History Series / Wishbone

Several book tie-in series were made, including ''The Adventures of Wishbone'' (a series in the parallel-plots style of the show), ''Wishbone Classics'', which omitted the Joe et. al. plots in favor of less [[CompressedAdaptation compressed]] adaptations. This was the first of the tie-in novels series to be released, noticably due to not being under the "Big Red Chair Books" label, ''Wishbone Mysteries'', which were mysteries involving Wishbone, Joe, and his friends, removing the classic story, and ''Wishbone: The Early Years'', which was a SpinOffBabies series about Wishbone as a puppy, in smaller stories such as ''Hansel and Gretel'', ''Jack and the Beanstalk'', etc., and were for younger readers.

** In the ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'' episode, Sun Wukong leaves a pawprint on the Buddha's finger instead of [[ToiletHumor urinating on his finger]], as he did in the original story.

* DarkerAndEdgier - Believe it or not, the series sendoff 'Dogs Days of the Wild West' reveals some pretty seedy parts of Oakdale's past, namely how Wanda Gilmore inherited parts of Oakdale through back alley deals and horsetrading. And also features a decent shootout, despite the dog not being able to hold a gun.

* LostInImitation: Mostly averted. For example, the ''Wishbone'' version of ''Literature/{{Frankenstein}}'' follows the novel in portraying Frankenstein as a naïve young student rather than a MadScientist and the [[FrankensteinsMonster monster]] does not have green skin, bolts in his neck, etc. Wishbone as Frankenstein still brings the creature to life by running electricity into a corpse, however.

* CompressedAdaptation: Obviously, {{Door Stopper}}s are brought down to be half of a thirty-minute show. As such, they are usually reduced to their {{Signature Scene}}s. However, the fact that they do not ''add'' anything, just compress the original plot, hilariously makes the ''Wishbone'' adaptations some of the most faithful ones ''ever''. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgN6w1ckjaI&feature=related This]] review of the ''ThePhantomOfTheOpera'' episode, by The WebVideo/PhantomReviewer, is mostly negative, but the reviewer can't help but be amazed that it's probably more faithful to the original novel than ''any'' other screen version of the story.

** Actor Kevin Page played Bobchinsky for ''The Inspector General'', the Earl of Westmoreland for ''Theatre/HenryIV'', Erik for ''ThePhantomOfTheOpera'', Richelieu for ''Literature/TheThreeMusketeers'', Antonio for ''Theatre/TheTempest'', and more.

* ActorAllusion: One episode has Wishbone audition for a dog biscuit commercial, with the actor doing the narrating for him played by his actual voice actor in the show.

* CashCowFranchise: Four book series, clothing, toys, videos, [=DVDs=], lunchboxes, calenders, food sets (plates, bowls, etc.), coloring books...you name it!

* DawsonCasting: Averted. The actors playing the middle school-aged kids were about the same age as their characters. When the actors hit 14/15/16, the characters moved up to high school.

* HeyItsThatGuy: Several episodes were Creator/AmyAcker's acting debut. Really.
** Jensen Ackles of ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' was in one episode.
** Texas natives (the show was filmed in Allen and Plano) may recognize one character (an old man who finds Wishbone and calls him "Spot") as "Mr. Peppermint", a public access kids show character.
** Texas natives will also recognize Channel 4 anchorwoman Clarice Tinsley in an episode where she plays (guess what?) a reporter.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: Only a handful of episodes has been released to VHS, and a few on DVD in 2004. Lionsgate is currently releasing [=DVDs=] of the show, which might end up saving the series. Mainly averted if your PBS station still reruns the show.

* TheOtherDarrin: Between the first and second season, Emily's actress changed from Jazmine [=McGill=] to Brittany Holmes.

* TravelMontage: In "Frankenbone", the Monster's rampage through Europe and into the Arctic includes shots of the camera panning across a map of Europe c. 1800.

* TravelMontage: In "Frankenbone", the Monster's rampage through Europe and into the Arctic is done with an ''Franchise/IndianaJones''[=-style=] travel montage. Although the book was written in 1816, the map shows the UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire as still intact.

* TravelMontage: In "Frankenbone", the Monster's rampage through Europe and into the Arctic is done with an ''Franchise/IndianaJones''[=-style=] travel montage. Although the book was written in 1816, the countries and borders shown are pre-French Revolution.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Interestingly there is an episode where this trope is both played straight and averted. Basically Sam insists on going into a condemned barn to look for a special horseshoe and the trio gets trapped inside. [[CaptainObvious That would be the playing it straight.]] Later the barn catches on fire and Sam manages to get herself and the boys out with minimal injuries. She then proceeds to apologize to which the boys respond by pointing she saved their lives.

