See the First Episode Ever Broadcast, of One of TV’s Greatest Dramatic Series: Combat!: Season 1, Episode 1 “Forgotten Front” (1962), Complete, for Free, and Without Commercial Interruption

Re-posted by N.S.

This was not the first episode shot. That was “A Day in June” which, for whatever reason, the producer, Selig J. Seligman (1918-1969), decided to broadcast as the eleventh episode. That was also the only episode Seligman permitted series creator Robert Pirosh (1910-1989), who had served as a master sergeant in the Army, sandwiched around a storied career as a Hollywood screenwriter, to direct.

Pirosh was one of “the battered bastards of Bastogne,” who had served in the Battle of the Bulge, and who won an Oscar for his original screenplay, based on his wartime experiences, for WWI combat flier William “Wild Bill” Wellman’s (1896-1975) masterpiece, Battleground (1949). Pirosh may also be responsible for the most famous “Jody call” of them all.

After The War, Bob Pirosh dedicated his life to celebrating the valor of the infantry grunt.

Every week for five seasons, 151 episodes, Combat!, with its brilliant cast, guest stars, direction, photography and music, provided a level of dramatic entertainment matched by, perhaps Rod Serling’s (1925-1975) The Twilight Zone, Cris Carter’s Millennium, early seasons of Steven Bochco’s Hill Street Blues, some episodes of Ed Zwick (1952-) and Marshall Herskovitz’ (1952-) thirtysomething and Once and Again, and of William Broyles Jr. (1944-) and John Sacret Young’s (1946-2021) China Beach.


Season 1, Episode 1 “Forgotten Front” (1962)





Combat!: Previously, at WEJB/NSU:

S.1 Ep.3: “Lost Sheep, Lost Shepherd” (1962); Jeffrey Hunter (four different languages spoken, but never just for show);

S. 1, Ep. 9: “Cat and Mouse” 1962; Albert Salmi (“Nazi shoe clerks!”);

S. 1, Ep. 11: “A Day in June” 1962;

S. 1, Ep. 16: “The Volunteer” (1963); Serge Prieur and Ted Knight (“ein Jünger soll Tschokolade jede Woche haben” “A boy should have chocolate every week”);

S.2, Ep.1: “The Bridge at Chalons” (1963); Lee Marvin, “You’re like a mother hen with your chicks”;

S. 2, Ep. 4: “The Long Way Home”, Part 1 (1963); Richard Basehart, Woodrow Parfrey;

S. 2, Ep. 5: “The Long Way Home,” Part 2 (1963);

S. 2, Ep. 24: “The Hunter” (1964); Alfred Ryder (“We are going to play a new game, Herr Sergeant, a hunting game!” The Most Dangerous Game); and

S. 3, Ep. 22: “The Convict” (1965); Gilbert Roland plays a career criminal who has just broken out of prison, and who impersonates a dead resistance fighter;

S. 4, Eps. 25 & 26: “Hills are for Heroes,” Parts I & II (1966).