Review: Plenty of 'Bones' to pick at

Posted Friday, December 1, 2006 at 4:03 PM Central

by John Couture

Thanks to CSI, a whole new TV series genre called forensic procedural was born. There have been dozens of attempts to capture the CSI magic, but the real winner may be Bones.

Bones is a crime procedural told primarily through the eyes of a forensic anthropologist. If it sounds familiar, it should. The show is based on real life forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs and her series of best-selling books featuring a forensic anthropologist heroine named Temperance Brennan.

Much like the series of novels, the TV show is compelling because of the reality in which it is set. But beyond your typical crime procedural, Bones separates itself from the rest of the pretenders with its depth and cast interaction.

Kathy Reichs has said that she did not want Temperance to be perfect, so she intentionally gave her a history with some baggage. Emily Deschanel brings a wonderful mix of brains and beauty to the role. She also displays an accurate sense of naivety that would come with an academic who spends more time with her nose in books than bars on a Saturday night.

David Boreanaz returns to primetime TV as the mysterious F.B.I. agent Seeley Booth who present his own puzzle to Dr. Brennan and potentially one day a love connection? The rest of the cast (aka "The Squints") are rounded out by great character actors that are quickly making a name for themselves with their compelling performances and dynamic interactions.

If you are not watching this show, I must ask why? It's a nice blend of CSI meets X-Files with a strong female protagonist. The cases are all interesting and so far removed from one another that it never feels like the show falls into the trap of recycling past storylines.

All of the bonus featurettes are a welcome addition to the package. They each add a colorful touch to the show and augment the worth of the set. In particular, the feature on Kathy Reichs really helps to shed some light on how the show came together and gives some insight as to where Fox will take Temperance into the future.

The Squints definition piece in which they highlight select terms from various shows and provide more information was extremely knowledgeable and entertaining. My only critique is that this feature should be interactive within the episodes themselves. That way, a viewer can access the additional information as they are watching the scene in which the term is used.

The audio commentaries were sparse and to be frank the commentary by the creators on the pilot was a little stale. In contrast, the commentary from series stars Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz during "Two Bodies in the Lab" was a nice complement to the episode. It would be nice in future seasons to see more collaboration with Kathy Reichs in these commentaries. It seemed that I was constantly wondering what she thought about various things through the episodes.

In the end, it will always be difficult for me to actually recommend a TV series as a "Buy It" since the very nature of ownership would imply repeat viewings and the shows that stand up to the test of time are few and far between. However, Bones: Season One comes as close as you can to that recommendation, but still falls a little short. In the end, both fans of the show and newcomers looking for a little intelligent mystery and intrigued should check it out.