Production

Concept of Bones

             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 for 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. Although the show's main character is also loosely based on Reichs, producers decided to name her Temperance Brennan, after the character in Reichs' novels; Reichs has stated that she views the show as somewhat of a prequel to her novels, with the TV show's Temperance Brennan as a younger version of the novels' Temperance Brennan.


             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 that provides a way to replace the flashbacks 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.

Meet the Characters

 

       Emily Deschanel as Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan: a forensic anthropologist working at the renowned Jeffersonian Institute located in Washington, D.C. She is an empiricist and author of crime fiction based on her experiences.

 

       David Boreanaz as Seeley Booth: Brennan aids FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth in his investigations involving human remains that cannot be identified without Brennan's skills in forensic anthropology. Booth is often used to provide a layman's translation of the scientific jargon-filled dialog.

 

       Michaela Conlin as Angela Montenegro: a forensic artist at the Jeffersonian Institute and Dr. Brennan's best friend. Angela is Dr. Brennan's team specialist in craniofacial reconstruction—helping to determine what their victims looked like before death to help determine their identity—and can generate holograms using her three-dimensional graphics program (The Angelator and later The Angelatron) to simulate various virtual scenarios of a crime to help determine cause of death.

 

         T. J. Thyne as Dr. Jack Hodgins: an entomologist who is also an expert on spores and minerals but whose hobby is conspiracy theories. He helps teach Zack how to be socially normal. His family is extremely wealthy and are major sponsors of the Jeffersonian; Hodgins wishes for this status to remain concealed from his bosses because he does not want to be seen as a superior (it eventually came out during an investigation, although nobody has allowed it to significantly impact their relationships with him). In season five, he marries Angela Montenegro, and she gives birth to their son in season six.

 

        Eric Millegan as Dr. Zack Addy (Seasons 1–3; guest star, seasons 4–5): introduced as Dr. Brennan's graduate student and assistant at the Jeffersonian Institute at the start of the series. In the second season, he receives his doctorate in Forensic Anthropology and Mechanical Engineering and becomes a professional forensic anthropologist.

 

       Tamara Taylor as Dr. Camille Saroyan (Season 2–present): is the head of the Forensic Division at Jeffersonian Institute and a pathologist. She was born in The Bronx and was a coroner in New York City. At first, she and Dr. Brennan have an uneasy working relationship.

 

       John Francis Daley as Dr. Lance Sweets (Season 3–present): a psychologist assigned to Booth and Brennan after Booth arrests her father. He works as a psychologist for the FBI and as a psychoanalyst for the team at the Jeffersonian.

      

       

BONES (overview)

Bones is an American crime comedy-drama television series that premiered on the Fox network in the United States on September 13, 2005. The show is based on forensic anthropology and forensic archaeology, with each episode focusing on an FBI case file concerning the mystery behind human remains brought by FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz) to the forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan (Emily Deschanel). The rest of the main cast includes Michaela Conlin, T. J. Thyne, Eric Millegan, Tamara Taylor, Jonathan Adams, and John Francis Daley.

 Created by Hart Hanson, the series is very loosely based on the life and writings of novelist and forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs,who alsoproduces the show. Its title character, Temperance Brennan, is named after the protagonist of Reichs' crime novel series. Conversely, Dr. Brennan writes successful mystery novels based around a fictional (in the Bones universe) forensic anthropologist named Kathy Reichs. Bones is a joint production by Josephson Entertainment, Far Field Productions and 20th Century Fox Television.