The Wild Wild West (1965)

Directed by

Irving J. Moore

Genre

adventure television series, Westerns on television, science fiction television series

Country

United States

Length

4 seasons, 104 episodes

Rated

TV-PG

Rating

7.6 of 10 from 83 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

Two Secret Service agents work for President Ulysses Grant in the 1870s. They use clever gadgets and wits to stop villains from taking over the country.

spy-filightheartedadventurouswhimsicalcampypulpyfast-pacedretro

What happens

The Wild Wild West is an American Western, spy, and science fiction television series that ran on the CBS television network for four seasons from September 17, 1965, to April 11, 1969. Two satirical comedy television film sequels were made with the original stars in 1979 and 1980 and the series was adapted for a theatrical film in 1999. Developed at a time when the television Western was losing ground to the spy genre, this show was conceived by its creator, Michael Garrison, as "James Bond on horseback." Set during the administration of President Ulysses S. Grant (1869–1877), the series followed Secret Service agents James West (Robert Conrad) and Artemus Gordon (Ross Martin) as they foiled the plans of megalomaniacal villains to take over part or all of the United States, protected the President, and solved crimes. The show featured a number of fantasy elements, such as the technologically advanced devices used by the agents and their adversaries. The combination of the Victorian era time-frame and the use of Vernean technology has led several steampunk web sites to cite the show as a pioneering influence on the genre. This aspect was accentuated even more in the 1999 film adaptation. Despite high ratings, the series was cancelled near the end of its fourth season as a concession to Congress over television violence. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

• Get Smart (1965)
• Mission: Impossible (1966)
• Agent Carter (2015)
• Jericho (1966)
• A Man Called Sloane (1979)
• Pony Express (1959)
• MacGyver (1985)
• The F.B.I. (1965)