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Bones is an American drama television series that premiered on the Fox Network on September 13, 2005. The show is based on forensics and police procedurals in which each episode focuses on an FBI case file concerning the mystery behind human remains brought by FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth to the forensic anthropology team of Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan. Emily Deschanel stars in the title role, opposite David Boreanaz as Agent Seeley Booth. The rest of the cast includes Michaela Conlin, T. J. Thyne, Tamara Taylor and John Francis Daley.
The series, created by Hart Hanson, is very loosely based on the life of real-life forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs, who is herself a producer on the show.
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Quotations
:Brennan: to Booth If you drive one more block I'm screaming kidnap out the window.
Angela:
Bottom line I still think Brennan has a shot with Booth.
Booth:
Well, he jumped over that balcony because of her. chuckles Y'know, sometimes I think he had the right idea.
Booth:
Well, this is where a public school education comes in handy. 'Divide and conquer' was the playground motto.
Brennan:
We dont just have a killer on our hands, we have a cannibal.
Brennan:
Look, I am sorry if I embarrased you in front of your friends, but next time you should identify yourself before attacking me.
Encyclopedia
Bones is an American drama television series that premiered on the Fox Network on September 13, 2005. The show is based on forensics and police procedurals in which each episode focuses on an FBI case file concerning the mystery behind human remains brought by FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth to the forensic anthropology team of Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan. Emily Deschanel stars in the title role, opposite David Boreanaz as Agent Seeley Booth. The rest of the cast includes Michaela Conlin, T. J. Thyne, Tamara Taylor and John Francis Daley.
The series, created by Hart Hanson, is very loosely based on the life of real-life forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs, who is herself a producer on the show. Its title character, Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan is named after the protagonist of Reichs' crime novel series. Bones is a joint production by Josephson Entertainment, Far Field Productions and 20th Century Fox Television.
The fourth season premiered on September 3, 2008 on Fox. In the UK, it aired on Sky1 on Thursdays, starting on September 25.
Production
Origins
The concept of Bones was developed during the latter part of the pitching season of 2004 when 20th Century Fox approached series creator Hart Hanson with an idea of a forensics show. Hanson was asked to meet with executive producer Barry Josephson, who had purchased the rights to produce a documentary on the forensic anthropologist and author Kathy Reichs. Although Hanson was reluctant about being involved in making a police procedural, he signed on and wrote the pilot episode after having an intensive meeting with Josephson about the show. As the show is based on the works of Reichs, the writers constantly involve her in the process of producing the episodes' storylines.
In order to make Bones a unique crime drama in the midst of the multiple procedural dramas that already populated network television like the Law & Order and CSI franchises, Hanson decided to infuse the show with as much dark humor and character development as possible. Another element conceived for the show was the "Angelator", a holographic projector whose use is to replace flashbacks that are often used by other procedural shows. In addition to their expositional purposes, the holographic images, which are created by visual effects, brought a unique visual style to the show that the producers were looking for.
Casting
David Boreanaz was the first actor to be cast in Bones. Series creator Hart Hanson described the actors who had auditioned for the role of Seeley Booth as "pretty boy waifs" and immediately responded when the head of the studio, Dana Walden, suggested Boreanaz for the role. Boreanaz was offered the role but was unenthusiastic about getting involved after a difficult meeting with executive producers Barry Josephson and Hart Hanson, even though he thought the script was well written. However, after the producers contacted him again to convince him to accept the role, Boreanaz agreed to sign on and was cast as Seeley Booth.
Emily Deschanel auditioned for the role of Temperance Brennan close to the production start date of the series pilot, during which time another actress was nearly cast in the role. After the filming of Glory Road was completed, producer Jerry Bruckheimer told Deschanel about the role and sent her to Bones executive producer Barry Josephson to audition for it. Deschanel impressed Hanson at her audition, where she showed the character's assertiveness by stepping forward towards Boreanaz after he moved towards her, to which Hanson remarked that "90% of actors would take a step back". She was subsequently cast in the role.
