After Combat!

Selmur productions replaced Combat! with the series Garrison's Gorillas, using the same crew, the same sets, and similar characters who, as Pierre Jalbert said, worked cheaper. Jack Hogan guested on the show, experiencing deja vu. "The same people were there, they were wearing our uniforms!"

Pierre theorizes about why Combat! went off the air. Selmur production was a subsidiary of ABC. And all the millions of dollars that they put into pilots was down the drain. They were broke. They were hoping to merge with ITT and the federal government cut them off because of anti-trust. So they wanted to syndicate so they could get money from those 152 episodes in the can.

Jack Hogan says, "About that time, it was getting so there was no 'good war' because of Viet Nam. There was no justifiable war in those days, right then, with all that was going on. Also, it was time to renew all of our contracts."

Since 1967, when Selmur Productions rushed it off the air, Combat! has been in continuous syndication. It is one of the most popular syndicated shows in Japan. "Garrison's Gorillas," the show that replaced Combat!, lasted one season.

The MGM backlot town that was used for the filming of the Combat! village scenes no longer exists. It was bulldozed over and is now a housing development. The Stuntman was the last film to shoot in the French village. The movie deliberately destroyed parts of the lot, knowing that it was slated to for demolition. Thousand Oaks is now Westlake Village condominiums.

But Combat! continues to have a legacy. It went on to influence future television series. The producers and writers of the series "Tour of Duty" were admirers of Combat! Some of the writers would take their videos of Combat! into the conference room late at night to watch them. At least one show was based on a Combat! plot.