Yes indeed, I just saw a commercial stating that the original series of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom hosted by Marlin Perkins and Jim Fowler will be rerun on RFD-TV starting April 4 at 8:00 PM ET/7:00 PM Central and they are airing 2 episodes a week one right after another. Monday 03/15/21 8:00P ET RURAL AMERICA LIVE Patrick Gottsch Season #2021, Ep. 17 * NEW * (2021) RFD-TV President and Founder, Patrick Gottsch, will be making important new programming announcements, including the return of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom; live call-in Q&A. Sunday 04/04/21 8:00P ET Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom Designs for Survival Season #1, Ep. 1 The survival value of a wide range of protective devices used by wild creatures investigated and demonstrated. Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom Sunday 04/04/21 8:30P ET Capturing Wild Animals Season #1, Ep. 2 Marlin and Jim Fowler investigate trapping and capturing techniques both primitive and modern. To preview the series for those younger people who may not have heard of this classic series: Original Episodes - YouTube
“Just as the mother grizzly bear protects her young, you, too, can with a policy from Mutual of Omaha!”
Yes indeed, you cannot mention this show without quoting one of the Mutual of Omaha live commercials.
I mostly remember Marlin staying in the cabana while instructing Jim to go wrestle with the cougar situations
For those who have smart TVs and wish to get it as an app, add the WatchRFDTVNow app to the TV and go to www.watchrfdtv.com and order it or add the Heartland package to Sling.
Mutual of Omaha replied to my comment on Facebook stating that they are also proud to have struck a deal with RFD-TV on the reruns.
I don't have any dish or cable tv, so no RFD-TV. I watched the show religiously as a kid. I remember their jingle, too: "Mutual of Omaha is people....you can count on when the going's tough"
"Observing a cobra at close range can place us in imminent danger if proper precautions aren't taken. You may not realize it, but this can be quite similar to the dangers one faces in daily life such driving a car to work, swimming at your local beach, or even performing work around the home. That is why having adequate life insurance is so important, and our friends at Mutual of Omaha can provide you and your family with superior coverage at affordable rates."
Loved that show when I was a kid. Poor Jim having to do all of the dirty work while Marlin stayed safe far away. Maybe Jim was the only one with insurance.
Loved this show when I was a kid - along with The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau - and always tuned in. Sure the occasional product shout outs were awkward ("Like a mother with her cubs, Mutual of Omaha is there to protect you...") but in the days before Animal Planet, Marlin Perkins was the go-to-guy for showing me the wonders of the natural world. Plus I always got a kick at how animal expert Marlin would never leave his paneled study, instead sending Jim to make nice with a charging rhino or toothy lion.
This was the first show we watched on our brand new colour TV way back in 1970 or so. I don't think I had even seen a colour TV so the African scenery blew my little mind. It made such an impact that I can clearly remember it all these decades later.
BTW, Marlin's 1982 autobiography called "My Wild Kingdom" does have lots of behind the scenes stories regarding the filming of the series, stories about his childhood, etc. I have a PDF eBook of it for previewing that I got from openlibrary.org and one can get used copies off of Amazon and eBay.
Patrick Gottsch did tell me that Rural America Live will be next Monday instead of tonight, same time.
Probably a fuzzy recall, but my memory is watching Mutual of Omaha’s WK and Lloyd Bridge’s Sea Hunt just ahead of The Jackie Gleason Show on Saturday nights.
I did write to Patrick Gottsch and requested that if ratings, viewer response, etc. to Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom go well that he'd work with the Cousteau Society on acquiring the rerun rights to the Jacques Cousteau films and he thought that was a good idea.
I gotta see this. I loved Wild Kingdom as a kid. Every Sunday night before Wonderful World of Disney. Funny story: Marlin Perkins was also Director of the St Louis Zoo. My aunt brought me there as a little kid. I was running ahead of her to visit the restroom when I collided with an older gentlemen who happened to be- you guessed it- Marlin Perkins himself. I apologized and my aunt reinforced that, but he just chuckled and proceeded to chat with us for a couple of minutes. A very nice man. "Great shot Jim!"
