By Victoria Miller

In case you didn't already know about it, the complete first season of the 1960's television series "Bewitched" was released last week on DVD. Old television series' are released on DVD all the time-- that's nothing new-- but something is different with the "Bewitched" release: the DVD version is available in the original black and white format or in a colorized version.

The black and white purists are having a fit over this. They just can't understand why anyone in their right mind would want to "ruin" the classic look of their favorite shows and movies with colorization. "That's not the way the series was created," they say. "Colorization looks phony," they'll complain.

But for me, the choice was a no-brainer. I ordered the colorized version from Amazon.com and received it a few days later. And then I watched my favorite old series in a whole new light.

Colorization: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

Colorization is a process that converts black and white film to color-- and it's been going on for some time now. In the 1980's there was a massive colorization effort by broadcast mogul Ted Turner, who felt that converting black and white movies to color would attract younger audiences. I think he had the right concept-- youngsters tend to think of black and white film as ancient history. Unfortunately, some of the early color jobs left a lot to be desired. The process and the technology weren't quite up to par back then, and I admit that some of the color jobs from the past have given colorization a well-deserved bad name.

The colorization of one of my favorite movies, "It's a Wonderful Life" came up pale in my opinion-- it was almost more of a tinting than a real colorization. I owned the colorized version on VHS and hated it so much that I bought the black and white DVD version.

But modern computer technology has made the colorization process look so much better today. The "Bewitched" DVD looks absolutely phenomenal-- and I thoroughly enjoy watching the formerly black and white episodes in their new rich, bold color format.

I've often wondered how the computer and the colorization technicians "know" what color to make everything during the colorization process. The truth be told (I learned this after some research on the subject), some of it really is guess work. As I was watching the "Bewitched" episode "A Vision of Sugarplums" with my daughter last night, I found myself wondering if Alyce Pearce's (the original Mrs. Kravitz) dress was really red or was that just the brainstorm of the colorizing staff. But then I realized that it really didn't matter.

Sure, my husband quipped that Elizabeth Montgomery's hair looked red to him, but I think he just said that to get under my skin. And although I'm a huge fan of the "Bewitched" series, if the DVD had only been offered in black and white I doubt I would have purchased it. But watching it in color was like watching a whole new series. Really. Hey, there's nothing like a little modern day magic to make things a whole lot better.