SteyrAUG
05-25-16, 02:49
I grew up watching reruns of "The Wild Wild West." Scenes like this one in the pilot episode "The Night of the Inferno" made me want to have a house one day with secret panels for weapons and this show is why I have a Vintage Winchester and a Model 1 Remington Derringer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXCaFoXwrwo
But as much as I loved the show, at some point it stated getting silly...they call it campy now...and now I understand why.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wild_Wild_West#Violence.2C_cancellation_and_syndication
The first season's episodes were filmed in black and white, and they were darker in tone. Cinematographer Ted Voightlander was nominated for an Emmy Award for his work on these episodes. Some episodes were violent for their time, and that, rather than low ratings, ultimately was the series' downfall. In addition to gunplay, there were usually two fight sequences per episode. These were choreographed by Whitey Hughes and performed by Conrad and a stock company of stuntmen, including Red West, Dick Cangey, and Bob Herron (who doubled for Ross Martin).
Following the 1968 assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, President Lyndon Johnson created the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence. One of the questions it tackled was whether violence on television was a contributing factor to violence in American society. (This also included graphic news coverage of the Vietnam War.) The television networks, anticipating these allegations, moved to curtail violence on their entertainment programs before the start of the 1968-69 season. Television reporter Cynthia Lowrey, in an article published in August 1968, wrote that The Wild Wild West "is one of the action series being watched by network censors for scenes of excessive violence, even if the violence is all in fun."
In December 1968, executives from ABC, CBS and NBC appeared before the President's Commission. The most caustic of the commissioners, Rep. Hale Boggs (D-La.), decried what he called "the Saturday morning theme of children's cartoon shows" that permit "the good guy to do anything in the name of justice." He also indicted CBS for featuring sadism in its primetime programing (The Wild, Wild West was subsequently identified as one example). The Congressman did, however, commend CBS for a 25% decline in violence programming in prime time compared to the other two networks.
Three months later, in March 1969, Sen. John O. Pastore (D-R.I.) called the same network presidents before his Senate communications subcommittee for a public scolding on the same subject. At Pastore's insistence, the networks promised tighter industry self-censorship, and the Surgeon General began a $1 million study on the effects of television. Congress’s concern was shared by the public: in a nationwide poll, 67.5% of 1,554 Americans agreed with the theory that TV and movie violence prompted violence in real life.
After being excoriated by two committees, the networks scrambled to expunge violence from their programming. The Wild Wild West received its cancellation notice in mid-February, even before Pastore’s committee convened. CBS killed 'The Wild, Wild West' despite high ratings, because of criticism. It was seen by the network as a gesture of good intentions." The networks played it safe thereafter: of the 22 new television shows that debuted in the fall of 1969, not one was a western or detective drama; 14 were comedy or variety series.
In case you are wondering, this is why Batman from the same time period also sucked...or excuse me was campy. If you tried to make an ACTUAL Batman TV story, you could expect to appear before a Congressional committee on violence, keep in mind this was the same President who was causing a LOT of actual violence and by all accounts was a caustic asshole himself.
This is also why The Green Hornet when from an intelligent show adults could watch to a live action cartoon with lots, and lots of camp.
Of course we shouldn't be surprised, in 1954 Congress investigated comic books. It was called The United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_Subcommittee_on_Juvenile_Delinquency#1954_comic_book_hearings
The public hearings took place on April 21, 22, and June 4, 1954, in New York. They focused on particularly graphic "crime and horror" comic books of the day, and their potential impact on juvenile delinquency. When publisher William Gaines contended that he sold only comic books of good taste, Kefauver (D) entered into evidence one of Gaines' comics (Crime SuspenStories #22 [April-May 1954]), which showed a dismembered woman's head on its cover. The exchange between Gaines and Kefauver led to a front-page story in The New York Times the following day.
Because of the unfavorable press coverage resulting from the hearings, the comic book industry adopted the Comics Code Authority, a self-regulatory ratings code that was initially adopted by nearly all comic publishers and continued to be used by some comics until 2011. In the immediate aftermath of the hearings, several publishers were forced to revamp their schedules and drastically censor or even cancel many popular long-standing comic series.
By contrast today, our government simply won't enforce crime at all in some major cities. People who push drugs are seen as "non violent" criminals and efforts are being made for early release in as many cases as possible. Pedophiles are being released from jail with the belief that a "registry" can actually protect the public.
Hard to believe there was a time when Senators investigated comic books and a Presidential advisory board saved the world from action television while another advisory board seemed to be devoted to just how badly they could screw up an actual war in Vietnam.
It's always been a bizarre world, we just didn't know who was doing it. In hindsight I'm amazed anyone bought into this bullshit and didn't stand up for it. Seems the only time anyone took a stand was when Joe McCarthy pointed out that we actually had communist infiltrators in our government, but he became the bad guy.