In Season 4, Zack Addy has been replaced by a succession of lab assistants. One — Michael Badalucco, formerly of The Practice — is much older than the typical grad student. Marisa Coughlan guest-starred in a few midseason episodes as FBI agent Payton Perotta, who was brought to the Jeffersonian as a temporary substitute for Booth when he was incapacitated.
Title sequence
The title sequence of Bones is usually shown near the beginning of the episode. Accompanied by the show's theme music, composed and performed by The Crystal Method, the sequence provides the credits of the show. Each episode usually begins with a cold open, which sets up the plot of the episode and can last from three to ten minutes before the title sequence is shown. The title sequence varies from season to season. The first season's title sequence mostly consists of scenes from the first five episodes of the series while the second season's title sequence is made up of scenes from the first season and early episodes of the second. The opening credits in the title sequence include the regular cast members of the respective seasons.
Settings and storylines
Plot summary
The show begins in the year 2005, and tells the story of a series of case files, solved weekly, by an unlikely alliance between Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan's forensic anthropology team at the Jeffersonian Institution (a thinly veiled allusion to the Smithsonian Institution) and FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth. By examining the human remains of the murder victims, Dr. Brennan and her team provide scientific expertise and an outsider's perspective to the world of criminal investigation to the FBI. In addition to the murder cases featured in each episode, the series explores the backgrounds and relationships of the major characters including the developing friendship and possibly romantic relationship between Brennan and Booth.
Filming location
Most of Bones is filmed in Los Angeles, California, despite the fact that the show is mainly set in Washington, D.C., where the fictional Jeffersonian Institution is located. The interiors of the Jeffersonian Institution were specially built on a large soundstage at the 20th Century Fox lot in Century City, Los Angeles, California. The 4th season premiere (a special two part episode) was filmed on location in London, England.
Characters
Main characters
Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan (Emily Deschanel) is a forensic anthropologist working at the renowned Jeffersonian Institute in Washington, D.C., as well as a best-selling crime novelist. Her intellectual brilliance enables her to do groundbreaking work, but her lack of social skills provides most of the show's lighthearted humor.
Brennan aids F.B.I. Special Agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz) in his investigations involving human remains that cannot be identified without her skills in forensic anthropology. In contrast to the other main characters, Booth has limited knowledge of science and is often used to provide a layman's translation of the scientific jargon-filled dialogue.
Brennan is helped by her Jeffersonian colleagues, whom Booth condescendingly addresses as "the squints": Angela Montenegro (Michaela Conlin), Dr. Jack Hodgins (T. J. Thyne) and, until the end of Season Three, Dr. Zack Addy (Eric Millegan). While she specializes in forensic facial reconstruction, Angela is also Brennan's best friend and has a contrasting personality to Brennan's social awkwardness. Hodgins is an entomologist and an expert on spores and minerals, and is also fascinated by conspiracy theories. His skills allow the team to approximate the time, and often the location (e.g., if the remains were moved post mortem), of death of the victims. At the beginning of the series, Zack was Brennan's graduate student and assistant at the Jeffersonian. In the second season, after he received his doctorate in forensic anthropology, he was hired as a forensic anthropologist. His character is similar to Brennan in that he finds it difficult to relate to an average person.
All of the above five characters have appeared in every episode through the end of season 3, when it was revealed that Zack aided a cannibalistic serial killer. The two other main characters of the series include Dr. Daniel Goodman (Jonathan Adams) and Dr. Camille "Cam" Saroyan (Tamara Taylor). Dr. Goodman, the director of the Jeffersonian Institution and a former archaeologist, appeared in only the first season. Cam was introduced in the second season to replace the character of Goodman as Brennan's superior. As a pathologist, her working style clashes with Brennan's and the two often have disagreements. As the series progresses, Cam and Brennan become more respectful of each other.
