What I Learned from Watching Wishbone as a Kid

Being a ‘90s child without cable television, one of my favorite shows to watch as a young five-year-old was Wishbone. Wishbone was the one about an adorable, talking jack russell terrier named, you guessed it, Wishbone, who would relate his owners’ everyday lives to famous works of literature via daydreams in which he played the main character. Wishbone covered everything from The Red Badge of Courage to Moliere to The Odyssey, and now that I’m old enough to appreciate that fact, that’s really awesome.

Besides teaching me who Sherlock Holmes is (Hound of the Baskervilles was scary), and what the plot of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is (Tom and Becky get lost in a cave), Wishbone also showed me how literature was accessible and applicable to real life.

As Wishbone’s family and friends encounter their own life lessons and mysteries, Wishbone introduces a novel with a similar plot or theme. The episode then alternates between the contemporary 90s-tastic plotline and the retelling of the novel. In the “real” world, no one can actually hear Wishbone when he speaks, and the dialogue is clever and funny in the ways he responds to what humans say and yet they don’t actually hear him.

(For example, in the episode based on Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, Wishbone’s friend, for lack of a better word, is receiving mysterious letters. She gets one that says “Wait and see.” Wishbone runs up to her: “Tell me about your day, Wanda.” “I’m not having a very good day,” she says as she begins to pet him. “Don’t worry, Wanda,” Wishbone responds. “I’m a born hunter! If I can track down a yard flamingo, I can track down a mysterious letter writer! You just stay here and think happy thoughts.” Wishbone jumps off her lap and begins to run towards the post office; Wanda begins to speak out loud to herself, repeating the message “Wait and see.” From off the screen, we hear Wishbone shout, “Happier thoughts!”)

Being exposed to these works while young is such an enjoyable fashion really generated in me interest in literature and those stories. Again, I wouldn’t know anything about Tom Sawyer if it wasn’t for Wishbone.

The success of Wishbone is interesting in a few ways. We hear every day about high school students who are bored to death by these classics works of literature—and yet here they are being adapted into extremely entertaining tales for five-year-olds. And I wasn’t the only little nerd who loved Wishbone. It’s actually very often that I get into a conversation with friends regarding all our favorite childhood TV shows—and Wishbone always comes up. It’s like what many people always say about classics; that they’re classics for a reason, because their themes relate to human life universally and over the centuries.

Of course, a cute talking dog helps the appeal.

There’s also the irony of television educating kids about literature and encouraging literacy—something that does not seem to happen often anymore, if at all. (Feel free to correct me—I would be the first to admit that I am not up-to-date on children’s current television shows.) Of course, we want kids to read, first and foremost. But if instead of outright denouncing and banning television, Wishbone and its four Emmy Awards prove that television can be embraced and used to work for, not against, interest in literature.

Either way, the 20-year-old me is strangely very engrossed in these episodes (rediscovered on YouTube) considering that the last time I watched them was 15 years ago. Enjoy: