After several successful years, he was courted by former KCRA manager Tom Breen, then at KTVU in Oakland, California, to bring his show to the San Francisco Bay Area.

On Saturday, January 9, 1971, after weeks of attention-grabbing teasers, Creature Features debuted on KTVU Channel 2 at 9:00 p.m. with The Horror of Party Beach, and immediately became a tremendous ratings winner.

During the height of his popularity, Wilkins, a soft-spoken, but sharp-witted character from Indiana, was able to produce and host a number of prime time specials, including The Star Trek Dream and The Bob Wilkins Super Horror Show, as well as hosting occasional horror films on KTVU's weeknight 8 O'Clock Movie show, in addition to making dozens of public appearances every year.

Even with this seemingly heavy workload, including commuting every week to Sacramento from Oakland to tape his sister show on KTXL-40, he was first and foremost a devoted husband and father, coaching baseball at his son and daughter's school, and rarely staying up past 10 p.m.

Although no longer a fixture on television, Wilkins periodically made appearances at comic book and fantasy conventions, film screenings and tributes, until two years before his death.

[10] Wilkins' fans include actor Tom Hanks and Bay Area filmmaker George Lucas, who watched the Sacramento programs as a youth in Modesto.

[11] In 2008, a feature-length documentary on Creature Features, Watch Horror Films, Keep America Strong!, debuted in several theaters in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The 75-minute film features interviews with hosts Bob Wilkins and John Stanley, as well as other key figures close to the show, both behind-the-scenes and in front of the cameras.