In addition, Dr. Lance Sweets (John Francis Daley) was added to the cast to both provide a bit of comic relief and to assist Booth and Brennan with their cases. Dr. Sweets, simply called Sweets by the main cast, is a young psychologist (22 when first introduced) who assists Booth and Brennan by providing a psycho-analysis for suspects and victims alike.
Recurring characters
There are several characters who have had recurring appearances in the series. Howard Epps (Heath Freeman) is one of four murderers in the series so far who have made recurring appearances (the others being Max Keenan, the Gravedigger, and the Gormogon). Introduced as a death-row prisoner in the first season episode "A Man on Death Row", Epps used Brennan and Booth to delay his death sentence and eventually escaped prison. He was proved to be a serial-killer whose initial targets were blonde teenage girls before he targeted Brennan. He later jumped off a balcony to his death following a confrontation with Brennan and Booth.
Recurring in the first season only, Sam Cullen (John M. Jackson) is a Deputy Director of the FBI and consequently, Booth's boss. He does his best to keep Agent Booth on track and frequently disapproves of Dr. Brennan's involvement in FBI field investigations.
Caroline Julian (Patricia Belcher) is a prosecutor and works in the U.S. Attorney's office. Although she has a very demanding and bossy attitude, Caroline frequently offers help to Booth and Brennan in their cases. She has appeared numerous times to have Booth and Brennan in court and to help solve their cases.
In terms of family, Brennan's brother Russ (Loren Dean) and father Max (Ryan O'Neal) have appeared in multiple episodes. Booth's brother Jared (Brendan Fehr) appeared in multiple episodes during the 2008/9 season.
In the second season episode "The Girl in the Gator", when Booth is sent to get a psychological evaluation after he shoots a giant circus clown's head atop an ice cream truck, he meets his psychiatrist, Dr. Gordon Wyatt (Stephen Fry). The character, Dr. Wyatt, provides comic relief to the show through his interactions with Booth and Brennan. FBI Special Agent Tim "Sully" Sullivan (Eddie McClintock) was introduced as Dr. Brennan's love interest during Booth's absence and worked on a case with her. Over the next three episodes, he develops a serious relationship with Brennan but later decides to leave for the Caribbean, specifically for the Turks and Caicos Islands.
A serial killer known as The Gravedigger is introduced in the second-season episode "Aliens in a Spaceship". His name derives from his modus operandi of kidnapping his victims, drugging them, and burying them alive in containers that provide them with a limited amount of breathable air. The Gravedigger then calls loved ones of his victims, makes his ransom demands and instructions for payment, then ceases all communication except to provide GPS coordinates of the containers when the ransom is received. If the ransom is not paid, the victim(s) suffocate to death. While investigating victims of the Gravedigger, Brennan and Hodgins were themselves kidnapped and buried alive in a car. They become the first of the Gravedigger's victims to escape without paying the ransom when Booth and the rest of the team at the Jeffersonian is able to discover their location in time. In the Season 4 episode "The Hero in the Hold", the Gravedigger kidnaps Booth and imprisons him on a defunct naval vessel about to be sunk. Booth is able to escape with the help of the supposed ghost of Teddy Parker, an old Army buddy whose death had haunted Booth for years afterwards. In the course of the investigation into the crime, the Gravedigger is revealed to be Heather Taffet (Deirdre Lovejoy), an Assistant U.S. Attorney who had gotten herself assigned to the investigation following Brennan and Hodgins' escape. While Taffet is arrested, the appearance of Parker at Arlington National Cemetery at the end of the episode, along with his brief conversation with Brennan, suggests that the story may not yet be fully resolved.
The Gormogon, a cannibalistic serial killer, is a recurring character in season 3, but is only physically shown once, during the season finale.