Thankfully I have the Wild Wild West box set on DVD so I can enjoy the show that was, and imagine the show as it could have been.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXCaFoXwrwo
But as much as I loved the show, at some point it stated getting silly...they call it campy now...and now I understand why.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wild_Wild_West#Violence.2C_cancellation_and_syndication
The first season's episodes were filmed in black and white, and they were darker in tone. Cinematographer Ted Voightlander was nominated for an Emmy Award for his work on these episodes. Some episodes were violent for their time, and that, rather than low ratings, ultimately was the series' downfall. In addition to gunplay, there were usually two fight sequences per episode. These were choreographed by Whitey Hughes and performed by Conrad and a stock company of stuntmen, including Red West, Dick Cangey, and Bob Herron (who doubled for Ross Martin).
Following the 1968 assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, President Lyndon Johnson created the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence. One of the questions it tackled was whether violence on television was a contributing factor to violence in American society. (This also included graphic news coverage of the Vietnam War.) The television networks, anticipating these allegations, moved to curtail violence on their entertainment programs before the start of the 1968-69 season. Television reporter Cynthia Lowrey, in an article published in August 1968, wrote that The Wild Wild West "is one of the action series being watched by network censors for scenes of excessive violence, even if the violence is all in fun."
In December 1968, executives from ABC, CBS and NBC appeared before the President's Commission. The most caustic of the commissioners, Rep. Hale Boggs (D-La.), decried what he called "the Saturday morning theme of children's cartoon shows" that permit "the good guy to do anything in the name of justice." He also indicted CBS for featuring sadism in its primetime programing (The Wild, Wild West was subsequently identified as one example). The Congressman did, however, commend CBS for a 25% decline in violence programming in prime time compared to the other two networks.
Three months later, in March 1969, Sen. John O. Pastore (D-R.I.) called the same network presidents before his Senate communications subcommittee for a public scolding on the same subject. At Pastore's insistence, the networks promised tighter industry self-censorship, and the Surgeon General began a $1 million study on the effects of television. Congress’s concern was shared by the public: in a nationwide poll, 67.5% of 1,554 Americans agreed with the theory that TV and movie violence prompted violence in real life.
After being excoriated by two committees, the networks scrambled to expunge violence from their programming. The Wild Wild West received its cancellation notice in mid-February, even before Pastore’s committee convened. CBS killed 'The Wild, Wild West' despite high ratings, because of criticism. It was seen by the network as a gesture of good intentions." The networks played it safe thereafter: of the 22 new television shows that debuted in the fall of 1969, not one was a western or detective drama; 14 were comedy or variety series.
In case you are wondering, this is why Batman from the same time period also sucked...or excuse me was campy. If you tried to make an ACTUAL Batman TV story, you could expect to appear before a Congressional committee on violence, keep in mind this was the same President who was causing a LOT of actual violence and by all accounts was a caustic asshole himself.
This is also why The Green Hornet when from an intelligent show adults could watch to a live action cartoon with lots, and lots of camp.
Of course we shouldn't be surprised, in 1954 Congress investigated comic books. It was called The United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_Subcommittee_on_Juvenile_Delinquency#1954_comic_book_hearings
The public hearings took place on April 21, 22, and June 4, 1954, in New York. They focused on particularly graphic "crime and horror" comic books of the day, and their potential impact on juvenile delinquency. When publisher William Gaines contended that he sold only comic books of good taste, Kefauver (D) entered into evidence one of Gaines' comics (Crime SuspenStories #22 [April-May 1954]), which showed a dismembered woman's head on its cover. The exchange between Gaines and Kefauver led to a front-page story in The New York Times the following day.
Because of the unfavorable press coverage resulting from the hearings, the comic book industry adopted the Comics Code Authority, a self-regulatory ratings code that was initially adopted by nearly all comic publishers and continued to be used by some comics until 2011. In the immediate aftermath of the hearings, several publishers were forced to revamp their schedules and drastically censor or even cancel many popular long-standing comic series.
By contrast today, our government simply won't enforce crime at all in some major cities. People who push drugs are seen as "non violent" criminals and efforts are being made for early release in as many cases as possible. Pedophiles are being released from jail with the belief that a "registry" can actually protect the public.
Hard to believe there was a time when Senators investigated comic books and a Presidential advisory board saved the world from action television while another advisory board seemed to be devoted to just how badly they could screw up an actual war in Vietnam.
It's always been a bizarre world, we just didn't know who was doing it. In hindsight I'm amazed anyone bought into this bullshit and didn't stand up for it. Seems the only time anyone took a stand was when Joe McCarthy pointed out that we actually had communist infiltrators in our government, but he became the bad guy.
Thankfully I have the Wild Wild West box set on DVD so I can enjoy the show that was, and imagine the show as it could have been.