Classic Sci Fi TV: Our ongoing look back at many of the classics of science fiction and fantasy television.
What Is It? In the old west, Secret Service agents James West and Artemus Gordon report to the president and work out of their train The Wanderer, protecting the country from imminent threats and scheming arch-villains.
Aired: CBS, 1965-69, 4 Seasons Totaling 104 Episodes
Starring: Robert Conrad, Ross Martin, Michael Dunn
Created By: Michael Garrison
Is It Must-Watch Sci Fi? Yes. This is a classic, genre-bending action-adventure show with tightly paced scripts and it is also a ton of fun. It does become somewhat redundant after a while, but it is worth watching a sampling of episodes across all seasons.
The Skinny: Network executives love a good pitch, and when Michael Garrison came to CBS with plans for a show about “James Bond on horseback”, their interest was immediately piqued. Westerns were still popular on television in the mid-’60s (though the genre was showing signs of age), and the James Bond movies had sparked worldwide interest in super-spy stories (The Man from U.N.C.L.E. had already proven popular for NBC the prior season and Danger Man/Secret Agent had become an international hit). So combining the two genres just seemed like the next logical step and led to a show that would remain popular for four seasons and beyond.
The Wild Wild West may not have delivered some of the more thought-provoking sci fi that we saw from other ’60s genre entries like The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, and Star Trek in that same decade, but the show definitely provided solid entertainment. It mixed western tropes with super-spy gimmicks and villains, but it also added its own fresh spin and rarely felt like a retread of the genres when it was at the top of its form. And it did not go too heavy on camp like Batman or The Man from U.N.C.L.E. in its later seasons (though the campiness would start to creep into WWW later in its run). The show also ventured into steampunk territory at times (long before that term had been coined) and certainly had a strong influence on the development of that sub-genre.
But probably most essential to the success of The Wild Wild West, along with its tightly written stories, is the show’s two leads. James Conrad perfectly embodied the quintessential action-hero in the lead role, giving this show its western equivalent of the Bond character. But Ross Martin nearly stole the show as West’s counterpart Artemus Gordon. As a disguise artist, he portrayed dozens of different characters in the show, gleefully embracing his multi-facted role. Martin was even nominated for an Outstanding Lead Actor Emmy in the show’s fourth season. And of course, there were the show’s many villains, most notably Dr. Miguelito Loveless played by Michael Dunn. The bad guys were not as over-top as Batman, but the actors certainly reveled in their roles. And all of this came together to deliver a show that offered plenty of action, witty dialogue, and great performances and which still stands out as a genre classic.
>Buy the complete series on DVD from Amazon.com
Cancelled Too Soon? Perhaps. It’s hard to say that a show which produced four seasons and over one hundred episodes was cancelled too soon, but The Wild Wild West could have continued into a fifth season and possibly more if not for extenuating circumstances. The show got caught up in a controversy at the end of the decade targeting television violence. A Presidential Commission attacked the levels of violence on television and The Wild Wild West was singled out as “one of the most violent” shows airing on the broadcast networks. All of the networks decided to purge the most offending entries from their schedules which led to this show’s cancellation. Ironically, it then went into syndication where it often played in the afternoon hours after kids came home from school, setting off another furor over the show.
Revival: Revivals of ’60s series became popular in the late ’70s and early ’80s which led to two television movies with Robert Conrad and Ross Martin returning to the lead roles: The Wild Wild West Revisited in 1979 and More Wild Wild West in 1980. These played up more of the campy elements of the original series, but still delivered a welcome return to the show. Paul Williams stepped in as Miguelito Loveless Jr., the son of the original villain, because Michael Dunn had passed away in 1973. More movies were planned, but sadly Ross Martin passed away in 1981. A late-’90s feature film reboot starring Will Smith and Kevin Kline and directed by Barry Sonnenfeld seemed like a sure thing on paper, but flopped badly when it hit theaters in 1999. The franchise has remained dormant since then.
Should It Be Rebooted? Yes, and it should go full-on steampunk. The Sonnenfeld film did that, but suffered from a poor script and flat delivery. It has been over twenty years since that left a bad taste in the mouth of the entertainment industry relating to the franchise, so perhaps now would be a good time to give it another chance.
Interesting Facts: Ross Martin disappeared for a few episodes in the show’s fourth season after suffering from a heart attack. He was replaced temporarily by other actors, one of which was Alan Hale, Jr.
Fred Freiberger was the producer of the series during the later part of the show’s first season. He is of course notorious to sci fi fans for joining Star Trek and Space: 1999 in their final seasons and notably changing the direction of those shows. His most notable accomplishment for The Wild Wild West was creating the arch-villain Dr. Miguelito Loveless.
Where Can You Watch It? The entire series has been released on DVD, but it has not received the Blu-ray treatment yet. Two seasons are available for streaming directly from DirecTV if you have a subscription to their service. You can also find it airing on some of the digital channels that play classic TV shows like FETV.
Read More About the Show: Wikipedia | IMDb.com
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The wild wild west was one of the best westerns on tv. As far as being violent, it is not as bad as half the new shows on now. Espically with all the filthy language that is on the NEW westerns. Please put that and so many of the good shows you have taken off all at once.
Please bring back Wild Wild West to afternoon tv on FETV.
Wild Wild West needs to come back to FETV.