http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTSC
http://www.channel101.com/articles/a...?article_id=22
Here are other links that explains some things. Seems I had it backwards- They use the dropframe standard to compensate for the Framerate v.s Realtime. Not the opposite.
However- It appears the additional bandwidth in Color images was the main culpret to the whole frame rate issues. The links above provide a few explanations and history of... sort of stuff. Hope this helps.