Season One (1962-63)

"'MGM [is] at war with Westerns...filming 'Combat!' a forthcoming hour-length Tuesday night series that follows the G.I. from Normandy to Berlin...' - TV critic Dwight Newton, previewing Combat! in July 1962" Combat 's first season premiered on Tuesday, October 2, 1962, and ended on May 14, 1963. It consisted of thirty episodes, plus a pilot episode filmed in late 1961 and aired a year later.

Season one introduced viewers to the men of K Company, 361st Infantry Regiment, from their landing at Omaha Beach to the liberation of Paris. That means the season takes place from early June to late August 1944.

Series creator Robert Pirosh originally titled the series Men in Combat. By December 1961, press reports called the series Combat Platoon. When ABC announced the series would be added to the fall 1962 lineup, the title was settled as Combat!

Creative struggles led to inconsistencies in storylines and characterizations. The on-air inconsistencies reflected the preferences and passions of the directors, writers and producers who all tried to steer Combat! to their liking.

Series creator Robert Pirosh penned the pilot episode, "A Day in June," but ABC decided to remove Pirosh and replace him with film production veteran Robert Blees. Blees insisted executive producer Selig Seligman hire director Robert Altman to helm alternating episodes. Various writers turned in scripts. Each of these major contributors structured Combat! and its characters differently; for example, Blees and Altman preferred grim drama and stories that focused on individual squad members, while Seligman wanted scripts that featured the ensemble cast. As the season wore on, those creative struggles created great friction among Seligman, Blees and Altman. Before the season was over, Blees was fired. Altman tried to assert more control over the series, defying Seligman's oversight. He, too, was dismissed before season one ended.

Combat! premiered to favorable reviews, and by season's end was the highest-rated new show on ABC's program schedule. However, the series was not a top-thirty show as measured by Nielsen television ratings. In 1963, Vic Morrow and cinematographer Robert Hauser netted Emmy nominations for their work.