Wishbone

Wishbone was one of those educational yet fun and action packed shows of my childhood in the mid 90's. I couldn't get enough of these shows. Wishbone made George Washington Irving, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, and even Greek Mythology an adventure, and encouraged children to crack open a book. The show was a wholesome, well-rounded, educational show that was fun to watch. I'll never forget the Legend of the Creepy Dog collars episode, or the one when Wishbone explores the Japanese Heaven. Unfourtunatley, most children's programs I see today are just meant to make kids laugh, and send a shallow message. I am proud to say I grew in a time when children shows were in their prime. Wishbone is no exception.

During my tenure of 35 years with the Chicago Police Department, the assignments that varied greatly in duties, responsibilities and type of "terrain" covered. The varied assignments were in some of the most poverty stricken, crime ridden neighborhoods to "blowing a whistle" as a Loop Traffic Cop and from attending to Juveniles in the School Unit to "Tracer of Lost Persons" in the Missing Persons Bureau.

During my last assignment, it was in Missings because of medical problems, rheumatoid arthritis and congestive heart failure. This required confinement to the office or 'desk duties', and is called "Light Duty".

Well, I do confess that we would turn on a Television Set during quiet afternoon times, as it didn't interfere with work and actually made things run more smoothly. Favourites during that period included "SEINFELD"(daily reruns), Baseball, Football, Basketball, Hockey, "Mystery Science Theatre 3000" and "WISHBONE". Yeah, "WISHBONE", wanna make something' of it? We stumbled onto it quite by accident, for no one knew it from our home TV viewing, as no one in the office had young kids at home. There were some grandchildren of some of our gang, but no kids of the right age for such programming.

So, the Cops at Chicago Police HQ became fans of this little (what is he, Jack Russell Terrier, Rat Terrier, what?) pooch with the Ronald Coleman voice and the love for great literature. Hardly a Saturday Afternoon at the Bureau would pass-by without Wishbone being present.

The Creators and Production Team did an excellent job in providing a character and series which is interesting, educational, amusing and highly informative. And just who wood have thought that such a highly successful feature would emerge from the meeting up of works of literature and the fantasies of somebody's pet pooch?

Boy, I sure can't wait to be a Grandfather!!!!

I became hooked on this show in thrid grade instantly, after I saw a poster of the dog in my library. The first reason I watched it was because it's star is a dog, and I was and still am obsessed with dogs.

I watched it every afternoon while I did my homework, and I knew more and more literature classics. I would know the plot of a book by heart, even some books that even my parents hadn't read!!

Instead of plodding around with Barbies and hairbows like most girls my age were, I spent my time I at the library, thirsty to read the full versions of the books acted out on the show. Today, I have a high adult reading level, and an even bigger curiosity for more books.

Wishbone taught me a lot! It whetted my interest in reading. Before I watched the show, the most advanced book I had was a dumbed down version of the Prince And The Pauper. But imagine me, as a fourth grader, reading Pride And Predjudice and understanding it completely. Or reading Faust, and crying cause I understanded. And the greatest thing about Wishbone was it didn't hold back. Disney movies often take a story, and soften it up for the younger audience. Wishbone, however, did the book to the fullest and most accurate extent it could in it's 30 min time slot. A good example is a Tale Of Two Cities. A guy volunteers to give his life so the woman he adores can spend her life with the convicted person she loves! I cried when I saw this, but that's not a bad thing. It made me go out and read the book. Disney, as I would imagine, would have probably made everything end in a nice package, with the angry french revolution mob forgiving everybody, and then it would end in a big musical spectacular. Oh, oh! And they would add a talking poodle for comic relief. See my point?

I'll cease to end this rant. And I also wanna sincerely thank the show for getting me to read The Phantom Of The Opera! My well worn copy of the book is my favorite tome!

And to top it off, the show does a behind the scenes clip at the end of eacxh episode, encouraging kids to gain interest in theatre, special FX, directing, etc. And it encouraged children to go read and find a new world of excitment, instead of playing some crappy ass video game!

I love you Wishbone!

Wishbone

Fine TV series about a small lap dog with a patch on his eyes who likes to read and act out famous works of literature in his own mind, with him as the characters of the story (example: he is Sherlock Holmes in "The Hound of the Baskervilles). Surprisingly entertaining, and educational for the kids. The pro-book message comes across a little strong (do they mistake kids for completely naive idiots?), but it's a fun TV show with a nice doggy as the main character. I actually enjoy watching some of the older stories acted out by the pooch--who would have ever thought so?

Rated TVG--appropriate for all ages.

This is a wonderful show!! And it's not hard to see why. You have a cute little doggie who dresses up in wonderfully made costumes (who's a better actor than a lot of humans) that acts out fantastic classic literature. It's a great show that gets kids to want to read, and gets adults want to read some classic books again. Another cool thing about the show is that it doesn't have commercials and at the end it takes a look at behind-the-scenes so that kids can see what it takes to put a show together. It's definently one of the best children's shows on TV!

P.S.- My favorite episode is the one where Penny comes to visit Wishbone and he tells her about Don Quixote and other great stories.