WILDSIDE (1985) FORGOTTEN TELEVISION

WILDSIDE (1985) – After The Wild Wild West, The Barbary Coast and Bearcats but before The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. came this short-lived series about a secret crime-fighting group in the 1880s American West.   

The group undertakes special missions for the governor and is based in Wildside, CA where they operate under the name “the Wildside Chamber of Commerce.” That’s not just a code name for their elite unit, though. Each member is a former outlaw who went straight before it was too late and all run legitimate businesses in Wildside. When they go on missions their cover story is that they are going off on a hunting party for a few days.

THE CAST:

HOWARD ROLLINS portrayed Bannister Sparks, who had been a demolitions man as an outlaw and retained that expertise as a crime-fighting operative.

Sparks ran a mercantile emporium which, in the kind of cutesy anachronistic humor that Brisco County, Jr. would later thrive on, was like a proto-shopping center of the future.

Bannister was the brains and de facto leader of the team.

WILLIAM SMITH played Brodie Hollister, gunfighter extraordinaire. Hollister breeds and trains horses.

William Smith hadn’t been in a role like this since his days playing a Texas Ranger Special Agent on the old western series Laredo.

On that old series his teammates were Peter Brown, Neville Brand and Philip Carey.

J. EDDIE PECK was Sutton Hollister, Brodie’s son. Sutton had been educated in an Ivy League college back east, like Frank Merriwell and Brisco County. Now graduated, he headed out west to seek adventure with Brodie.

Sutton was handy with firearms like his dear ol’ dad but had also learned fencing during his student years.

He was intended to be the major heartthrob of Wildside.

JOHN D’AQUINO played Varges de la Cosa. Despite running a gun shop, he disdained the use of such weapons, preferring knives of which he had a very sizable collection.

He is capable of throwing those blades with uncanny accuracy at his targets from great distances.

Varges was superstitious and left money for his potential funeral with the town undertaker before leaving on each mission.

TERRY FUNK, the legendary real-life wrestler, was in the role of Prometheus Jones, Wildside’s veterinarian.

His main weapon was his incredible strength, but he was also a master with lassoes and whips.

Like a latter-day Hoss from Bonanza, Jones had a soft heart inside his bulky frame but was fierce in defending the innocent.

MEG RYAN co-starred as Cally Oaks, the enterprising publisher and editor of the town newspaper.

She and Sutton Hollister were clearly attracted to each other but the series was canceled long before their romance could fully develop. 

(For Meg Ryan fans, check out my fellow blogger Paul S. at Pfeiffer Pfilms and Meg Movies.)

ROBIN HOFF played Alice Freeze, mortician for the town of Wildside. Quirky and intrigued by all things death-related, there was always a certain sexual tension between her and Varges when he would leave money with her for his funeral if he didn’t come back alive from a mission.   

SANDY MCPEAK portrayed Governor J.W. Summerhayes. Long ago, he had been the leader of our heroes when they were bandits, but now as the governor he was the man giving the Wildside Chamber of Commerce their crime-fighting assignments.

THE EPISODES:

WELL KNOWN SECRET (March 21st, 1985) – An outlaw gang made up of former soldiers and officers in the Confederate Army are running amok in California looking for a fortune in gold buried two decades earlier. The Wildside Chamber of Commerce is sent into action against them. 

DELINQUENCY OF A MINER (March 28th, 1985) – Our heroes take on a vile organization which advertises for mine workers but then uses them as slave labor for their own profits. The abduction of a Wildside teen (Jason Hervey) clues in the team to the operation. 

THE CRIMEA OF THE CENTURY (April 4th, 1985) – A troop of British Cavalrymen are up to something in California. They are abrasive and pushy but Governor Summerhayes orders our heroes to refrain from attacking them in order to avoid an international incident. When newspaper woman Cally Oaks investigates, she learns the cavalrymen are on a covert mission to find oil for England, giving the Chamber of Commerce the freedom to act. 

DON’T KEEP THE HOME FIRES BURNING (April 11th, 1985) – A gang that has been hiding in Canada for years reenters the U.S. and threatens to burn down entire towns if they are not paid a sufficient “protection” amount. Bannister gets the spotlight in a subplot about his lady dying of natural causes the night before he can propose to her. Sid Haig and Martin Kove guest-star. 

BUFFALO WHO? (April 18th, 1985) – An ambassador (Alejandro Rey) from Spain arrives to negotiate with American officials over a delicate situation. At the same time, a traveling Wild West Show impersonating Buffalo Bill Cody, Annie Oakley and several other of his performers shows up, secretly planning to assassinate the ambassador.

UNTIL THE FAT LADY SINGS (April 25th, 1985) – An old gunfighting enemy of Brodie Hollister enmeshes our heroes in an elaborate plan for revenge. He has recruited a new gang and has devised a Steam Punk weapon with which to kill Brodie.

Wildside, a Touchstone Television production, might have had a much longer run but it was thrown up against Cosby and was quickly canceled over poor ratings.