* AcademicAthlete: Samantha “Sam” Kepler from ''{{Wishbone}}'' participates in every sport her male friends do and is picked for her class team captain spelling bee because she's always reading.

* SpitTake: Sam does a rather spectacular one in "Furst Impressions" after it is pointed out to Joe that his dress shirt is on inside out and backwards. Wishbone even comments "EW! It went up her nose!"

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: In the Halloween episode, Sam asked where Wishbone's costume is. "A dog, wear a silly costume? I think not."

** In ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'', Sun Wukong leaves a pawprint on the Buddha's finger instead of [[ToiletHumor urinating on his finger]], as he did in the original story.

** This troper recalls that the show's ending to Cyrano de Bergerac was significantly more cheerful than in the original work.

** They didn't show the beheadings in ''ATaleOfTwoCities'', but they did show [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything a cabbage being cut in half by the guillotine]], with several of the characters in the background staring at it in horror.

** For ''TheCountOfMonteCristo'', Fernand isn't {{Driven To Suicide}} by his reputation being slandered.

* ClipShow : Wanda brings over a dog to keep Wishbone company, and Wishbone recounts to the dog all his previous imaginary adventures.
* CompressedAdaptation: Obviously, {{Door Stopper}}s are brought down to be half of a thirty-minute show. As such, they are usually reduced to their {{Signature Scene}}s. However, the fact that they do not ''add'' anything, just compress the original plot, hilariously makes the ''Wishbone'' adaptations some of the most faithful ones ''ever''. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgN6w1ckjaI&feature=related This]] review of the ''PhantomOfTheOpera'' episode, by The WebVideo/PhantomReviewer, is mostly negative, but the reviewer can't help but be amazed that it's probably more faithful to the original novel than ''any'' other screen version of the story.

** The episode about ''TheCountOfMonteCristo'' spends a bit too much time on the story's setup, forcing Danglars and Caderrouse to become a case of {{What Happened To The Mouse}} as Dantes' revenge is directed entirely against Fernand. This is even after removing Villefort entirely.
* DawsonCasting: The main kids are supposedly in middle school but are pretty obviously in high school. Jordan Wall for example, at age 15 and 16 was playing a 6th grader.
** Actually, by the time the main kids' actors hit 14/15/16, the characters moved up to high school.

* DeadpanSnarker: Wishbone, though none of the humans can understand him. Kind of like {{Garfield}}.

* DisappearedDad : Joe's father is dead.

*** Possibly because the writers wanted to throw in some hints that Joe and Sam may like each other, and wanted to avoid the setup so it wouldn't become incest(?)

* FadeToBlack: Usually in the middle of an episode, unusual for a PBS series as they don't have commercials in between episodes and the show didn't have any short that aired in between like ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' or ''CliffordTheBigRedDog''. This could have been made if the show was considered for syndication, which never occurred (or for international broadcasts)

* ForWantOfANail: In one of the mystery books, Joe and Sam become worried when David doesn't turn up for a study group and leaves no message as to why he isn't coming. After they find David, [[spoiler:(he was locked in a equipment shed near town; long story)]], they ask why he didn't leave a message and he very confusedly responds that he did. The humans dismiss it as a coincidence but Wishbone realizes that earlier he had knocked over the answering machine at the Talbots' and erased the message by accident. Wishbone at first considers admitting this and apologizing but then realizes that if the message HADN'T been erased, David would have been trapped even longer than he was. [[FridgeHorror And since the story was set as fall changes into winter...]]

* HeyItsThatGuy: Several episodes were AmyAcker's acting debut. Really.

** Texas natives (the show was filmed in and Allen and Plano) may recognize one character (an old man who finds Wishbone and calls him "Spot") as "Mr.Peppermint", a public access kids show character.

* LostInImitation - Mostly averted. For example, the ''Wishbone'' version of ''Literature/{{Frankenstein}}'' follows the novel in portraying Frankenstein as a naïve young student rather than a MadScientist and the [[FrankensteinsMonster monster]] does not have green skin, bolts in his neck, etc. Wishbone as Frankenstein still brings the creature to life by running electricity into a corpse, however.

* MoralGuardians - Were even on this show's case. According to IMDB, the episode 'The Canine Cure' was banned from some syndication because it somehow encouraged the {{Aesop}} that kids should challenge authority figures, apparently ignoring the fact that the overprotectiveness of some parents that was portrayed in this episode is, in fact, TruthInTelevision.

