The Story, Personal and Classic

Ask "What's the story?" and there are always at least 2 answers for the day.

A sentimental threshold is crossed when something enjoyed by one as a child gets introduced to one's own children decades later: they enjoy it too, and that appreciation is triggered all over again. This was already the case with VeggieTales, which I did not know of until I was a little far along its target age, but at least I knew to introduce my children to it as soon as they were old enough to pay attention to it. But VeggieTales is still as alive as can ever be, new episodes produced on essentially an annual basis since it premiered in 1993; today's subject, depending on the context one evaluates, hardly lived to see the 21st century, which makes it all the more remarkable how much impact it continues to have.

I wish I had noticed how timely this return to Wishbone is since there was very recently release of What's the Story, Wishbone?, a production documentary by the original crew including a some of the cast (only a portion of the Wishbone cast remained acting long-term, most prominent probably being the voice of the dog himself, Larry Brantley). I have yet to see it myself, but a few years ago there was other material bringing some of those involved back together to talk about its production such as Top Dog: An Oral History of ‘Wishbone’ – Texas Monthly. Though I was decades away from becoming a Texan back in the mid-90s, one of the overarching points is how Wishbone, along with Walker, Texas Ranger, proved a rite-of-passage for the Texas's burgeoning entertainment industry that today rivals Hollywood itself.

Something else I can appreciate looking back at Wishbone is as a time capsule of when public funding for public broadcasting (particularly children's programming) was not objectionable. Featured literature are ALL classics, if not a cultural contributor to Western Civilization then at least an enricher of its place in the world. Using a dog in the lead role, one with that perfect combination of discipline and adorable, was a genius move that can now count my son among those children whom Wishbone has inspired the reading of these classics in their original form (my daughter is likely to follow...once she is old enough to read). And it presents those stories alongside a relatable contemporary parallel, something unlikely to be managed by today's PBS without inserting sociopolitical preachiness ("Homer, Sweet, Homer" has an environmentalist overtone, but it is acceptably mild: surely the desire to preserve a historical center of a local community from being run over roughshod by the wheels of development is not that objectionable to we conservatives).

Its tumultuous production also sheds light on the nature of public broadcast funding. Part of the reason Wishbone continues to stand the test of time so well is that it attained high production value, yet there was a budget limit and reasonable expectation of return. Failure to achieve the latter killed the former suddenly in 1998 upon concluding the feature-length finale Dog Days of the West.

PBS itself had only paid $1,000,000 for broadcast rights; the main benefactor for remaining production costs was Richard Leach, owner of Lyrick Studios where Wishbone was produced (Lyrick also distributed VeggieTales on home video until Leach's sudden death in 2001 prompted a change in contract). Leach was betting on Wishbone recouping its costs on the merchandising front as its preceding sibling series Barney & Friends had; in fact, it was thanks to the runaway success of Barney that Wishbone had such a generous budget to work with in the first place. Wishbone tried...books, games, LOTS of plush toys and a few restaurant promotion tie-ins...but the writing was on the wall and these lines of merchandise would cease in 2001 (which happens to correspond with the death of Soccer, Wishbone's dog actor).

In a market sense Wishbone was one of those fires that burned brightest only to burn out early, leaving legions of adoring fans deflated that further new content was not to be. In an impact sense, however, Wishbone is one of those gifts that keeps on giving. PBS more than got their investment's worth as they continued to broadcast reruns of Wishbone well into the 21st century, but fiscal returns hardly touch the matter of the personal impact Wishbone continues to have as the generation which grew up on coming home after school to watch "the little dog with the big imagination" imparts the same on their offspring.

Somewhere, in the archives of Mattel (Lyrick Studios was acquired by Jim Henson's HIT Entertainment in 2001, HIT in turn acquired by Mattel in 2012), a certain Jack Russell terrier remains dormant yet beloved.