Wishbone is an American live-action children's television series that aired from 1995 to 1997 and originally broadcast on PBS. It is about a Jack Russell Terrier dog named Wishbone who daydreams about being the lead character of stories from classic literature.
Premise
A standard episode of Wishbone consists of an opening scene, introducing a contemporary plot in Wishbone's hometown of Oakdale. Something about the situation reminds Wishbone of a famous work of literature, which he introduces to the viewer. The episode then cuts between an adaptation of that work, usually with Wishbone portraying the main character, and the contemporary plot. Occasionally, Wishbone plays a secondary character if the lead role is difficult to relate to (he plays Sancho Panza in Don Quixote) or is female (in Joan of Arc, he plays Louis de Conte). The development of the contemporary plot parallels that of the literary work, particularly in their dénouements.
The last two minutes of nearly every episode are a behind-the-scenes featurette titled "Tail Ends", narrated by Wishbone and focusing on a production department whose work was particularly prominent in the episode, such as lighting for "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" or makeup for Frankenstein.
Jensen Ackles as Michael Dunn, Ellen's protégé ("¡Viva Wishbone!")
Melissa Archer as Sarah Johnson, a classmate on whom David has a crush ("A Bone of Contention")
Shelley Duvall as Renee Lassiter, a sculptor ("Groomed for Greatness")
Irma P. Hall as Dr. Thelma Brown, a former Oakdale resident ("Digging Up the Past")
Jerry Haynes as Hubert Lassiter, a kind man who rescues a lost Wishbone ("Golden Retrieved")
Daryl Johnston as himself, a former football player ("Moonbone")
Cody Linley as Andrew, one of Ichabod Crane's students in Wishbone's telling of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" ("Halloween Hound, Part 1")
Marco Perella as Seymour LaVista, a TV commercial producer ("Rushin' to the Bone")
Production
Development
Wishbone was conceived by Rick Duffield after brainstorming with his staff about "making a show for kids that was told from a dog's point of view".[2] Following several iterations of this idea, including one in which the dog loved music and another in which he brought good luck (hence the name Wishbone), Duffield hit on the idea of Wishbone imagining himself as heroic figures from literature.[3] His eventual goal was "an entertaining way for kids to get their first taste of great books".[4]
Casting
In the summer of 1993, Duffield spent three days casting for the dog star at a motel courtyard in Valencia, California, looking at between 100 and 150 dogs.[4] After filming a seven-minute pilot which captured Wishbone's character and suggested the show's format, he presented it to PBS.
Larry Brantley, the voice of Wishbone, was cast following "a five-minute impromptu audition" in which he imagined Wishbone's thoughts as Soccer "was obsessing, like, over this tennis ball".[5]
For the literary scenes, the producers created a repertory company of local stage actors, dubbed The Wishbone Players.[3]
Filming
Wishbone's exterior shots were filmed on the backlot of Lyrick Studios' teen division Big Feats! Entertainment[1] in Allen, Texas, and its interior shots were filmed on a sound stage in a 50,000-square-foot (4,600 m2) warehouse in Plano, Texas. Additional scenes were filmed in Grapevine, Texas.[citation needed]
"Keeping up with the variety in the series is the biggest challenge. Because Wishbone is the central figure of each show and plays an integral role in the contemporary story and the literary story, he's in almost every scene. So he has a lot to do and designing scenes that can work with a dog, with period actors and period sets, as well as kids in a contemporary world is a big challenge."[4]
Despite acclaim from critics and educators, only 50 episodes were produced. The first 40 episodes were shown as a single-season run in 1995, while the remaining ten episodes became the second season in 1997–1998. Duffield told author Michael Brody that PBS halted production because the show did not have "merchandising potential".[6]
Release
The series aired on PBS and premiered in the United States on October 8, 1995. The final episode aired on December 7, 1997. After the series ended, reruns continued to air until August 31, 2001. The series returned in reruns on PBS Kids Go! on June 2, 2007. Wishbone clips came to the PBS Kids Go! website. The return to PBS lasted a short time, although some PBS stations continued to air Wishbone until October 7, 2013.[7]
Several episodes were released on VHS between 1995 and 1998.
In 2004, HIT Entertainment released four episodes on individual DVDs: "Hot Diggety Dawg", "The Impawssible Dream", "The Hunchdog of Notre Dame", and "Paw Prints of Thieves". These were then compiled into a single DVD released in 2011.
Reception
This show garnered particular praise for refusing to bowdlerize many of the sadder or more unpleasant aspects of the source works, which usually enjoyed a fairly faithful retelling in the fantasy sequences. [citation needed]
The TV series inspired several book series including Wishbone Classics, Wishbone Mysteries, and The Adventures of Wishbone. Altogether, more than fifty books have featured Wishbone, which continued to be published even after the TV series ended production.
Video games
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There were also multiple video games based on the series in 1996 and 1997, such as Wishbone Activity Center, Wishbone Print Tricks, Wishbone and the Amazing Odyssey, and Wishbone Activity Zone.
Film adaptation
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (August 2023)
On July 15, 2020, it was announced that Universal Pictures and Mattel's film division are developing a film adaptation of the series. Peter Farrelly will produce the film while Roy Parker will write the screenplay and Robbie Brenner will executive produce. It will be the first theatrical collaboration between Universal and Mattel and the ninth Mattel Films project in development.[10][11]
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