* OohMeAccentsSlipping : Often in earlier episodes.

* ShoutOut: ''TheTimeMachine'' episode has a rather neat nod to the book crumbling scene from [[Film/TheTimeMachine1960 the 1960 film]]. Wishbone as the Time Traveler comes across ''The Collected Works of Creator/WilliamShakespeare'' (making this double as a ShoutOutToShakespeare) and reads the famous "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow" monologue from ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'', ending with the line "the way to dusty death." Then he touches the book and it collapses to dust.

* TechnologyMarchesOn: The episode "One Thousand & One Tails" features a bad '90s understanding of the Internet. Joe and Sam ooh and awe as David logs onto the Internet for the first time, repeatedly gasping "Go to that one!" before he's even online. Also, the Internet is apparently a ViewerFriendlyInterface, labeled "Internet Online Access" and consisting of a few icons. David accesses a coded chatroom run by cybercriminals by clicking on the oh-so-not-suspicious icon of someone wearing a ConspicuousTrenchcoat, which is helpfully labeled "Private" and is apparently [[ItsASmallNetAfterAll one of only four chat groups which exist on the Internet]]. He accidently logs into his dad's bank account while investigating this chatroom, which somehow causes three million dollars to get transferred into his dad's bank account. FBI agents show up at their house [[InstantEmergencyResponse about five minutes later]]. ''Where to start??''

* WhatTheHellHero: In the episode where the trio gets trapped in a condemned barn that catches fire, Sam gives herself one of these speeches because [[NiceJobBreakingItHero it was her fault for getting them in there in the first place.]] Joe and David's opinions on the other hand...well...maybe I should show instead of tell (warning: Joe's dialogue is paraphrased)
--> (After Sam blames herself)
--> Joe (incredulous): Sorry? Sam, you rescued us!
--> David: Yeah; you saved our lives in there!

** The ''OliverTwist'' episode is perhaps the most compressed as a lot more time was spent on the contemporary story than usual. The Artful Dodger becomes a CompositeCharacter of every underworld character in the novel. Nope, not even Fagin gets mentioned. It ends with Mr. Brownlow taking in Oliver, with this portrayed as HappilyEverAfter.

* SheCleansUpNicely: Sam gets a bit of this in the contemporary story to the "Count of Monte Cristo" episode. She comes over to David's house after ballroom dance lessons dressed neatly in a white dress, short gloves and with her hair down. The boys are momentarily stunned and Joe tries to compliment her, but she quickly cuts him off.

Wishbone was a real dog whose thoughts were expressed as a [[{{Narrator}} running voice-over.]] All of the other characters in the stories being dramatized are humans. For instance, kids would get to see an otherwise dead-serious dramatization of ''PrideAndPrejudice'' in which Mr. Darcy is [[FurryConfusion a cute little dog in a suit]]. And everyone else is human. And ''everyone'' acts as if the fact that Mr. Darcy [[LionsAndTigersAndHumansOhMy is a talking dog]] is absolutely [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight nothing at all out of the ordinary]].

[=PBS=] series in which the titular well-read Jack Russell Terrier would dream and imagine himself as the hero of various stories and novels.

** Actually, by the time the main kids' actors hit 14/15/16, the characters moved up to high school

** MissingMom: Sam's parents are divorced, and she lives with her father. It's mentioned she visits her mother, but she's never shown. David's the only one of the main kids with an intact family

*** Possibly because the writers wanted to throw in some hints that Joe and Sam may like each other, and wanted to avoid the setup so it wouldn't become incest (?)

* {{Disneyfication}}: Noticably ''averted'' for the most part, though most of the storys are shortened at times, usually only to fit the 30-minute time frame.

* FadeToBlack: Usually in the middle of an episode, unusual for a PBS series as they don't have commercials in between episodes and the show didn't have any short that aired in between like ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' or ''CliffordTheBigRedDog''. This could have been made if the show was considered for syndication, which never occured (or for international broadcasts)

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: Only a hanful of episodes has been released to VHS, and a few on DVD in 2004. Lionsgate is currently releasing [=DVDs=] of the show, which might end up saving the series. Mainly averted if your PBS station still reruns the show.

* ShoutOut: ''TheTimeMachine'' episode has a rather neat nod to the book crumbling scene from the 1960 film. Wishbone as the Time Traveler comes across ''The Collected Works of Creator/WilliamShakespeare'' (making this double as a ShoutOutToShakespeare) and reads the famous "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow" monologue from ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'', ending with the line "the way to dusty death." Then he touches the book and it collapses to dust.