best way to remember Patty Duke and her co-stars. It's kind of sad to me to still be using the nickname Cathy Lane a few years after we've lost Patty Duke herself.