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The Wild Wild West is a television classic

The series, as well as the stars, are fondly remembered today by legions of fans

By Cheryl E PrestonPublished 3 years ago 3 min read
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THE WILD WILD west was a popular series during the 1960s and many families gathered around the television set to watch this show. I had cousins whose television went out and they came to my home each week to watch the escapades of Jim West and Artemis Gordon. we squealed with delight as they conqured the bad guys or when Jim got the girl. Many young females had crushes on the two handsome men who were seen as heroes and young boys pretended they were West and Gordon just as they played cowboys and Indians.

The WILD WILD WEST came about during a time when the television Western was losing out to spy movies and TV shows. It makes me think about Woody in TOY STORY who was replaced by Buzz Lightyear because children were beginning to prefer the space ranger over the cowboy.

Sammy Davis guest stars on THE WILD WILD WEST

The setting was from 1869-1877 during the administration of President Ulysses Grant. The series creator Michael Garrison, saw the show as "James Bond on horseback with Secret Service agents James West (Robert Conrad) and Artemus Gordon (Ross Martin) solving crimes. Their main goal was to protect the President, and foil all the plans of diabolical villains to take over parts of or the entire United States. There were a number of guest stars including Sammy Davis Jr. in the "The night of the returning dead" in 1966.

There were a lot of fantasy elements, in the series like technological advances beyond the era of each episode where devices were utilized by agents as well as their adversaries utilized. Two of the hundeds of THEgadgets, a sleeve gun and a breakaway Derringer hidden in both of Jim West's boot heels were with him all the time. Others were only on specific episodes. There were various exploding devices as well as a throwing knife hidden in a back jacket pocket.

Items that eploded were dice, billards, and a pocket watch. There was a cue stick with a rapier hidden inside and also one that fired bullets. There was even a cigar tat became a blowtorch. Artemis Gordon invented some of these items like a compound that eploded when eposed to heat and a chemical substance that could support a man's weight for 20 seconds to one minute. These were ingenious creations consdering they were for the 18th century.

THE WILD WILD WEST television series has been descrbied as an American Western, science fiction and espionage show. It aired on CBS for four seasons beginning on September 17, 1965, and ending on April 11, 1969. The episodes were filmed at CBS studios, Studio City on Radford Ave. in the Sanfernando Valley. This is the same location where Saturday Westerns as well as Gene Autry and Roy Rogers shows were filmed. There were later two satirical comedy televisied movie sequels to THE WILD WILD WEST that aired in 1979 and 1980 with the original cast.

The season two premiere episode "The Night of the Eccentrics,"was the first to be broadcast in color. Comic Richard Pryor portrayed Villar, a creepy ventriloquist which was his first television role. It was Ross Martin, howeever, who voiced the dummy, named Giulio. Robert Conrad liked doing his own stunts and was injured when he fell a dozen feet, landing on his head while filming the season four episode "Night of the Fugitives."

THE WILD WILD WEST was cancelled because congress was pressuring the television networks to decrease violence. During the final season in 1968 Ross Martin was missing from nine episodes because he had suffered a heart attack. He was replaced by various guest stars like Alan Hale Jr who was the Skipper on GILLIGAN'S ISLAND. On July 3, 1981, Ross Martin died from a heart attack after playing a game of tennis at the age of 61. Robert Conrad passed away from heart failure on February 8, 2020, at age 84.

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About the Creator

Cheryl E Preston

Cheryl is a widow who enjoys writing about current events, soap spoilers and baby boomer nostalgia. Tips are greatly appreciated.

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