In September of 1965, a new television show hit the air on Friday nights on CBS, and in the process confused those who attempted easy catagorization. Was it a Western? Was it a spy thriller? Perhaps it was a SciFi fantasy show...

In reality, The Wild Wild West had elements of all three. Set in the 1870's, James West and his sidekick Artemus Gordon worked for the United States Secret Service, and it was their duty to keep the country safe from a large assortment of evil geniuses and their wicked schemes. Blending elements from The Man from U.N.C.L.E., James Bond, and the ever popular western, our two heroes rode the rails in a private train fighting many a bad guy. And did they fight! Robert Conrad remembers that the fight sequences were more then the ordinary one or two punches, these were carefully choreographed bar-room brawls that tended to last a significant amount of air time, only to be repeated again in some other location a few scenes later. It was this violent content that led to its downfall after four seasons. The Wild Wild West was not cancelled due to ratings. Dr. Frank Stanton, then President of CBS, ordered the program off the air in 1970 due to his pledge to Congress to reduce television violence. In a recent interview (aired on TNT) Robert Conrad states that this was probably a good thing, for the rigors of the stunts had caused many injuries, and perhaps it was better to quit while everybody was mostly still healthy. Even Ross Martin performed some of his own stunts, as did Michael Dunn. (in an unrelated health problem, Ross sufferred a heart-attack during the show, and was temporarily replaced).