Feature: Primetime

Bones

David Boreanaz is back on the beat, but this time discovering the secrets of the dead, not the undead…

Add Fox’s new drama Bones to the seemingly endless array of investigational shows which started five years ago with CSI. This series is inspired by the real-life forensic anthropologist and best-selling novelist Kathy Reichs, who is embodied in the show as Dr Temperance Brennan, portrayed by Emily Deschanel, who works with the FBI to solve murder cases when the standard methods are exhausted. Brennan’s expertise lies in her uncanny ability to read clues left behind in the victim’s bones.

Trading in his fangs for a badge, David Boreanaz, best known for his title role as the tormented Vampire on the successful TV series Angel, returns to the small screen as Seeley Booth of the FBI’s Homicide Investigation Unit. “He’s a maverick FBI guy who’s got a lot of attitude,” says the actor of his new role. “I think Booth is definitely a card shark. I think there’s an excitement level to him. He’s a simple guy. He likes a cheeseburger, a black cup of coffee. He’s pretty simple on the outside, but very conflicted inside.”

Also conflicted is Dr Brennan, whose edgy demeanor immediately intrigued actress Emily Deschanel. “I love that aspect of the character. A lot of times when I look at a project, I try and look for the flaws in the character, and that’s what’s fascinating to me. You look at the series House, the main character in that is kind of prickly and isn’t very friendly to people, but he’s very good at what he does, and he’s a fascinating character. To me, the people in the world that I’ve liked haven’t always been the friendliest people.”

As with other shows in this procedural genre, Bones is overloaded with technology, even using holograms to re-create murders, but as the show’s creator, Hart Hanson, acknowledges, they won’t be employed in every episode as the effects are, he says, “very expensive. The holographic machine, which exists by the way, is something we’ll use once or twice an episode to clarify the story. Since we don’t have live victims, we don’t do flashbacks. To see what happened to people, we’d like to show it in a cool, visually appealing way, so we’ll be using that.”

by Judy Sloane

Read the full feature in
TV Zone #197

Photo © 20th Century Fox Television
Feature © Visual Imagination 2005. Not for reproduction

Taken from

TV Zone #197
January 2006
ships from Dec 7 2005
News-stand Price
UK £3.99 / US $7.99

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