{{Short description|American anthology TV series (1956–1957)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox television | image = Dennis Hopper & Karen Sharpe - Conflict TV Promotional Photograph (1957).jpg | caption = Karen Sharpe and Dennis Hopper in the April 30, 1957 episode "No Man's Road" | alt_name = | genre = Anthology | creator = | director = | developer = | presenter = | starring = | voices = | narrator = | theme_music_composer = | open_theme = | end_theme = | composer = | country = United States | language = English | num_seasons = 2 | num_episodes = 20 | list_episodes = | executive_producer = William T. Orr | producer = Roy Huggins | editor = | location = | camera = | company = Warner Bros. Television | runtime = 60 mins. | network = ABC | first_aired = {{Start date|1956|09|18|df=yes}} | last_aired = {{End date|1957|09|03|df=yes}} | related = {{Plainlist| * ''Warner Bros. Presents'' * ''77 Sunset Strip''<br>''Maverick'' }} }}
'''''Conflict''''' is an American anthology television series that was broadcast biweekly on ABC September 18, 1956 - September 3, 1957. Episodes focused on personal conflicts.<ref name=tt>{{cite book|last1=McNeil|first1=Alex|title=Total Television: the Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the Present |date=1996|publisher=Penguin Books USA, Inc.|location=New York, New York|isbn=0-14-02-4916-8|page= 177|edition=4th}}</ref>
It succeeded ''Warner Bros. Presents''. Although ''Conflict'' assumed the same time slot as its predecessor, the two do not share the same format. Where ''Warner Bros. Presents'' had been a wheel series,{{Citation needed |date=April 2023}} ''Conflict'' was fully an anthological series.<ref name="tss" /> However, since ''Cheyenne'' and ''Conflict'' alternated<ref name="htv">{{cite book |last1=Anderson |first1=Christopher |title=Hollywood TV: The Studio System in the Fifties |date=October 11, 2013 |publisher=University of Texas Press |isbn=978-0-292-75953-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WYVdAQAAQBAJ&dq=Conflict+Warner+1956&pg=PT295 |access-date=April 1, 2023 |language=en}}</ref> the Tuesday 7:30 P.M. time slot,<ref name="tss" /> the net effect was that of a proper wheel series—even though ''Cheyenne'' and ''Conflict'' were not under the same umbrella title.
The name change was imposed upon its production company, Warner Bros., by ABC executives who believed that "conflict" was the missing element in ''Casablanca'' and ''Kings Row'' from ''Warner Bros. Presents''.{{Citation needed |date=April 2023}}
==Man from 1997== Actor James Garner caught producer Roy Huggins' attention with a comedic performance as a gambler in the series' sixth episode, a time travel scenario entitled '''"Man from 1997"''', leading Huggins to cast Garner as the lead the following year in his television series ''Maverick'', according to Huggins' Archive of American Television interview.{{Citation needed |date=April 2023}}
In the episode, Charles Ruggles portrays an elderly time-traveling librarian from the future attempting to retrieve a 1997 almanac that he mistakenly left 41 years before it is supposed to exist. Garner portrays "Red," the brother of Maureen (Gloria Talbott); the show also stars Jacques Sernas as Johnny Vlakos.
Huggins noted in his Archive of American Television interview that he subsequently cast Garner as the lead in ''Maverick'' due to his comedic facial expressions while playing scenes in "Man from 1997" that were not originally written to be comical, leading staffers in the screening room watching the rushes to unexpectedly laugh. Huggins had written the scenes himself and realized that Garner was definitely adding the humor solely with his performance.{{Citation needed |date=April 2023}}
==Schedule== The series does not fit neatly into standard American television seasons, technically superseding ''Warner Bros. Presents'' after ''Casablanca'' concluded its run in April 1956<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/W/htmlW/warnerbrothe/warnerbrothe.htm |title=''Warner Brothers Presents'' at the Museum of Broadcast Communications |access-date=2007-08-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090731130602/http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/W/htmlW/warnerbrothe/warnerbrothe.htm |archive-date=2009-07-31 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and apparently providing at least one week of new material at the beginning of the 1957 season, before ''Sugarfoot'', starring Will Hutchins, replaced it. Hutchins was also cast in three episodes of ''Conflict'', including his screen debut as Ed Masters in "The Magic Brew" (October 16, 1956).
==Production== William T. Orr was the executive producer, and Roy Huggins was the producer.<ref name="tss">{{cite book |title=Television Series and Specials Scripts, 1946-1992: A Catalog of the American Radio Archives Collection |date=October 21, 2009 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-5437-2 |page=66 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f9K4tLMSbJAC&dq=Conflict+Warner+ABC+1956&pg=PA66 |access-date=April 1, 2023 |language=en}}</ref> David Buttolph was the composer of the theme for ''Conflict'' and for the scores for all episodes.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Burlingame |first1=Jon |title=Music for Prime Time: A History of American Television Themes and Scoring |date=March 3, 2023 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-061830-8 |pages=26–27 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7DGqEAAAQBAJ&dq=Conflict+Warner+ABC+1956&pg=PA27 |access-date=April 1, 2023 |language=en}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6229765142472313878&q=Roy+Huggins&total=20&start=10&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=5 Roy Huggins' Archive of American Television Interview] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080226005034/http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6229765142472313878&q=Roy+Huggins&total=20&start=10&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=5 |date=2008-02-26 }} * {{IMDb title|0188323|Conflict}} * [http://ctva.biz/US/Anthology/Conflict.htm ''Conflict'' at CVTA with episode list]
{{William T. Orr shows}}
Category:1950s American drama television series Category:Black-and-white American television shows Category:English-language American television shows Category:1950s American anthology television series Category:1956 American television series debuts Category:1957 American television series endings Category:American Broadcasting Company television dramas Category:Television series set in 1997