| Combat Sergeant | |
|---|---|
| Genre | War drama |
| Starring | Michael Thomas Cliff Clark Mara Corday Dominick Delgarde Frank Marlowe Bill Slack |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company | National Telefilm Associates |
| Original release | |
| Network | Syndication |
| Release | June 29 (1956-06-29) – September 27, 1956 (1956-09-27) |
Combat Sergeant is an American television program that originally aired on ABC from June 29, 1956, to September 27, 1956.[1]
The series was set in Africa during World War II. Actual footage of the war was spliced into episodes.[1] Sergeant Nelson's orders, which came from General Harrison, led him into spying on Germans, coordination of efforts of various Allied military forces, and other activities. Romance sometimes resulted.[2]
Jack H. Skirball was the producer of Combat Sergeant and George Blair was the director. The writers were DeVallon Scott and Julian Harmon.[3] The show was initially broadcast on Fridays from 8 to 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time. In September 1956 it was moved to Thursdays from 9 to 9:30 p.m. E. T.[2] Thirteen episodes were filmed[4] by Universal-International.[5]
Combat Sergeant was produced by National Telefilm Associates, and had originally been intended as a first-run syndicated program; it was offered to individual television stations in March 1956,[4] but saw no sales. The series was offered to ABC, which purchased the program. After a brief summer run on ABC in 1956, the series was rerun on the syndicated NTA Film Network starting in summer 1957.[6]
The trade publication Broadcasting called Combat Sergeant the "purest form" of "the classic TV formula" of good versus bad, as the U. S. Army took on Nazis and their associates.[3] The review noted how Thomas "heroically portrayed" Nelson and concluded, "If another pure-and-simple, rough-and-tumble, ride-and-fight series is what TV needed, this is it."[3]
A review of the episode "Flight Into Eternity" in the trade publication Variety said that it began "as a semi-documentary" but soon had its hero "in and out of more unlikely anti-climactic scrapes than Man Called X, Range Rider, and Hotshot Charlie together."[7] It said "Thomas is a fresh-faced kid who performa adequately, and the rest look like soldiers should."[7]
The trade publication Motion Picture Daily called the premiere episode "a lively, action-laden and authentic appearing story."[8] It said that the episode achieved "a rather high degree of suspense and action" and concluded by calling the show "a good series, well produced, smartly directed."[8]
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