Wishbone (TV series)

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Wishbone
Genre	Children's television series
Running time	30 Minutes
Creator(s)	Betty A. Buckley (producer)
Starring	Soccer & Larry Brantley (voice) as Wishbone
Country of origin	United States
Original channel	PBS
Original run	1995–1998
No. of episodes	48

Wishbone was a television show which aired from 1995 to 1998 in the United States featuring a Jack Russell Terrier of the same name. Re-runs will return to PBS Kids GO!, the digital PBS station for elementary-age children on December 11, 2006. The dog lives with his owner Joe Talbot in Oakdale, Texas, a fictional modern day community. As he tends to daydream about being the lead character of stories from classic literature, drawing parallels between the stories and the events in the lives of Joe and his friends, he was known as "the little dog with a big imagination". The show follows his daydreams, as Wishbone (sometimes dressed in human clothing) acts out a famous story from literature or folklore. Only the viewers and the characters in his daydreams can hear Wishbone speak (and furthermore, they see Wishbone as whatever famous character he is currently portraying and not as a dog). The show has won Daytime Emmies, a Peabody award, and honors from the Television Critics Association. Wishbone's exterior shots were filmed on the backlot of Lyrick Studios in Allen, Texas, and its interior shots were filmed on a soundstage in a 50,000 square foot warehouse in Plano, Texas, which is where the set for Joe Talbot's house was.

The show garnered particular praise for not sugarcoating many of the more unpleasant aspects of the source works for a young audience. Many of them had sad endings which were rendered faithfully in the fantasy sequences.

The television series also inspired several series of books. Altogether, there are more than fifty books featuring Wishbone, which were published even after the TV series ended, up to 2000.

Contents 1 Episodes 2 Characters 3 Cast 4 Awards 5 Other 6 External links

[edit] Episodes

Main article: List of Wishbone episodes

A standard episode of Wishbone consists of an opening introducing Wishbone's family's current situation (for example, Arbor Day planting a tree, or Joe catching a lunch lady trying to donate food to a homeless shelter.) When one of the main character decides to get involved in the noble act, Wishbone flashes to a famous work of literature it reminds him of, usually with him playing the lead role, in costume. By the end of both stories, the real-life situation usually follows the work of literature closely (such as the King saving Robin Hood at the last minute, and the Principal saving Joe at the last minute). The last 2 minutes of every episode feature Wishbone narrating some background description of how the episode was made, such as a showing how stunts were done, costumes were made, or Visual Effects created.

One 90-minute movie was released, Wishbone's Dog Days Of The West, based on Heart Of The West.

The series also featured a clip show episode called Picks of the Litter.

[edit] Characters

• Wishbone: A well-read dog who sees parallels between the situations involving himself and his friends and classic literature. Wishbone is a white Jack Russell terrier with brown and black spots, who lives with the Talbots at their home on Forest Avenue, Oakdale.

• Joe Talbot: Wishbone's teenaged owner, the only child of Steve and Ellen Talbot. Joe has brown hair and a great interest in sports, particularly basketball. He is a player on the Sequoyah Middle School basketball team. His best friends are Samantha Kepler and David Barnes. His father Steve, a basketball coach, died when Joe was 6 due to a rare blood disease.

• David Barnes: Joe's best friend and neighbour. He lives on Forest Avenue with his parents, Nathan and Ruth Barnes, and his younger sister, Emily. David aspires to be a scientist.

• Samantha Kepler: Joe and David's friend. Her father, Walter Kepler owns and runs the local pizzeria, Pepper Pete's. She has long blonde hair and is the most outgoing and adventurous of the three friends. Her parents are divorced.

• Ellen Talbot: Joe's mother, who, like him, has dark brown hair. She works as the librarian at Henderson Memorial Library in Oakdale. She was a widow since her husband Steve died due to a rare blood disease.

• Wanda Gilmore: The Talbot's slightly eccentric next-door neighbour. Wanda is the owner of the Oakdale Chronicle newspaper and president of the local Historical Society. She is a very friendly and cheerful person, but hates it when Wishbone digs up her flower beds. She is the daughter of the late Giles Gilmore.

[edit] Cast

• Soccer, also Slugger, Shiner, Phoebe, and Bear as Wishbone
• Larry Brantley - Wishbone's voice
• Jordan Wall - Joe Talbot
• Adam Springfield - David Barnes
• Christie Abbott - Samantha Kepler
• Mary Chris Wall - Ellen Talbot
• Angee Hughes - Wanda Gilmore
• Justin Reese - Nathaniel Bobelesky

[edit] Awards

• Academy of Television Arts & Sciences First Honor Roll of Children's Programming, 1999
• George Foster Peabody Award, 1998
• Emmy Award - Art Direction/Set Decoration/Scenic Design, 1997
• Emmy Award - Costume Design/Styling, 1997
• Emmy Award - Graphics and Title Design, 1997
• Emmy Award - Costume Design/Styling, 1996
• Emmy Award Nominations, 1998, "WISHBONE's Dog Days of the West"
• Directing in a Children's Special
• Art Direction/Set Decoration/Scenic Design
• Main Title Design
• Costume Design/Styling
• Television Critics Association - Best Children's Show, 1996 and 1997

[edit] Other

Many of the Wishbone episodes have been released to VHS. There were also a few computer games in 1996, such as Wishbone Activity Center and Wishbone and the Amazing Odyssey.

[edit] External links

• World Wide Wishbone
• Wishbone at the Internet Movie Database
• Wishbone at TV.com
• Wishbone on DVD