Warner Bros. Presents

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Warner Bros. Presents was the umbrella title for three television series which were aired as part of the 1955-56 season on ABC. The series included Cheyenne, a Western, and two others based on classic Warner Bros. films, Casablanca and Kings Row. The overall host of the program was actor Gig Young.

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. Warner Bros., however, had decided to abandon its prior opposition to television completely to the extent that it now desired to become a primary source of filmed television programming, and the result was this series.

As originally aired, the hour-long series consisted of only about 45 minutes of original programming, followed by 10 to 15 minutes of promotion for upcoming Warner Bros. theatrical film releases. This portion of the program proved to be unpopular with critics and the general viewing audience alike and was soon dropped. Likewise unpopular with the audience were the adaptations of Kings Row and Casablanca, which both apparently lost a great deal in their translation to the small screen. Kings Row was dropped at midseason and Casablanca made it to the spring but was not renewed, making Cheyenne the only element to survive the initial and only season of Warner Bros. Presents (however, it went on to become one of the more successful programs of the "adult Western" era). After this season, the Warner Bros. Presents title and host Gig Young were dropped with regard to Cheyenne.