Airs Next:FOX at Thursday 8:00 PM (60 min.)
Status:Returning Series
Premiered:September 13, 2005
Show Categories:Drama, Action/Adventure

From executive producers Barry Josephson and Hart Hanson comes the darkly amusing drama Bones, inspired by real-life forensic anthropologist and novelist Kathy Reichs. Forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance Brennan, who works at the Jeffersonian Institution and writes novels as a sideline, has an uncanny ability to read clues left behind in a victim's bones. Consequently, law...
A taut series filled with drama as well as great chemistry between its two lead stars, Bones is a strong addition to Fox's television lineup. Debuting in 2005 to favorable critical reviews, the series shares an audience of fans with the CSI franchise. Smartly written and well-acted, the first season of Bones focuses on the collaborations between FBI special agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz, Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance Brennan (Emily Deschanel), whom Booth somewhat sarcastically nicknames "Bones." Each of the 22 episodes follows a premise well-known to regular viewers of crime dramas--a murder has been committed and a body found. The team's job is to figure out who the victim is, how he or she was killed, and how it was done; that part doesn't differ from other shows on television. What sets the show apart is the humor injected into the episodes (Boreanaz is particularly good at delivering wry lines). There's some wicked humor in the episode focusing on Brennan's attempts at dating, which is nicely offset by the horrific crimes she has to deal with. And for a show with such attractive leads, Bones doesn't make a huge point of dwelling on any possible attraction between the pair. Rather, it takes advantage of their playful bantering, which is more akin to that of bickering siblings than repressed lovers--for this season, anyhow. The series is inspired by real-life forensic anthropologist and author Kathy Reichs (who stars in one of the featurettes on the four-disc set). In a nice play on art imitating reality, Kathy Reichs also is the name of the heroine in the murder mysteries that Dr. Brennan writes on the side. By the end of the season, viewers will learn enough about the characters to care, but not enough to completely understand why they are the way they are. That is an ongoing mystery. 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.