You have questions. I have some answers.
Q: What happened to the original stars of “The Wild Wild West”?
A: Fans well remember the 1965-69 adventure series starring Robert Conrad as James T. West, “the James Bond of Westerns” according to one book, and Ross Martin as his master-of-disguise partner Artemus Gordon. This was Conrad’s second series, following "Hawaiian Eye" in 1959-63. He would go on to star in different TV series in the ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s. He was famous as well for his Eveready battery commercials and for TV movies including “Will,” where he played G. Gordon Liddy, and the miniseries “Centennial.” He and Martin also reunited for two “Wild Wild West” TV movies.
But not all was good in his life. As The New York Times reported, in 2003 he “was charged with driving drunk after his car crashed into another vehicle, seriously injuring the other driver and himself. Mr. Conrad, who was left with some right arm and hand paralysis, was fined and sentenced to six months of house arrest.” He died of heart failure in 2020; he was 84.
Born in Poland and educated as a lawyer, Ross Martin’s skilled TV work before and after “West” was mainly in guest-starring roles; he also did some stage and movie work. He had health problems along the way, at one point taking a break from “West” following a heart attack (Charles Aidman filled in as another character). He died at the age of 61 in 1981 after another heart attack.
Q: I watched “A Million Little Things” when it first came out but never figured out what happened with the guy who committed suicide. Why did he do it?
A: The ABC drama, now in its fifth and final season, somewhat explained Jon Dixon’s suicide in its first-season finale. According to The Hollywood Reporter, while you can’t usually say there is only one reason for a suicide, Jon had had a long-secret trauma: “On Sept. 11, 2001, Jon was booked on Flight 11 out of Boston, one of the planes that was hijacked during the 9/11 terrorist attacks. While he missed the flight by seconds, his then-best friend Dave did not, leaving Jon with a case of survivor’s guilt from which he never fully recovered.”
Q: Will we ever see another season of “Taboo” with Tom Hardy?
A: It has been about six years since a second season of the drama was ordered, but there’s still no air date, and it may be still longer before there is one. According to British publication Broadcast, showrunner Steven Knight said in 2022 that he hoped to start production on Season 2 “towards the end of (2023).” That would probably put it on the air in 2024. Although COVID-19 played a role in the delay, a bigger challenge is fitting the show into Hardy’s heavy schedule as a movie actor.
Q: Do you know the status of “Criminal Minds”?
A: Following a broadcast run from 2005 to 2020, “Criminal Minds” was revived as a streaming series with much of the original cast under the name “Criminal Minds: Evolution.” That series had a 10-episode run on Paramount+ and has been picked up for a second season on the streamer. The new season will begin production sometime this year.
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