The kinescopes definitely have an ethereal, "not-film-not-video" look, but as a fan of both the original B&W eps and the acid-trip color palettes of the later ones, the kinescopes are a distant third. Why, you ask?
- the actual B&W eps were using different lenses on different cameras. They had a sharpness that the color eps don't, and the kinescoped color eps are kind of mush in comparison;
- I have to admit that the kinescope eps, because of their low contrast and frequently muffled audio tracks, put me right the hell to sleep. It's like the opposite of audiovisual stimuli.
I'm grateful they exist, glad we have the whole show (aside form that one "lost" one), but I don't get excited about the idea of back to back kinescope eps (which is what did me in tonight, eps 351 & 352.)