Artemus Gordon

The Wild Wild West
The Wild Wild West titlecard
Genre	Western Action Adventure Science Fiction
Created by	Michael Garrison
Starring	Robert Conrad Ross Martin
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	104 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	50 min.
Production company(s)	Michael Garrison Productions CBS Productions
Distributor	CBS Enterprises (1970–1971) Viacom Enterprises (1971–1995) Paramount Domestic Television (1995–2006) CBS Paramount Domestic Television (2006–2007) CBS Television Distribution (2007–present)
Release
Original network	CBS
Audio format	Mono
Original release	September 17, 1965 – April 4, 1969
Chronology
Related shows	Wild Wild West (film)

The Wild Wild West is an American television series that ran on the CBS television network for four seasons (104 episodes) from September 17, 1965 to April 4, 1969. Two television movies were made with the original cast in 1979 and 1980, and the series was adapted for a motion picture 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 Grant (1869–77), the series followed Secret Service agents James West (Robert Conrad) and Artemus Gordon (Ross Martin) as they solved crimes, protected the President, and foiled the plans of megalomaniacal villains to take over all or part of the United States.

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 Verne-esque technology has inspired some to give the show credit as being one of the more "visible" origins of the steampunk subculture. These elements were accentuated even more in the 1999 movie adaptation.

Despite high ratings, the series was cancelled near the end of its fourth season as a concession to Congress over television violence.

The Wild Wild West told the story of two Secret Service agents: the fearless and handsome James T. West (played by Robert Conrad), and Artemus Gordon (played by Ross Martin), a brilliant gadgeteer and master of disguise. Their unending mission was to protect President Ulysses S. Grant and the United States from all manner of dangerous threats. The agents traveled in luxury aboard their own train, the Wanderer, equipped with everything from a stable car to a laboratory. James West had served as an intelligence and cavalry officer in the US Civil War on the staff of Ulysses Grant; his "cover," at least in the pilot episode, is that of "a dandy, a high-roller from the East." Thereafter, however, there is no pretense, and his reputation as the foremost Secret Service agent often precedes him. According to the TV movies, West retires from the Service by 1880 and lives on a ranch in Mexico. Gordon, who was a captain in the Civil War, had also been in show business. When he retires in 1880 he returns to performing as the head of a Shakespeare traveling players troupe.