In the 1990s, a Dog Taught Kids About Shakespeare and Homer. A New Documentary Tells the Tale of ‘Wishbone’—From His Backflips to His Historical Hats
The film reunites the human cast and crew who saw the potential of a Jack Russell terrier to bring classic literature to life on PBS
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Many millennials’ first exposure to the classics came from a talking Jack Russell terrier. Originally on the air from 1995 to 1997, “Wishbone” cast its titular star as a different literary character each episode, from Odysseus to Sherlock Holmes. Now, the story behind the beloved PBS show is being shared in a new documentary, which premieres on May 27.
What’s the Story, Wishbone? is directed by Joey Stewart, an assistant director of the original series, and presented by Novel Tails, a production company founded by members of the original cast and crew. The new film examines the making of the series using archival footage and interviews with the original cast and creators.
The show’s stories were told from Wishbone’s point of view. In each episode, the apparently well-read canine drew analogies between an experience from his daily life in a fictional Texas town and a situation he recalled from literature. He daydreamed about becoming the hero of books such as The Aeneid, Northanger Abbey and Oliver Twist.
“He’s sort of a canine bridge between life and literature,” said executive producer Rick Duffield in a 1995 “Entertainment Tonight” interview.
As Angela Andaloro reports for People, “Wishbone” ran on a tight production schedule, with episodes scripted and shot in the span of a week. On top of the time constraints, filmmakers had to deal with extra challenges, including an ambitious concept that required a new historical set every episode and an animal actor as the star.
“We all had the same question, which was, ‘How are we going to do this?’” Larry Brantley, the original voice of Wishbone, says in the documentary trailer.
While the setting changed week to week, the dog at the heart of the show remained a constant. Wishbone was primarily played by one four-legged performer, a Jack Russell terrier named Soccer. (Three other dogs were used for stunts.) Duffield said that casting the right animal took several weeks of searching in the summer of 1993, when he auditioned more than 100 dogs.
“He has a certain magic to him,” Duffield said in the “Entertainment Tonight” interview. “I think he’s one of the most talented canines I’ve ever worked with.”
Working with animals is a common source of headaches on film shoots, especially in the pre-CGI era, but many of Soccer’s human colleagues cited him as a highlight of their experience.
“I quickly overcame that initial ‘oh no’ when I first saw Soccer,” visual effects supervisor Caris Turpen once told Christian Wallace and Cat Cardenas of Texas Monthly. “He was so willing to work. When we’d come back from a break, we’d see him trotting into the building; his head would come up and his tail would wag.”
Fun fact: Dog humor
“Wishbone” episode titles often leaned into canine puns, like “Pup Fiction” and “War of the Noses.”Soccer died in 2001 at age 13, and his presence in the new documentary is relegated to archival content. The humans offering their commentary to the film include comedian Mo Rocca, who contributed to the show as a writer early in his career. “Writing on that show meant taking some of the greatest stories ever told—the books I was supposed to read in college but hadn’t and which I’m sure you have—and retelling each in a half-hour for kids, with a dog in the lead role,” he said in his 2016 commencement speech at Sarah Lawrence College. “It was storytelling boot camp.”
“Wishbone” won the hearts of young viewers and critics alike. Its commitment to making great literature accessible to kids earned it a Peabody Award and four Daytime Emmys. Though it only aired for two seasons, the new documentary shows the positive effects Wishbone had on a generation of viewers.
“On the 30th anniversary of ‘Wishbone,’ I’m excited to pull back the curtain on how this little show became a real cultural phenomenon,” Stewart says in a statement. “I made this film to celebrate its impact and reconnect the audiences who grew up with it in a meaningful way.”
What’s the Story, Wishbone? will air on public television stations from May 27 through June 9, 2026. It will launch on streaming services on June 10.
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