Wild Wild West coming to dvd! (1 Viewer)

[todd s]

According to www.tvshowsondvd.com The first season of Wild Wild West will be coming to dvd next year. Including commentaries and other cool extras.

Yes! 2 down (Mission:Impossible & WWW)...1 to go (Untouchables).

 

[Peter M Fitzgerald]

YESSSSS!!!!

Finally! I've been wanting this since the laserdisc era (and never wanted to spring for Columbia House subscription DVDs). And there will be extras! Woo-hoo!

A good number of my favorite episodes are in season 1:

* NIGHT OF THE INFERNO (a superior series pilot, with Suzanne Pleshette, Victor Buono, Neremiah Pershoff and James Gregory)

* THE NIGHT THE WIZARD SHOOK THE EARTH (1st Dr. Loveless episode, with Richard "Jaws" Kiel as his giant henchman)

* NIGHT OF THE PUPPETEER (possibly the coolest, and weirdest episode in the entire series)

* NIGHT OF THE STEEL ASSASSIN (John Denher as a civil war veteran/master hypnotist/self-made cyborg)

* NIGHT OF THE BURNING DIAMOND (a super-speedy FLASH-like villain)

* NIGHT OF THE DRUID'S BLOOD (five living super-brains in jars, plus Don Rickles as a devil!)

* THE NIGHT TERROR STALKED THE TOWN (Dr. Loveless, Take 2)

* NIGHT OF THE WHIRRING DEATH (Dr. Loveless, Take 3)

* NIGHT OF THE MURDEROUS SPRING (Dr. Loveless, Take 4)

* NIGHT OF A THOUSAND EYES (Jeff Corey as a blind mastermind)

* NIGHT OF THE DOUBLE-EDGED KNIFE (a pretty brutal opening sequence for a mid-1960s show)...

Thanks, Paramount! Consider this set bought.

 

[FrancisP]

I do think the first season was great and is a definite buy.
However I don't think the show hit its stride until the second season. The first season was experimental. Night of the Burning Diamond was the precursor but there were too many standard western episodes. Even the network was complaining about the fact that there was no Wild in (WWW).

 

[Charles H]

I hope that the two tv movies--from a decade later--WILD, WILD WEST REVISITED and MORE WILD, WILD WEST see the light of dvd-day. They are terrific self-parodies of the stars--Conrad and Martin--as well as the series. Fox released them on VHS, but I don't know if they still own them. They'd make great catalog titles.

 

[RoyM]

Greatest DVD news EVER!

WWW was (IMHO) the most brilliantly entertaining, fun, imaginative TV show of all time. Some of my fondest TV memories of my childhood were of watching syndicated re-runs of this show. I predict it will be hugely successful on DVD. Hopefully, Paramount will follow the quick release trend of some of its other shows and get all four seasons out pronto.

Oh yeah, and Dr. Miguelito Loveless is the greatest TV show villain of all time - no contest!

 

[todd s]

Hopefully, this release will be enought to make me forget the horror that was the WWW movie. :rolleyes

 

[Brent Avery]

IT'S ABOUT TIME! I hope this gives Robert Conrad a boost as he has had a bit of difficulty in his private life as of late.

 

[BobSchneider]

wow that is such good news! Living in the los angeles area and not having cable I have not seen wild wild west re runs for over seven years . When I read awhile ago back columbia house was closing it TV series operation I was happy to hear the news because that would free some series Like WWW from their grip for normal dvd season set distribution. Personal I would be willing (but hopefully it wont) pay up to 100.00 a season for wild wild west. Lets hope its a nice package, with some nice transfers, some fun extras and decent packaging. This is such kool news LOL Hmmm Im already impatiently waiting it release, anyone with more firmer estimate when it WWW dvd set will be release?

 

[Paul McElligott]

Nice. This was my favorite "old" show when I was in high school.

 

[Gord Lacey]

Paul Browstein (Twilight Zone, Dick Van Dyke, Lucy Show...) is working on the set.

Gord

 

[RickER]

Damn, Gord just got me all excited.
Guess i can think about selling the 3 volumes of the Columbia House WWW i have.

