Wild Chicago

Wild Chicago was a television series that aired on Chicago's WTTW from 1989 to 2003. The show took viewers on a trip through Chicago's "urban jungle", highlighting hundreds of offbeat and unusual people, places, and events in the metropolitan area. Subjects included the Chicago Herpetological Society; singing taxicab drivers; flotation tanks; an Ancient Astronaut society; the Inkin' Lincoln Tattoo and Piercing Jamboree; an interstate pierogi festival; a squirrel lovers' club; the Playboy Advisor; a cookie jar museum; and the Polka Music Hall of Fame. Wild Chicago was created by Ben Hollis and John Davies. The series won numerous local Emmy Awards over the course of its run, as did several of the show's hosts. Emmy Award winners for their individual work include Hollis, the show's original host, and his replacements upon taking an extended hiatus in 1992, Laura Meagher and Will Clinger. When, after two years, Meagher left the show to work for Fox Television, then to launch and be featured on Barry Diller's independent channel, WAMI in Miami, Wild Chicago changed to a multiple correspondent/contributor format, a trend in such television magazine shows of the mid-1990s. Contributors included local actors Mindy Bell, Cassy Harlo, Tava Smiley, Sarah Vetter, Denise La Grassa, Choky Lim, Aaron Shure, and Dick O'Day. The new slate of correspondents continued to win individual Emmys as did the show itself.