Response
The following seasonal rankings are based on average total viewers per episode as recorded by Nielsen Media Research. The recording period begins in late September (the start of the U.S. network television season) and ends in late May.
| Season | Broadcast period | Timeslot | Ranking | Viewers (in millions) |
|---|
| 1 | 2005–2006 | Tuesday 8:00 pm ET (2005)
Wednesday 8:00 pm ET (2006) | #60 | 8.9 |
|---|
2 | 2006–2007 | Wednesday 8:00 pm ET | #50 | 9.4 | 3 | 2007–2008 | Tuesday 8:00 pm ET (2007)
Monday 8:00 pm ET (2008) | #47 | 8.9 | 4 | 2008-2009 | Wednesday 8:00 pm ET (2008)
Thursday 8:00 pm ET (2009) | | 9.9 |
The series premiere of Bones attracted an average of 10.8 million viewers with 6.7% household share and 11% household rating. It was the highest number of viewers Fox has received for a primetime Tuesday-night drama series premiere since 24 premiered in 2001. Bones finished first among the 18 to 49 years old demographic and in total viewers in its Tuesday 8:00 pm ET timeslot. New York described the show as "the best drama of the new network season" and a "sexed-up variation of all the CSIs". Regarding the show's procedural structure, Entertainment Weekly notes that Bones has a "pretty standard Crossing Jordan/CSI-style framework" but holds up because of the chemistry between the two lead characters; "that old Sam-and-Diane, Maddie-and-David, Mulder-and-Scully opposites-attract stuff never feels standard when it's done right." Similarly, USA Today comments that compared to other crime shows, the show "is built on a more traditional and solid foundation: the strength of its characters" and "what sets Tuesday's Bones premiere apart from the procedural pack are stars Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz, as the season's most appealing new crime fighters."
On the other hand, Media Life Magazine says that while Bones has "an amazingly clever notion, brilliant even", its "execution doesn't match the conception" and based on its first episode, the show "fails to evolve into a gripping series. In fact, it quickly becomes so derivative of so much else on television — especially, strangely, X-Files — that one might even call it bone-headed."
Following the broadcast of the series' third episode, Fox ordered a full season of Bones. It was renewed for a second season after its strong performance in ratings in the timeslot following American Idol and on its own without the American Idol's lead-in audience. Overall, the first season of Bones ranked 60th in viewership among prime-time shows and 53rd among the 18 to 49 year old demographic, with a seasonal average of 8.9 million viewers.
The second season premiere attracted 8.61 million viewers in its Wednesday 8:00 pm timeslot, finishing second among the 18 to 49 years old demographic and first in total viewership with 6.7% household rating and 11% household share. As a lead-in for American Idol, the second season finale of Bones obtained 10.88 million viewers with 3.5% household rating and 11% household share. It tied first in viewership among the 18 to 49 years old demographic with The Price Is Right Million Dollar Spectacular on CBS. In the 2006-07 television season, Bones improved its ranking to 50th place in viewership among prime-time shows with 9.4 million viewers and was ranked 51st among the 18 to 49 year old demographic.
Broadcast information
Bones premiered on September 13, 2005 on the Fox network and was broadcast weekly in the Tuesday 8:00 pm ET timeslot before it was moved to the Wednesday 8:00 pm ET timeslot in 2006. The first season finished on May 17, 2006 with a total of 22 episodes. The second season premiered on the Fox network on August 30, 2006 and retained its Wednesday 8:00 pm ET timeslot. The final second season episode was aired on May 16, 2007, ending the original run of the second season with 21 episodes. One episode, "Player Under Pressure", was left unaired, which was originally scheduled to be broadcast as the second season's 19th episode but was pulled by the Fox network in the United States after the Virginia Tech massacre. The plot involved the discovery of the human remains of a college athlete, and eventually aired on April 21, 2008. The third season of the series premiered on September 25, 2007 in its original premiere timeslot, Tuesday 8:00 pm ET. The show went on hiatus on November 27, 2007 and returned on April 14, 2008 in the Monday 8:00 pm ET timeslot.
