''Wild Kingdom'', also known as ''Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom'', is an American documentary television program that features wildlife and nature. It was originally produced from 1963 until 1988, and was revived in 2002. The show's second incarnation aired until 2011 on

Animal Planet Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel focusing on the animal kingdom owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1 ...

in the United States. A third incarnation streamed webisodes on a dedicated

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel from 2013 to 2018. Starting April 4, 2021, the program will be shown in its traditional Sunday timeslot on the cable channel

RFD-TV RFD-TV is an American pay television channel owned by Rural Media Group, Inc. The channel features programming devoted to rural issues, concerns and interests. The channel's name is a reference to Rural Free Delivery, the name for the United St ...

. A fourth incarnation, ''Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom Protecting the Wild'', hosted by Peter Gros & Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant, premiered on NBC as part of the network's Saturday morning '' The More You Know'' educational and informational programming block in October 2023.

Overview of original program

The original ''Wild Kingdom'' grew from discussions that started in 1962 between

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

Marlin Perkins and V. J. Skutt, the chairman and CEO of insurance company

Mutual of Omaha Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company is an American Fortune 500 mutual insurance and financial services company based in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded in 1909 as Mutual Benefit Health & Accident Association, Mutual of Omaha is a financial organization o ...

. The company had been the sponsor of an earlier animal-related show, '' Zoo Parade'', that Perkins had hosted from 1952 until 1957. Also intimately involved with the creation of ''Wild Kingdom'' was ''Zoo Parade'' producer Don Meier, who was credited as the program's creator. Mutual of Omaha sponsored and lent its name to the new program. ''Wild Kingdom'' won Emmy Awards for "outstanding program achievement" in 1966, 1967, 1968, and 1969. Liz and Henk Maartens, from Irene, Pretoria, South Africa, won five Emmy Awards for the documentary program ''Wild Kingdom'' in 1970. One Emmy Award was for camerawork, while the other Emmy Awards were for aspects of production. ''Wild Kingdom'' was first broadcast by

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

. The half-hour show aired on Sundays starting January 6, 1963, and continued until 1971, when the program entered

first-run syndication Broadcast syndication is the practice of content owners leasing the right to broadcast their content to other television stations or radio stations, without having an official broadcast network to air it on. It is common in the United States whe ...

. 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 1987. After syndication in 1971, the show received 41 major achievements. Some awards include the four Emmys from the National Academy of Arts and Sciences and the First Annual Communications Award from the National Wildlife Association. S Several episodes were filmed by cameraman Roy Pinney. Perkins was the host for most of the show's history until he was forced to retire in 1985 for health reasons, and Jim Fowler, Perkins' long-time assistant and

sidekick A sidekick is a close companion or colleague who is, or is generally regarded as, subordinate to those whom they accompany. Origins The first recorded use of the term dates from 1896. It is believed to have originated in pickpocket slang of ...

, became the host. The format of the show often featured Perkins narrating off-camera, describing Fowler's on-camera work with the wild animals. This was commonly parodied as Perkins saying "I'll wait here omeplace safewhile Jim does something or other with the dangerous animal.". However, according to a 1997 interview with Fowler, Perkins never said any such thing: according to Fowler, "

Johnny Carson John William Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005) was an American television host, comedian, and writer best known as the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' (1962–1992). Carson is a cultural phenomenon and w ...

started the jokes about me and Marlin in his monologues". Perkins often featured pet

chimpanzee The chimpanzee (; ''Pan troglodytes''), also simply known as the chimp, is a species of Hominidae, great ape native to the forests and savannahs of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed one. When its close rel ...

s in the studio: one named "W. K." (Wild Kingdom); the other named "Mr. Moke", after the

Mini Moke The Mini Moke is a small, front-wheel-drive utility and recreational convertible, conceived and manufactured as a lightweight military vehicle by British Motor Corporation (BMC), and subsequently marketed for civilian use under the Austin Moto ...

vehicle. ''Wild Kingdom'' increased 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 led to several other wildlife documentary programs going on the air, including '' Animal World'', '' Wild, Wild World of Animals'' and '' Lorne Greene's New Wilderness'', and in subsequent decades, to entire

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

networks devoted to these topics, such as the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It init ...

and

. Mutual of Omaha owns the rights to the program, but several episodes have been released on DVD from BCI Eclipse under license from Mutual of Omaha. Some episodes are also available on the Wild Kingdom official YouTube channel.

