Wild Kingdom

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Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, or simply Wild Kingdom, is an American television show that features wildlife and nature. It was originally produced from 1963 until 1988, and was revived in 2002. The show's second incarnation currently airs on Animal Planet in the U.S.

[edit] The original show

The original Wild Kingdom grew from discussions that started in 1962 between zoologist Marlin Perkins and V. J. Skutt, the chairman and CEO of insurance company Mutual of Omaha. The company had been the sponsor of an earlier animal-related show, Zoo Parade, that Perkins had hosted until 1957. Also intimately involved with the creation of Wild Kingdom was Zoo Parade producer Don Meier, who was credited as the series' creator.[1] Mutual of Omaha sponsored and lent its name to the new program.

Wild Kingdom was first broadcast by NBC. The half-hour show aired on Sundays starting January 6, 1963 [2] and continued until 1971, when the program entered syndication. As a prime-time syndicated program, Wild Kingdom enjoyed great popularity. Although most of the programs aired after 1971 were repeats, new shows continued to be produced until 1988. Perkins was the host for most of the show's history until he was forced to retire in 1985 for health reasons (he would die of cancer the following year). Jim Fowler, Perkins' long-time assistant and sidekick, then became the host.

There were two amusing features in the format of the original show. One was the "sneaky commercial" segues, tying the commercials to the subject of the show. These would have Perkins saying something like "Just like the mother lion protects her cubs, you can protect your children with an insurance policy from Mutual of Omaha..." The other was the flat off camera narration by Perkins describing the plight when Fowler was engaged in something dangerous such as wrestling an angry Boa Constrictor.

Wild Kingdom can be credited for increasing ecological and environmental awareness in the United States. Its exciting footage brought the wilds of Africa, the Amazon River and other exotic locales into the living rooms of millions of Americans. It created an interest in commercial nature programming that was a precursor to cable television networks such as the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet.

[edit] The revival

In 2002, a completely new Wild Kingdom, also sponsored by Mutual of Omaha, began airing new Wild Kingdom specials on Animal Planet, with actor Alec Baldwin as the narrator. The specials proved to be so popular that in 2005, the network began airing new weekly episodes during the original Sunday night timeslot.