History Series / MutualOfOmahasWildKingdom

* OhCrap: Multiple times as Perkins and/or his assistants fled from angry animals. One particularly memorable example came in an episode documenting the migration of African elephants, wherein a tranquilized elephant suddenly awoke, (possibly) realized what was happening and ran after the zoologists, forcing them into their Land Cruiser and to — likely [[BringMyBrownPants with soiled clothes]] — flee as fast as possible, the angry elephant in full-speed pursuit (and very nearly catching them).

* OhCrap: Multiple times as Perkins and/or his assistants fled from angry animals. One memorable example came in an episode documenting the migration of African elephants, wherein a tranquilized elephant suddenly awoke, (possibly) realized what was happening and ran after the zoologists, forcing them into their Land Cruiser and to — likely [[BringMyBrownPants with soiled clothes]] — flee as fast as possible, the angry elephant in full-speed pursuit (and very nearly catching them).

This legendary nature documentary series is indelibly linked with the various Sunday night [[Series/WaltDisneyPresents Walt Disney programs]] on Creator/{{NBC}} (which it usually preceded) in the minds of those who grew up during the 1960s and '70s. ''Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom'' aired for 25 years (on NBC from 1963–71, then in FirstRunSyndication from 1971–88). Its hosts were Marlin Perkins, who served as director of the UsefulNotes/StLouis Zoo for a substantial part of the show's run, and the buff Jim Fowler. In the early years of the show both Perkins and Fowler would go out into the field and shoot the episodes; as Perkins got older (and more white-haired), he remained in the studio while Fowler did the bulk of the field work.

This legendary nature documentary series is indelibly linked with the various Sunday night [[Series/WaltDisneyPresents Walt Disney programs]] on Creator/{{NBC}} (which it usually preceded) in the minds of those who grew up during the 1960s and '70s. ''Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom'' aired for 25 years, from 1963–71 on NBC and 1971–88 in FirstRunSyndication. Its hosts were Marlin Perkins (who served as director of the UsefulNotes/StLouis Zoo for a substantial part of the show's run) and the buff Jim Fowler. In the early years of the show both Perkins and Fowler would go out into the field to shoot the episodes; as Perkins got older (and more white-haired), he remained in the studio while Fowler did the bulk of the field work.

This legendary nature documentary series is indelibly linked with the various Sunday night [[Series/WaltDisneyPresents Walt Disney programs]] on Creator/{{NBC}} in the minds of those who grew up during the 1960s and '70s. ''Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom'' aired for 25 years, between 1963 and 1988. Its hosts were Marlin Perkins (who served as director of the UsefulNotes/StLouis Zoo for a substantial portion of the show's run) and the buff Jim Fowler. In the early years of the series, both Perkins and Fowler would go out into the field to tape episodes. As Perkins got older (and more white-haired), he remained in the studio while Fowler did the field work.

This legendary nature documentary series is indelibly linked with the various Sunday night [[Series/WaltDisneyPresents Walt Disney programs]] on Creator/{{NBC}} in the minds of those who grew up during the 1960s and '70s. ''Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom'' ran for 25 years, between 1963 and 1988. Its hosts were Marlin Perkins (who served as director of the UsefulNotes/StLouis Zoo for a substantial portion of the show's run) and the buff Jim Fowler. In the early years of the series, both Perkins and Fowler would go out into the field to tape episodes. As Perkins got older (and more white-haired), he remained in the studio while Fowler did the field work.

Along with ''Series/HallmarkHallOfFame'', this was one of the last big post-'50s shows to be sponsored by a single corporation.

[[quoteright:240:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Wild_Kingdom_8632.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:240:Jim Fowler, Marlin Perkins and friend.]]

This legendary nature documentary series is indelibly linked with the various Sunday night Creator/WaltDisney programs on Creator/{{NBC}} in the minds of those who grew up during the 1960s and 1970s. ''Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom'' ran for 25 years, between 1963 and 1988. Its hosts were Marlin Perkins (who served during a substantial period of the series run as director of the UsefulNotes/StLouis Zoo) and buff Jim Fowler. In the early years of the series, Perkins and Fowler went out into the field to tape episodes.

As Perkins got older and more white-haired, he'd remain in the studio while Fowler did the field work. The series was a favorite of comedians and satirists because of its tendency for Perkins to stand off to the side and describe the action (true even when Perkins would go out in the field, but more pronounced as he got older and more studio-bound), while Fowler did the dirty work of actually interacting with the wild beasts featured by the show (and in the process risking life and limb).

It was one of the last big shows to be sponsored by ''one'' corporation, in the style of "TheColgateComedyHour" or "TexacoStarTheatre" (both of which went off the air in the 1950s).

''Wild Kingdom'' was revived in 2002 on cable's Creator/AnimalPlanet network, hosted by Creator/AlecBaldwin.

''Wild Kingdom'' was recently in 2002 on cable's Creator/AnimalPlanet network, hosted by Creator/AlecBaldwin.

''Wild Kingdom'' was recently revived on cable's Creator/AnimalPlanet network, hosted by Alec Baldwin.

''Wild Kingdom'' was recently revived on cable's AnimalPlanet network, hosted by Alec Baldwin.

This legendary nature documentary series is indelibly linked with the various Sunday night WaltDisney programs on Creator/{{NBC}} in the minds of those who grew up during the 1960s and 1970s. ''Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom'' ran for 25 years, between 1963 and 1988. Its hosts were Marlin Perkins (who served during a substantial period of the series run as director of the UsefulNotes/StLouis Zoo) and buff Jim Fowler. In the early years of the series, Perkins and Fowler went out into the field to tape episodes.

* EnforcedPlug: Perkins never fails weave in plugs for the Mutual of Omaha insurance company.

This legendary nature documentary series is indelibly linked with the various Sunday night WaltDisney programs on Creator/{{NBC}} in the minds of those who grew up during the 1960s and 1970s. ''Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom'' ran for 25 years, between 1963 and 1988. Its hosts were Marlin Perkins (who served during a substantial period of the series run as director of the St. Louis Zoo) and buff Jim Fowler. In the early years of the series, Perkins and Fowler went out into the field to tape episodes.