Season four premiered September 3, 2008 in the United States on Fox with a two-hour episode that was filmed on location in London.
Originally scheduled to return from hiatus on January 15, 2009, Bones instead resumed one week later due to a new installment being preempted by President Bush's farewell address. As a result, two new episodes, "Double Trouble In The Panhandle" and "Fire in the Ice," were aired back-to-back on January 22, 2009. The show currently is shown on Thursday nights at 8:00 pm ET in the United States.
Airing in foreign markets:
- Africa (most of) on the Gtv service on G Series
- Australia on Seven Network on Monday nights at 8:30pm, season 4 during the ratings period, with season 1 in double episode reruns
- Belgium on RTL TVI on Tuesday evenings at 8:20 pm
- Canada on Global TV on Wednesday nights at 9:00 pm
- Chile on UCV Televisión
- Croatia on RTL Television Network Croatia
- Czech Republic on TV Prima
- Denmark on TV3
- Estonia on TV3 (Estonia), which is currently broadcasting the third season on Wednesdays at 9pm
- Finland on MTV3 and Sub, which is currently broadcasting the third season on Fridays at 10.05pm.
- France on M6, which is currently broadcasting the third season on Fridays at 8:45pm
- Germany on RTL which is currently broadcasting the third season on Thursdays at 10:15pm
- Greece on ANT1
- Hong Kong on TVB Pearl
- Hungary on RTL Klub which is currently broadcasting the second season on Mondays at 10:05pm
- Greece on ANT1
- India on Star World
- Ireland on 3e and Sky 1/ Sky 2
- Italy on FoxLife currently airing the third season
- Japan on FOX:JAPAN, starting with season 3
- Latvia on TV6 (Latvia), which is currently broadcasting the second season on Saturdays at 6pm
- Malaysia on NTV7, which just started airing season 4 on Mondays at 8:30pm
- Mexico on TV Azteca, broadcasting on Tuesdays at 10:00pm
- Netherlands on RTL4, which is currently broadcasting reruns of the third season on Mondays at 9.30pm
- New Zealand on TV3, seasons 1–3 at 8:30pm Monday's, season 4 at 8:30pm Sundays starting on 19 October 2008
- Norway on TV3, season 4 airs on thursdays at 9:30pm
- Philippines in C/S on RPN, recently concluding season 3
- Poland on Polsat
- Portugal on RTP 2 on Thursday nights at 10:45
- Serbia on Radio Television of Serbia, first and second seasons
- Slovakia on TV JOJ
- Slovenia on A-kanal, currently airing the third season each weekday evening
- Spain on La Sexta
- Sweden on TV3 on sunday nights at 20:00
- Thailand on True Series and Star World
- United Kingdom on Sky 1 / Sky 2
A number of episodes are also available for viewing with Hulu.
Distribution
DVD releases
| Bones: Season 1 | Set details:
- 22 episodes
- Region 1 DVD - 4 Dual Side Disc Set
- Region 2 DVD - 6 Disc Set
- Region 4 DVD - 6 Disc Slimline Set
- Anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1 aspect ratio)
- Dolby Digital 5.1 English audio
- Subtitles vary depending on region
| Bonus features:Two audio commentariesFeaturettes- "Bones - Inspired By The Life Of Forensic Anthropologist Kathy Reichs"
- "Squints"
- "Will The Real Kathy Reichs Please Step Forward" (Region 2 only).
Miscellaneous features- "The Real Definition"
- "Character Profiles"
| | Release dates: | Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 3 | Region 4 |
|---|
| November 28, 2006 | October 30, 2006 | May 31, 2007 | January 11, 2007 | | Bones: Season 2 | | Set details:21 episodesRegion 1 & 2 - Six-disc setRegion 4 - Six-disc Slimline setAnamorphic widescreen (1.78:1 aspect ratio)Dolby Digital 5.1 English audioSubtitles vary depending on region | Bonus features:Two audio commentaries- "The Glowing Bones in the Old House" (by Stephen Nathan, Emily Deschanel and Caleb Deschanel)
- "Stargazer in a Puddle" (by Stephen Nathan, Barry Josephson and Hart Hanson)
Featurettes- "The Memories in the Season"
- "Visceral Effects: The Digital Illusions of Bones".
