Season Three Overview

Tom Lowell, with no contract to fall back on, was worried. At the end of the second season, Lowell voluntarily departed the show. "Combat! again offered me a contract, but for the same money, the money I started out with," says Lowell. "Then, an opportunity arrived that I could not pass up," says Lowell. "I was offered a contract at Walt Disney studios to do two pictures a year for the next two years. I chose to leave Combat! and move to the Mouse Factory. I was sad and elated at the same time. I had the opportunity to join Combat! and could have stuck with it for the five years. I felt very badly that I didn't, because of all the friendships. But, careerwise, it was a better move to go to Disney."

Conlan Carter felt safe after receiving an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Performance in a Supporting Role by an Actor for his work in the episode "The Hostages." But the nomination caused him problems. "When Vic was nominated the first year he was in the show," says Conlan, "he held them up for a lot of money."

At the time, Conlan had been unaware of the previous negotiations, and how heated they had become. So he was surprised at the producer's reaction to a contract meeting, them saying that no matter what somebody back east thought of him, the nomination would not carry any weight with them.

"They just stepped all over me... And this was the highlight of my career. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. And I was working for low money relative to the rest of the cast. I just said I wanted to have my salary raised up to where they are and they said 'No! Not only are you not going to get raised to their level, you come back at your last year's salary.' ... I walked. I left the show because of it and they subsequently had like 15 scripts that I had been written into that they had already bought for the next year. So they came some couple months later and signed me at the money I wanted, but not with a contract, just on a show-to-show basis. They were real ... I probably did as many shows as I would have done under contract."

The walkout happened during the summer hiatus, so he missed no filming. "The upshot of it was, that they made it very clear that it was not going to get out of hand like it did with Vic. ... It was an unfortunate episode in what otherwise could have been a very pleasant experience ... I lost the Emmy to Albert Paulsen."