Reruns

As of April 4, 2021, Mutual of Omaha started syndicating the original series to

, airing them in the original Sunday night timeslot through 2022. The classic episodes are introduced by Peter Gros, named host of the fourth revival in 2023. Today, viewers can watch these classic episodes on wildkingdom.com and the Wild Kingdom YouTube channel

Revivals

Second incarnation: 2002 revival

In 2002, a completely new ''Wild Kingdom'', also sponsored by Mutual of Omaha, began airing new ''Wild Kingdom'' specials on

. The specials proved to be so popular that, in 2005, the network began airing new weekly episodes during the original Sunday night timeslot.

Third incarnation: 2013 web series

On November 3, 2013, ''Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom'' premiered as a series of webisodes that featured new host Stephanie Arne, a new format, and new stories. # "Reef Madness", featuring

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in group ...

s of the Florida Keys. # "Where the Buffalo Roam", featuring

American bison The American bison (''Bison bison''; : ''bison''), commonly known as the American buffalo, or simply buffalo (not to be confused with Bubalina, true buffalo), is a species of bison that is endemic species, endemic (or native) to North America. ...

across the South Dakota plains. # "Tegu Invasion", featuring

tegu Tegu is a common name of a number of species of lizards that belong to the families Teiidae and Gymnophthalmidae. Tegus are native to Central and South America. They occupy a variety of habitats and are known for their large size and predato ...

in the Florida Everglades. # "California Condor: Extreme Survival", featuring the

California condor The California condor (''Gymnogyps californianus'') is a New World vulture and the largest North American land bird. It became extinct in the wild in 1987 when all remaining wild individuals were captured, but has since been reintroduced to n ...

's conservation success story. A second season of new webisodes began in July 2014, and the third season began in March 2015. The fifth and last season was released in 2018.

Fourth incarnation: 2023 revival

On October 20, 2022, it was announced on the program's website and YouTube channel that a fourth incarnation—the third regular series revival—went into production with the title ''Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom Protecting the Wild''. This incarnation features new co-hosts: wildlife expert Peter Gros, who was part of the original ''Wild Kingdom'' series, and Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant, wildlife ecologist and science communicator. The new series premiered in October 2023 on

and is produced by

Hearst Media Production Group The Hearst Media Production Group, formerly Litton Syndications and Litton Entertainment, is an American media production and syndication based in New York City, New York and a subsidiary of the Hearst Television division of Hearst Communicati ...

as part of the network's Saturday morning '' The More You Know'' educational and informational programming block.

References

External links

Official website
(site sponsored by Mutual of Omaha)
Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom Protecting the Wild NBC Page

Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom Protecting the Wild new episode

* * {{YouTube, user=WildKingdomTV
“Zoo Man,”
1994-12-04, The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia,

American Archive of Public Broadcasting The American Archive of Public Broadcasting (AAPB) is a collaboration between the Library of Congress and WGBH Educational Foundation, founded through the efforts of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). The AAPB is a national effort to di ...

1960s American anthology television series 1963 American television series debuts 1970s American anthology television series 1960s American documentary television series 1970s American documentary television series 1980s American documentary television series 1988 American television series endings 2000s American documentary television series 2002 American television series debuts 2011 American television series endings 2010s American documentary television series American television series revived after cancellation Animal Planet original programming American English-language television shows First-run syndicated television programs in the United States Nature educational television series NBC original programming Television series about animals