The Television Series

The series, which was first aired on 13/09/2005 by the U.S. television network Fox, was created in collaboration with author Kathy Reichs. This is not a film version of the novels. Few scenes were taken from the book. There is no Andrew Ryan in the series and the other characters known from the books are not adapted in the series.

Unlike in the books, Tempe is visibly younger in the TV series and also has character and biographical differences.

The focus of the series (as well as in the books) is set on Dr. Temperance "Tempe" Brennan (played by Emily Deschanel). Tempe - nicknamed Bones - works in the laboratory of the Jeffersonian Institution, where she is working in an investigation team consisting of 6 persons.

Her work includes the identification of human skeletons. Bones and her team are drawn to crime. The investigations are carried out by the FBI and so Bones works with Agent Seeley Booth. Cooperation between Booth and Brennan works very well, because they complement each other very well.

Bones – The Person

There is little she doesn’t know in her field. In daily life and interpersonal relationships she has bigger problems, however, since much remains unknown about personal interactivities. She then turns to Booth or Angela Montenegro for explanations. In regards to these areas, she frequently mentions "I do not know what that means / should mean". One gets the impression of a rarefied genius, whom many aspects of daily life have escaped.

Like the creator of the series, Dr. Brennan writes novels in her spare time that emerge even in the New York Times bestseller list. Her stories are about the forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs. Early in the series Bones has just published the book Bred in the Bone, which contained a picture of the fictitious Kathy Reichs on the back. Based on this book, Dr. Brennan has been nicknamed "Bones", about which she was not too thrilled initially.

The Team

Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz)

Booth worked as a sniper in the U.S. Army and now works for the FBI. He continues to be influenced heavily by his work with the Army in some cases. Seeley rarely addresses Brennan with her ??first or last name. Mostly he uses the nickname he gave her, "Bones". Booth approaches a case with feeling and intuition - in contrast to Bones and her team. He speaks of Bones and her team frequently as the "Blinzlern" - based on the jargon and the fact that the scientists’ expressions are mostly incomprehensible to him.

Throughout the series from him and Bones are very good friends and close associates. The tension between the two is also evolving and is sometimes more and sometimes less noticeable. He had an affair with Dr. Camille Saroyan, about which Bones knows.

Seeley has a young son with his former girlfriend, Rebecca.

Angela Montenegro (Michaela Conlin)

Angela is not a scientist who deals with the examination of corpses. She is an artist and has developed a program with that they can represent victims, crime scenes and complex crime processes in 3D. This works very well for Bones and her team and often brings a major breakthrough in the investigation of a crime.

Angela is a cheerful and lively woman who is driven by very few cases. She is also trying again and again to bring Bones to go more out for herself. There are sparks between her and her colleague, Jack Hodgins throughout the series, culminating in the two standing in front of the altar. The wedding is off, however, as the Immigration Department shows up and announces that Angela was already married. She tells Jack that she had totally forgotten. She just jumped over a stick and didn’t take it so seriously. So Bones and Booth stand as witnesses without the bride and groom at the altar, as the couple flees. The relationship ended but the tension between the two continued subliminally, and later they still get married - very romantic in a prison cell. Billy Gibbons, guitarist and vocalist of the band ZZ Top, has had several cameo appearances in the series as Angela's father.

Dr. Jack Hodgins (T.J. Thyne)

Jack has worked as an entomologist in the team and knows insects and minerals perfectly. Jack has inherited a very large fortune from his family. His family was one of the biggest sponsors of the Jeffersonian Institute. Out of fear that his colleagues might think that that is the only only reason he got this position, he keeps part of his private life secret. He was together with Angela (see Angela Montenegro). Hodgins has a distinct sarcasm behind which he hides sometimes.

Dr. Camille Saroyan (Tamara Taylor)

Dr. Saroyan is coroner and has taken over the position of the head of the forensic department of the Jeffersonian since the second season of the series. Her predecessor was Dr. Goodman. Initially, there was no consensus between Dr. Saroyan and Dr. Brennan, which has changed in the course of the series, however. Camille had a relationship with Seeley Booth, but this was stopped in the second season.

Zack Addy (Eric Millegan)

Zack is Bones’ assistant and has an IQ of at least 163 and a photographic memory and lives in an apartment located on Dr. Hodgins garage. Since he turned out to be an apprentice of a killer in the third season, he is no longer working at the institute in the fourth season. Later this season, however, it is clarified that Zack never killed anyone, but only supplied the killer with information. However, only Dr. Sweets knows anything about it.

Dr. Lance Sweets (John Francis Daley)

Dr. Sweets has worked as a psychologist for the FBI when it comes to crises within teams of investigators. After the arrest of her father, Bones distanced herself more and more from her partner, Booth. Then both were encouraged by the FBI to consult with Sweets. After Dr. Sweets appeared for the first time in the third season, he has become one of the main characters of the series.

You may find all the episodes of the series Bones here.