Wild America

After having reviewed "Grizzly Man" I recalled this series from the early 80's which used to be on weekly.

This was a good show because, for those too young to remember "Wild Kingdom", this was a newer edition with Stouffer and his family exploring many beautiful unspoiled wildlife habitats, in the north, south, east and west. The U.S. and Canada.

This type of show is excellent for children. They learn to respect and develop an interest for nature, so much better than visiting the local zoo in some cases. Stouffer is professional, and some of the photography is truly amazing.

There is a dearth of decent educational programs on TV today. Watch this with your kids, you will not regret it. 9/10.

I loved watching this series since it was shown on PBS during the 1980's. Marty Stouffer was an entertaining and knowledgeable host and narrator, whose love for nature and wildlife was a real asset to this wonderful documentary. The photography and inside look on animal behavior really made the series great. The only drawback was that the episodes were only a half hour, although they were made for PBS' noncommercial format, which permitted them to run the full time. Marlin Perkins' Wild Kingdom, another series similar to this one in format and content, was confined to 25 minutes per episode. However, I think an hour length is much better for a nature/wildlife series because the subject can be explored in depth.

All of the seasons of Wild America are currently available on DVD. Each episode is complete so you can watch them instead of the edited syndicated versions shown on TV. You will love this series if you have a great affection for nature and wildlife.

Approximately 10 years ago, I think it would have been in 1997 or 1998 that there was a lot of publicity regarding the documentary filmmaker, Marty Stouffer. Does anybody else remember this? I loved watching all of the "Wild America" shows and especially loved the seemingly nice and genial host, Marty Stouffer. It was reported that Marty Stouffer was illegally filming documentaries and during the making of Wild America, he staged scenes and deaths to wild animals just so he could get something on film. He had to appear in court and pay $300,000 for sneaking into a conservation spot to film elk that he should not have been filming. I remember hearing about Marty Stouffer turning a couple of big cats (tamed) loose on a deer and caused the deer to run off a cliff in his attempt to film a predator taking down prey. This backfired on him because it ruined his reputation and destroyed his career. PBS chose not to work with Marty Stouffer again and did not renew "Wild America". I would never again watch anything that's hosted by Marty Stouffer; I have more respect for the wild kingdom than he does and hope you do too. Thank you.