This short-lived series is probably best known for bringing together stars Howard Rollins Jr. and Meg Ryan. A pity, because despite its brief, six-episode run, it's actually a pretty entertaining action-adventure/Western/parody. In tone it's not dissimilar to the subsequent Adventures of Brisco County Jr., Outlaws, and The Magnificent Seven - the idea of a team of cowboy weapon/specialists isn't unique, but Wildside does it pretty well. There's also a nice fleshing out of the characters, and a fair amount of background - there's _lots_ of supporting characters in this series. Catch it if you can.
In fairness, the show hasn't aged particularly well. it's certainly the neatest Wild West town existent, and the outdoor filming is a bit smudgy: they occasionally forget to clean the camera lens. Terry Funk tends to mumble, and Meg Ryan's character comes across a a bit of ditz and there's very little chemistry between her and J. Eddie Peck. Still, everyone seems to having fun, which counts for something, and you've got the star power of William Smith, Howard Rollins, and John D'Aquino (late of "Cory in the House") chugging away, and clearly it both borrowed from previous shows (the first episode has a hidden cache of Confederate gold, just like a "Wild Wild West" episode), while inspiring future ones: Parks Ritchey is basically Pete Horton years later in "Adventures of Brisco County Jr."
So hopefully they'll release a cleaned up copy of it some day for DVD. If they do, catch it.
In fairness, the show hasn't aged particularly well. it's certainly the neatest Wild West town existent, and the outdoor filming is a bit smudgy: they occasionally forget to clean the camera lens. Terry Funk tends to mumble, and Meg Ryan's character comes across a a bit of ditz and there's very little chemistry between her and J. Eddie Peck. Still, everyone seems to having fun, which counts for something, and you've got the star power of William Smith, Howard Rollins, and John D'Aquino (late of "Cory in the House") chugging away, and clearly it both borrowed from previous shows (the first episode has a hidden cache of Confederate gold, just like a "Wild Wild West" episode), while inspiring future ones: Parks Ritchey is basically Pete Horton years later in "Adventures of Brisco County Jr."
So hopefully they'll release a cleaned up copy of it some day for DVD. If they do, catch it.