Deleted scenesGag reel | | Release dates: | Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 3 | Region 4 |
|---|
| September 11, 2007 | October 15, 2007 | October 8, 2008 | October 8, 2008 | | Bones: Season 3 (Totally Decomposed Edition) | | Set details:15 episodes + 4 episodes of Season 4Region 1 & 2 - Five-disc setRegion 3 - Four-disc setRegion 4 - Four-disc Slimline setAnamorphic widescreen (1.78:1 aspect ratio)Dolby Digital 5.1 English audioSubtitles vary depending on region | Bonus features:Director's take- "The Vault"
- "Making of the Body"
- "Car Crash - Exploding Van"
- "Squints"
- "The Angelator"
Extended episodes- "The Knight On The Grid"
- "The Santa in the Slush"
- "The Baby in the Bough"
Original version episodesBonus episodes Season 4 (Region 3 and Region 4 is not included this part)- "The Yanks in the UK, Part 1"
- "The Yanks in the UK, Part 2"
- "The Man in the Outhouse"
- "The Finger in the Nest"
Gag reelAlternate cover for Regions 2 & 4 | | Release dates: | Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 3 | Region 4 |
|---|
| November 18, 2008 | November 17, 2008 | 25 December, 2008 | March 4, 2009 |
Internet
Fox has released free episodes of Bones and several other primetime series online to be downloaded for viewing on Hulu and its MySpace website, which is owned by the same parent company, News Corporation, that owns Fox. This began on October 3, 2006 but access is restricted to residents from the United States only. Bones is also available for free-of-cost viewing at Hulu as well as their official website via Fox On Demand.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack album titled Bones Original Television Soundtrack, produced by Maria Alonte McCoy and Billy Gottlieb, was released in 2008. It contains 13 songs recorded by popular artists for the show.
Other media
Aside from the television broadcast of Bones, its characters and concepts have also been produced in print, on the internet and in short videos for mobile phones.
Currently, there are two print books related to the series, one a novel and the other an official guide. Buried Deep (ISBN 1-4165-2461-4), written by Max Allan Collins, was published by Pocket Star on February 28, 2006. The book is based on the characters in the television series rather than the characters created by Kathy Reichs, who had inspired the concept of Bones. Its plot focuses on Dr. Temperance Brennan and Special Agent Seeley Booth's investigation into the skeletal remains left on the steps of a federal building and its connection with a Chicago mob family. Bones: The Official Companion: Seasons 1 & 2 (ISBN 1-8457-6539-7) is written by Paul Ruditis and published by Titan Books, released on October 16, 2007. The book includes cast and crew interviews, episode guides and a background detail on real-life forensics.
Fox has made extensive use of the internet to promote Bones. Prior to the broadcast of the second season episode "The Glowing Bones in the Old Stone House", profiles of the characters involved in the episode were put up on their own MySpace web page. The blog entries of the characters were created to give insight into the potential suspects to be featured in the episode. In the episode, Brennan and her team uses clues from these web pages, which the viewers can also access.
A spin-off series consisting of 26 two-minute episodes, called Bones: Skeleton Crew, was produced by Fox and launched through a partnership with Sprint Nextel in conjunction with MasterCard's sponsorship. It was released to Sprint TV subscribers in November 2006 and released on the official website of Bones on December 4, 2006. The episodes do not feature the show's main cast; its plot revolves around three Jeffersonian Institute lab technicians who use their skills to solve a mystery.
Bonus content was posted by Fox on Bones' official site during the third season, which include short videos featuring Booth and Brennan waiting to see Dr. Sweets.
External links
at Yahoo! TV
at TV Guide
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