Warner Bros. Presents is the
umbrella title for three
television series which were aired as part of the
1955-56 season on
ABC:
Cheyenne, a concept that originated on
Presents, and two others based on classic Warner Bros.
films,
Casablanca and
Kings Row.
While neither a critical or popular success,
[Warner Brothers Presents at The Museum of Broadcast Communications] this
wheel series is an historically important program. Perhaps most significantly, it is the first television program of any kind made by
Warner Brothers. It was also the original home of
Cheyenne, the first hour-long American
western, and the first wholly original television series produced by a major
Hollywood studio. It also allowed ABC, then a junior player in American television, to secure its first advertising contracts with commercial giants,
General Electric and
Liggett & Myers.
Historical Background
At first, Warner Bros., like most other Hollywood studios, had seen television as a threat that it wished would disappear. Jack Warner tried to dismiss it as a mere passing fad, but by 1955 it was apparent that this was hardly the case. ABC had approached Warner Bros. about acquiring the rights to broadcast some of its relatively recent theatrical films, which were then not available for television broadcast. Instead, Warner saw a different potential for his company, inspired by ABC's Disneyland. He believed that perhaps television could be used to cross-market upcoming Warner films. Thus he created a television department and promoted his son-in-law, William T. Orr, to the new position of Head of Television Production. The initial goal was to provide new short fiction which they could wrap around information about upcoming film projects.[ Orr's first effort in that capacity was this program.]
