David Boreanaz

The success of Bones very much rests on the two lead characters, who are anything but alike.

THE CSI franchise may be leading the forensic science field on television, but other series that do use science to drive their plot are not doing too badly either. One of these is Bones, which features a forensic anthropologist and her team at the (fictional) Jeffersonian Institute in Washington DC solving FBI cases. The series has grown so popular that it was renewed for a third season while it was airing only the 14th of the 22 episodes of season two in the United States.

The news came as a huge relief to Hart Hanson, the creator of Bones. It meant he and the writers could safely continue with the story arcs that they had been carefully building up. His sense of relief was indeed palpable.

When Hanson met the international press in Los Angeles earlier this year, he said: “There are creative arcs you want to see through. And once you have been picked up, you can get the writers started on the next season; if not, they can’t start. If you get a late pick-up, then you’re behind the eight ball again. And also hiring directors and crew, all that can happen. So it was a great gift to us to have an early pick-up.”

Although Bones was not an immediate hit when it debuted back in September 2005, it broke into the top 60 prime-time shows in the United States near the end of its first season. For the following season, Bones was slotted as a lead-in for American Idol, allowing it to gain more viewers. Or as Hanson put it: “We were a cold hit and then we went up to a double-digit share here (in America) and all of a sudden, you don’t have to explain why you’re a hit. You’re actually a hit.”

The series is loosely based on the works of real-life forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs, who is the producer of the show. Bones’ protagonist, Dr Temperance Brennan (played by Emily Deschanel), is taken from Reichs’ crime novel series that explores forensics and police procedural work. (In the series, Brennan’s heroine for her novel series is named Kathy Reichs!) Every week, Brennan and her team – dubbed Squints – will look at a FBI case file submitted by Agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz) who’ll bring in human remains for examination by the experts.

The idea behind the show came when Hanson was asked to view a documentary of Kathy Reichs to explore potential for writing a TV series based on her life. “I said no because it’s a forensic show and I thought, ‘Please, there are 47 CSIs.’ And the studio said, ‘No, we want your take (as a writer) on it.’ Bones turns out to be this funny, character-driven show.”

Undoubtedly, one of Bones’ main draws is the lead characters’ rather odd relationship and the humour that goes with it. Brennan is a woman of strength and intelligence, although not necessarily a people’s person. Booth, on the other hand, is very savvy when it comes to handling people, although he’s not exactly the friendly sort.

Put these two startlingly opposite personalities together combined with the natural chemistry between the two stars who portray them and Hanson has got a perfect set-up for comedy, drama and romance.

Okay, maybe not so much romance. Hanson said: “The classic question is, ‘Are we going to put Brennan and Booth together romantically?’ And the classic answer is, ‘Not for as long as we can put it off.’ As you and I know, the minute you put them together you diffuse something. Or you have to come up with a replacement for that tension and energy. And I think we have some time to go before we have to go there. We’re still getting lots of mileage out of their romantic tension.”

Boreanaz is agreeable with the present state of affairs between his character and Brennan. “In the context of their relationship, I think it’s more like the (longtime lovers) Tracy/Hepburn effect, a symbolic relationship that’s always there. And they can argue about anything.”

In the second season, which started screening on Malaysian television recently, Brennan and Booth get to know each better and are more into each other’s lives than in the first. And, wait for it ... Brennan’s love life will receive a bit more attention in the second season.

“She has a new love interest,” reveals Boreanaz. “He works in the FBI, he’s similar to Booth. The fans are going to react with either, ‘Oh, I don’t like this guy’ or ‘I like this guy’. You know, that’s just normal.”

Meanwhile, the second season is going to answer a few of the questions set up in the first season with more compelling mysteries every week. There are new additions too. As we have seen in the first episode of the second season, Dr Camille Saroyan (Tamara Taylor) comes in to head the Forensic Division at the Jeffersonian Institute, throwing Brennan off-balance a little.

What’s more, Saroyan was once involved in a serious relationship with Booth. Kind of predictable, yes, but it’s certain to spice things up.

Also in the second season, Brennan’s father, who mysteriously disappeared from her life a long time ago, resurfaces and Brennan finally finds out what happened.

“When I first created the back story of her parents,” said Hanson, “it was going to be a slow unfolding of her life over the season, but we’re more of an episodic show. So it has to come in an episode. It’s a blizzard of information, but it actually worked for some reason. It won’t be finished, but you’ll find out her past.”

# Season two of ‘Bones’ is currently showing on Ntv7 every Wednesday at 8.30pm.