A Bibliophile’s Nostalgia: Wishbone
I’m back again with my blog post series to revisit some bookish things that give me all the nostalgia feels. Today, I’ll be talking about the beloved children’s show Wishbone.
At this point, I feel that I’m on a roll with these PBS shows, but what can I say? PBS just has good programming! PBS Kids always had a great lineup of fun, innovative, and educational shows where you could always learn away something new. One of the literary shows I frequently used to watch was Wishbone.
Wishbone was an American live-action children’s television show produced from 1995 to 1997 and was originally broadcast on PBS. The show follows the life of Wishbone, a Jack Russell Terrier who lives with his owner Joe Talbot in the fictional town of Oakdale, Texas. He has a vivid imagination and daydreams about being the lead character in stories from classic literature. But only the viewers and the characters in his daydreams can hear Wishbone speak.
Wishbone left a long-lasting legacy and inspired children to seek out books and put themselves in their own stories. It’s nostalgic for me when I think back on this show, and I could relate to Wishbone when I was a child due to my big imagination (that I still have today). The thing about the show is that it could showcase how a reader gets lost between the pages of the book. It also strengthened the narrative about the power of reading. Wishbone’s fun adventures are a great example of how a book could inspire you and transport you to faraway places.
The show also inspired several book series which I read as a child. To date, more than fifty books have featured Wishbone, which continued to be published even after the TV series ended production. While the show was about books and imagination, it also introduced a young audience to stories from classic literature. From episodes where Wishbone where solves a mystery as Sherlock Holmes to fixing a science project gone wrong as Victor Frankenstein. I couldn’t wait to see each new episode and what new character role he would take on next. Plus, his outfits were too cute for words!
Wishbone reminded its viewers to let their imagination soar and to get lost in a book. It left a long-lasting impact like other bookish shows to get kids invested in reading. I look back on Wishbone with great fondness and many memories of a tiny dog who wants to explore all corners of the world.
Did you watch Wishbone growing up? Did the show leave an impact on you? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.
