David Boreanaz

Of all the TV characters, few speak for the audience as thoroughly as Seeley Booth.

He’s the FBI agent played by David Boreanaz on "Bones." Surrounded by smart people and big words, he tunes them out.

"He’s sort of a blue-collar guy," Boreanaz said. "He realizes he doesn’t know what it is they’re talking about."

Yes, viewers know the feeling.

TV is big on procedural shows, pulling us into a specific world. That requires characters to spit out large words and phrases; audiences must take it on faith that these words mean something.

Booth feels the same way. "I really don’t care what they’re saying," Boreanaz said of the character.

Occasionally, he’ll tell that to the other characters. Viewer nod their heads in agreement.

Booth has overcome some of his early biases, when he dismissed all scientists as "squints." Still, much of the show’s fun - alongside the gory murder stories - is in his tenuous relationship with forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan (Emily Deschanel).

Tonight’s episode - bringing the show back after a long baseball break - has a prime example, as the two debate the subject of beauty. Booth hesitantly mentions that Brennan has a well-structured face; Brennan seems startled by this information.

As it happens, Boreanaz, 37, is also quite well-structured. Producer Joss Whedon has described casting him for the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" series. Female staffers, Whedon joked, "had their tongues hanging out."

Boreanaz got that role, went directly to the spin-off "Angel" and now to "Bones." He’s had close to a decade of consecutive stardom.

In "Bones," he fits the role rather easily. No, Boreanaz doesn’t follow the big words; in high school, science wasn’t his subject.

"I was more of an athletic guy ... more the guy who was clowning around and getting in trouble," Boreanaz said.

He didn’t do any school plays then, but he was interested in performing. His dad (using the name Dave Roberts) is a veteran TV weatherman and TV personality in Philadelphia.

Boreanaz started acting at Ithaca College in New York, then went on to Hollywood. For some upcoming "Bones" episodes, he’s been working with veteran Ryan O’Neal.

"He would tell us about the old days, when he was doing ’Peyton Place.’ ... He said, ’I was just happy to be doing television.’ "

That may be Boreanaz’s approach, albeit with a much bigger paycheck. He offers a blue-collar approach that Seeley Booth would like: "You just do the work, and good things will happen."