 

[TravisR]

If the WWW DVDs are half as good as The Twilight Zone or The Dick Van Dyke Show DVDs, the fans are in for a treat.

For the record, I haven't seen The Lucy Show so maybe those are good too.

 

[Jeff#]

I don't see any reason to sell the 10 volumes of The Wild Wild West I have, unless these extras -- if any are exceptionally good. But if Paramount is releasing this, then there probably wouldn't be any extras anyhow (think MacGyver).

I have all 28 of the black & white shows from the first season. However, since I only have the first 3 of the 2nd season, I would definitely buy that entire year once it is released months from now.

Columbia House is where I got my WWW of course, but I didn't join the WWW club. I bought 2 or 3 volumes each time over a period of several months, getting a 40% discount ($11.97 instead of $19.95) for each second and third disc that I purchased. I was and still am a member of their DVD movie club.

 

[Jeff#]

In case you're wondering why the first season (1965-1966) of Wild Wild West was so inconsistant, that's because there was behind the scenes turmoil in who produced the show.

Originally it was series creator Michael Garrison. After the pilot, CBS decided to replace him with Collier Young, a man who produced One Step Beyond several years earlier. Young's stories were mostly straight westerns, including "Thw Night of the Casual Killer", with an exceptional performance by John Dehner. That episode also had the best rendition of the end theme song -- much better orchestrated than other first season shows. There were really only 2 versions that year, which were very much alike.

Fred Freiberger was the next producer, and he did more fantastic shows including several of the Dr. Loveless episodes. Freiberger was credited for creating the Dr. Miguelito Loveless character! Then he was let go.

John Mantley and Phillip Leacock -- the guys behind the previous season, current season and the following season of GUNSMOKE did double duty co-producing The WIld Wild West and they had trouble coming up with the kind of stories the network wanted.

Unless I left out a producer, Michael Garrison was actually rehired to save the show!

After Freiberger, another future Star Trek producer Gene L. Coon was hired by Garrison to be the Producer. Garrison was again Executive Producer for the last 7 or 8 shows of the first season. Coon left even before the first year ended and Garrison was again sole producer, which he would be about a half dozen episodes into the 2nd season (the first in color).

Michael Garrison died falling down the stairs in his home in October 1966, and for the remaining few years of WWW was replaced by Bruce Lansbury.

 

[BobSchneider]

Well in reply to jeff ,yes the WWW quality could be a bit uneven , but for me it was atleast fun and entertaining. And what made WWW so good was the camaraderie between the two friends in arms Jim and Artie (aleast seasons 1-3) .Its very similar to another sixties classic I Spy, it the characters of Kelly and Scottie going though and their grand and sometime mis adventures together that made the show fun. (btw Ive got all three seasons of I spy on dvd).Thats what made WWW great watching Jim and Artie meet crazy villains (count manzepy was my fav, loveless second), saving the us government, and those crazy cool gadgets they used to escape all sorts problems and traps. Its good characters (ie Jim and Artie)that make a tv show work, 50's,60's or today. If I don't really give a rats rear about the characters in a tv show I can't watch, it has to be a show populated with good characters, thats what make dramas watchable. Otherwise Im hunting for off switch or dvd set of sometime better to watch. And the dvd set first season of wild wild west will give another viewing option when broadcast tv is living down to its vast wasteland stereotype. :wink:

 

[todd s]

Hopefully, this set will help me forget the nightmare that was the WWW movie.

 

[Lucia Duran]

You just don't even know how happy this makes me!

 

[Brent Avery]

Robert Conrad has mentioned over the years how doing most of his own stunt work took a toll on his body. I know in one episode he almost got himself either severly injured or killed - just can't remember which one. So being macho can have it's downside.

 

[FrancisP]

Actually there was even more intrigue behind the scenes.
Apparently there was also an attempt to boot Michael Garrison off the show when Freiberger was let go. However,
he reminded CBS that he had the right to shop the show to another network if he was let go so CBS backed down. He did cement the direction that Freiberger went in.

 

[todd s]

An quick update from www.tvshowsondvd.com The first season is scheduled to be released in Feb.