Wishbone's Dog Days of the West is a telefilm that first aired on Showtime on March 13, 1998.[1] The film was released to video on June 9, 1998. It served as the series finale of the PBS children's show Wishbone,[2] and as of 2025 is the franchise's only feature-length entry.
At the Oakdale Carnival, Wishbone notices a fraying wire holding a lighting trellis above the stage where the Oakdale Glee Club is performing. He barks to alert Wanda, who saves Melina by pushing her off the stage. A TV reporter, Mitch McCain, appears and initially congratulates Wanda, but quickly begins selectively editing interviews with her and others to portray her as the "town tyrant". Wanda's longtime rival Leon King later reveals that he owns the TV station, and claims that Wanda has no legal claim to ownership of the Oakdale Chronicle, which he has purchased from its previous owner's heir. Joe and his friends seek the assistance of Ethan Johnstone, an elderly man who recalls seeing Wanda's father, Giles, win ownership of the Chronicle in a poker game. With Mr. Johnstone's help, the kids and Wanda's employees prove that she is the newspaper's legal owner and restore her reputation.
The Oakdale story is intertwined with elements of three stories from O. Henry's collection Heart of the West, led by Wishbone as the main character, "Long Bill" Longley, a former cowboy turned banker. Long Bill is faced with the threat of arrest from a bank examiner, J. Edgar Todd, who uncovers an illegal loan that Long Bill made to his best friend, Tom Merwin ("A Call Loan"). Meanwhile, Tom romantically pursues restaurant owner Mame Dugan ("Cupid à la Carte"). Later, the town marshal deputizes Long Bill and Tom during a gunfight with Calliope Catesby, their former colleague whose envy of Long Bill and Tom's relative wealth has led him to alcoholism. However, Calliope realizes his mother is arriving in town, and Long Bill helps him to pose as the marshal for her sake, leading Calliope to promise to change his ways ("The Reformation of Calliope").
The opening scenes at the Oakdale Carnival were the series' last to be filmed, after which creator Rick Duffield addressed the cast and crew to tell them the show had been canceled.[2]
Reception
The movie won the 1999 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Art Direction/Set Decoration/Scenic Design. It received three further nominations, for Outstanding Costume Design/Styling (Stephen M. Chudej), Outstanding Directing in a Children's Special (Rick Duffield), and Outstanding Main Title Design (Kathryn Yingling).[4]
Reviewing several episodes for Common Sense Media, Nancy Warren wrote that the movie was "one of the best in the Wishbone series", praising its "fast moving plots, finely drawn characters and exciting historical visuals".[5]
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