How sad CBS had no spine - The Wild Wild West (1965) Discussion

[–] Tjanssen411 9 years ago

CBS made a Lot of poor decisions back in the day... at least 'too Violent' is a viable cover, seeing as the real reason was likely special effects budget, to provide said violence

-- not nearly as bad as their 'rural purge' clearing out Green Acres, Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction and (near as I can tell) sending Hee Haw into syndication

although all of those shows getting cut within 2 years (69-71) perhaps WWW was actually part of said purge... as some one said of it

"They cancelled Everything with a Tree in it."

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[–] mactach 9 years ago

Wonder how they ever explained canceling a show being to violent and 2 years later debited All In The Family?

Was that any better?

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[–] TimmyAnn 8 years ago

All in the Family wasn't violent. 

I do not have attention deficit disor...Ooh, look at the bunny! 

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[–] a_l_i_e_n 9 years ago

The fact they cancelled this show because of "violence" is a joke.

Yes, they offered it up as a sacrifice to government watchdogs who thought they could blame incidents of real violence on what people were watching on tv. I'm sure cancelling "WWW" saved a lot of lives, eh? 

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[–] dinerfood-901-211557 9 years ago

Pathetic they cancelled one of the best shows at that time.

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[–] srb-3 9 years ago

NBC had cancelled the Man From U.N.C.L.E. a few years prior. The word was the spy craze was done, and CBS went along with that.

Westerns weren't doing all that well by 1970 either.

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[–] LarrupinLou 8 years ago

Ratings-wise, it was in that area where cancellations due occur. Add in Ross Martin's absence due to his heart attack and that was all she wrote. If those two things hadn't happened, violence or no violence, I believe the show would still have been on the air for at least another season. Besides, was it any more violent than Mannix, which ran until 1975?

At any rate, it was a shame that it did get cancelled. I can remember watching it on CBS as a preschooler near the end of its fine run.

No blah, blah, blah!

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[–] Matt-nicholson-246-892076 8 years ago

One more year, most likely. It would have been "toned down" so much it would not have been the same, however.

Now more than ever we can use you in our sadly depleted organization.

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[–] kenburke (2294) 7 years ago

They cancelled the show for being too violent - but did nothing about the daily news broadcasts from Vietnam. You make sense of it.

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[–] Otter (24464) 7 years ago

IMHO part of the reason was that gritty realism was coming into style, and fantastical wierdness was going out. The political scene was grim and violent and tastes in entertainment changed, realistic entertainment like "Serpico" and "All in the Family" were popular and fashionable, and the fantasy of the Bond-like secret agent fighting supervillains were becoming passe.

Optimism and fun were going out if style as well.

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[–] kenburke (2294) 6 years ago

I have long ago stopped trying to figure out why the Hollywood people do what they do. It makes my head hurt.

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[–] roger1 (2462) 9 months ago

( I wrote this elsewhere here as "ecarle.")

The Wild Wild West was a first-run favorite of my youth in the late 60's.

I recall reading a TV Guide article in 1969 that showed "a day in the life of CBS executive Michael Dann." They reached a "real life scene" where Dann was in a room with a group of people looking at a board filled with multi-color signs of different lengths. Each sign was a TV series on the CBS schedule -- some signs were shorter(half hour shows), some signs were longer(hour shows.)

Dann was deciding which signs to "keep on the board" -- renew for next season; and which signs to "toss off the board" (cancel, to make room for a NEW sign -- new series for the board.)

He reached the sign on the board for The Wild Wild West. Discussed it with staff. The ratings were still good, but indeed the violence was getting attacked in Congress and the show had declined a bit in ratings and was expensive to do. (The third season and fourth seasons were more cheaply budgeted than the first and second.)

The big moment came. I recall the article saying:

"Michael Dann gave it a moment's thought -- and pulled the sign for The Wild Wild West off the board and threw it in the trash."

As a young person "learning about the business," I remember that that sentence seemed meaningful to me. This ONE guy -- Michael Dann -- after only a few minutes of discussion -- threw The Wild Wild West into the trash can(literally) and ended a childhood adventure favorite. He also took jobs away from Robert Conrad, Ross Martin, all the crew, the loyal stuntmen, EVERYBODY. With one toss of a card. That's power.

Curse you Michael Dann...wherever you are!

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[–] roger1 (2462) 9 months ago

IMHO part of the reason was that gritty realism was coming into style, and fantastical wierdness was going out. The political scene was grim and violent and tastes in entertainment changed, realistic entertainment like "Serpico" and "All in the Family" were popular and fashionable, and the fantasy of the Bond-like secret agent fighting supervillains were becoming passe.

Optimism and fun were going out if style as well.

---

Totally agree. It was weird to feel it happening in the 70's and to realize that TV-wise "the fun 60's series were over."

Certainly the TV series of the 60's were spy shows -- out to copy James Bond -- and the fad ran out. The Man From UNCLE, The Wild Wild West, I Spy, The Avengers(British show)...big hits with "buddy teams"( a man and a sexy woman on The Avengers) and fanciful as hell. Flamboyant villains, beautiful women...the weird thing was, these shows were filmed like "adult adventures" but their biggest fans were KIDS and college students. I guess young boys wanted to fantasize about the ladies ahead in their lives.

Came the 70's, everything got gritty. Suddenly it was all cops. Columbo was a specialty item(more sleuth than cop), but otherwise it was Starsky and Hutch, Kojack, Baretta, Streets of San Francisco, Dan August(Burt Reynolds), Policewoman, Police Story...and gritty and usually "on the streets of Los Angeles." (Except for the Streets of San Francisco.) Also some private eyes, The Rockford Files, Harry O, Barnaby Jones, Cannon.

The fantasy comedies of the 60's were also kicked to the curb and replaced(via video instead of film, and shot like stage plays) with the "urban issue comdy" of All in the Family and Maude and The Jeffersons. Mary Tyler Moore led a "side contingent" of filmed workplace comedy -- but --everything was "realistic." Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, The Munsters, The Addams Family, My Favorite Martian....all gone in favor or reality.

The fun stopped.

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