According to the link above, Kathy Reichs writes Temperance Brennan books; and on the TV show, Temperance Brennan writes Kathy Reichs books.
Cute. Not cute enough, unfortunately, to make me keep watching.
And I suppose THAT has a higher requirement than it did twenty or forty years ago, remembering my Bureau Head scoutmaster.
Having loads of things better to do that I didn’t feel like doing, I watched my tape of last week’s Bones. Above I described how, after watching the first couple minutes, I gave up and turned on NCIS, a program I normally view as a last resort. However, after sitting through the whole thing, I realized it was no worse than most of the “police procedurals” that infest the airways these days. Sure, there were dopey mistakes and the characters are more like caricatures, though that improved later in the show when Conspiracy Brother stopped mouthing off so much and did his job, but every show has some growing pains. I even learned to accept the 3D imager and lit-up cabinets, and you can’t say that, even if they are not used in your lab, you don’t want them, too.
As a touch of realism, I am please with how well-lit the labs are. I am sick to death with CSI’s atmospheric lighting that leaves people working in murk more appropriate for a nightclub.
So, I have accepted that Bones is no more realistic than any other shows of its ilk. They are not documentaries on police work, though the *L&Os * and Homicides would like you to think they are. By seeing Bones as a pleasant diversion that beats the hell out of doing the dishes I can enjoy it.
For some reason, I thought the premiere was promising if deeply flawed. I’ m still trying to figure out what someone slipped me beforehand to give it that much benefit of the doubt. The second episode was irredeemably bad, and not just for the magic science it employs. I will, however, be sticking with it faithfully until its sure-to-be-early demise so that I may snark about it over at the Television Without Pity forums.
I agree, selkie. It’s not that this is a highly-improbable police procedural – it’s that it’s a badly-written, badly-acted, badly-directed highly-improbable police procedural.
I’ll give it one more. My wife likes it (god only knows why).
Which puts it in the same class as CSI:NY and NCIS. All three are average programs and none of our Police Procedurals match, say, the reputation of Prime Suspect (I find its actuality considerably more boring and soapish than its reputation would suggest).
On their worst days, the three CSI’s and NCIS combined haven’t been as bad as this show is! Booth and Brennan have less than zero chemistry between them, a fact painfully emphasized by their inane banter which is supposed to pass for dialogue. Wesley (or whatever that little 14-year-old’s name is) deserved to have himself fed to the beetles after that “You can’t kill them, they have NAMES!” line. The only character even passably appealing is Montenegro, Brennan’s assistant–and she peaked in the first episode when she flashed the ticket agent! AUDIENCE: This show totally blows goats! BRENNAN: I don’t know what that means! And to the rest of the critics out there: NCIS ROCKS!!!