1, The 1990s were a great time to be
a canine TV star. There was Beethoven the St. Bernard, Moose the Jack Russell
Terrier (Eddie from the TV show Fraiser, Skip
from the film My Dog Skip), Buddy
(from the movie Air Bud, Comet from Full House), and Soccer,
narrator/protagonist of the children’s show Wishbone.
2,
Soccer beat out over a hundred dogs during the audition for the lead role. The
occasional backflip seen on the show was real; and likely was what won him the
part.
3, Like all stars, Soccer had stunt doubles. Their names
were Phoebe, Slugger and Shiner. A dog named Bear was used for the publicity
photoshoots.
4, Producer Rick
Duffield owned a Jack Russell Terrier himself, and he’d been playing with the
idea of a children’s show starring a talking dog for a while, but hadn’t ever
quite figured out how to make that work. Then his gaze fell upon an anthology
of world literature sitting on the bookshelf, and all the puzzle pieces fit
together – the dog would narrate classic novels and plays, bookended by the
real-world adventures of his people.
5, Those people were mainly his owner, Joe Talbot, Joe’s
mother Ellen, his best friends Samantha Kepler and David Barnes, and Ellen’s
best friend/next door neighbor Wanda Gilmore.
6, There were fifty episodes run on PBS stations between
1995-98, divided into two seasons. Reruns aired until 2001.
7, Because one parent seemingly had to die in every story
starring kids or dogs, Joe’s father Steve died years before the show began due
to a rare blood disease.
8, In real life, the actress who played Ellen (Mary Chris
Wall) was actually the mother of Jordan Wall, who played Joe.
9, None of the main cast ever really had any noteworthy
credits after this show ended.
10, The voice of Wishbone, Larry Brantley, won the part
during a callback after an improvised five-minute monologue while watching
Soccer be mesmerized by a tennis ball in the corner of the room.
11, Almost all the episode titles were puns. (Examples: “A
Tale in Twain” was a two-part Tom Sawyer,
“Furst Impressions” was Pride and
Prejudice, “Bark to the Future” was H.G. Wells’ Time Machine, and Henry IV,
Part One became “The Prince of Wags.”)
12, The literary imaginings inside Wishbone’s head were put
together as theater productions, and used a core group of Dallas/Fort
Worth-area theater professionals as these players.
13, The show went well out of its way to break down the
barrier required for suspension of disbelief, frequently showing clips
explaining how certain visual effects were made during the credits. And the
setting of a video game based on the show was the set’s backlot.
14, These behind-the-scenes clips can be found on YouTube,
and there is an entire channel dedicated to showing full episodes.
15, Eight different spinoff book series were created between
1995-2001, totaling 77 titles in all, continuing the adventures of every
viewer’s favorite Oakdale residents.
16, The sports teams of Sequoyah Middle/High School, where
the kids attend, are known as the Bulldogs, and their colors are blue and
yellow-gold. Wishbone filled in as the team mascot at one point.
17, Guest stars included pre-fame versions of Jensen Ackles
(best known for Supernatural) and Amy
Acker (of Angel and Dollhouse).
18, Other guest stars were Shelley Duvall from The Shining and, playing himself, Dallas
Cowboys fullback Daryl “Moose” Johnston.
19, Wishbone was
replaced by another dog-and-book-related series, an animated TV adaptation of
Norman Bridwell’s Clifford the Big Red
Dog series.
20, The Clifford
show got a short-lived spinoff titled Clifford’s
Puppy Days, whose head writer was Suzanne Collins (of Hunger Games fame).
