THE SEASON’S HOT DOG

Yup, he’s the same kind of dog as “Frasier’s” Eddie, a jaunty Jack Russell terrier. Only Soccer, star of Wishbone, is the short-haired version.

And the new PBS kids’ show isn’t just using the canine for a punctuating laugh. The clever Wishbone imagines himself front, center and in the title roles of stories from classic novels.

Armed with an idea to do a live-action educational show from the point of view of a dog, creator and executive producer Rick Duffield thought, “Wouldn’t it be great if the dog were a hero and would be the lead in great literature?

“Wishbone daydreams. It’s a Walter Mitty-like experience,” Duffield explains from his Plano, Tex., studios, where the show shoots.

Duffield describes his star as “a little dog with a restless appetite for adventure. He represents the playful and imaginative child in all of us.”

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Wishbone’s cute as a button and popular breed to boot. Although his breed’s popularity wasn’t what drew Duffield to a Jack Russell.

“I knew I wanted a small dog, to be like a child, so a kid could relate to him,” the educational filmmaker and documentarian says. “I wasn’t real thrilled they were everywhere and so ‘hot.’

“These are great, great dogs. They have an intelligent look. The way he looks and tilts his head, he looks like he’s got an idea, has a thought. They’re really very smart with a bright, eager and attentive quality.”

Duffield pauses, and chuckles. “My friends all say it’s because I have one. Honestly, I didn’t go to L.A.” with that breed in mind, he says. Because dogs are trained for TV and film in L.A., though, he did scout the town for the lead. “Soccer was just the best dog,” he says. Another pause. “Oh, maybe there was a little unconscious favoritism.”

Duffield laughs heartily.

“Wishbone’s” premise, he explains, is “a great way for kids to connect to his character as well as these classic books. His experiences of everyday life are very relatable.”

The supporting cast includes Joe (Jordan Wall, 13), his owner, and Joe’s friends David (Adam Springfield, 12) and Samantha (Christie Abbott, 13). Wishbone, who also is the show’s narrator, is a “normal” dog in his regular life, but assumes costumes in the fantasy sequences. He’s voiced by Larry Brantley.

The 40 tales Wishbone imagines himself in the middle of include “Oliver Twist,” “Romeo & Juliet,” “Sherlock Holmes,” “The Odyssey,” “Rip Van Winkle,” “Ivanhoe,” “Joan of Arc,” “Pride and Prejudice” and “1001 Arabian Nights.”

“Wishbone” airs weekdays afternoons and Sunday mornings beginning Oct. 9, TBA, on KCET.