Watching Bones

I absolute loved the movie Iron Man. Oddly enough, I went to see it with my mom and sister - it was the only one we could all agree on for some reason. However that worked out, it was awesome. I’ve always waffled on my opinion of Robert Downey Jr., but this movie may have just converted me for good. Anyway, I could go on and on about the movie, but that’s not what this post is supposed to be about…

Okay, so what’s the relevance to Bones? Well, I probably would have never noticed it myself, but TV Guide’s Rochell D. Thomas brought up an interesting question in one of her recent articles. Don’t worry, if you haven’t seen the movie but still want to, this won’t ruin anything for you. (And if you haven’t seen it and don’t plan to, I highly recommend you rethink that decision.)

Thomas pointed out that in the designing and production of the Iron Man suit, “the same 3-D, holographic computer imaging table that squint Angela Montenegro “created” for the Medic-Legal Lab on Bones” is used. Hmmm, very interesting. Now I’ll have to re-watch the movie just to see Angela’s creation in action!

Of a list of 20 shows in April, Bones not only made the list of the top 20 shows people make sure they don’t miss, but was number 6 on the list! Considering we’re all so busy these days, why not make absolutely sure you can watch what you want at your leisure? (Or, for some of us, that you can watch it when your rug-rats aren’t around and you don’t have to worry about them freaking out over the sight of rotting corpses or accidentally hearing a bad word… Did I say how much I love my media center? I can’t watch anything “on time” any more…)

Much to my surprise, My Name is Earl (20%) and Big Brother 9 (19.2%) came in above Bones, but The Office (29.9%), Lost (22%), and Grey’s Anatomy (20.6%) were the top three. Bones showed 19.1% of viewers recording the show. Somehow I don’t think it’s quite right - Big Brother 9 was on the list several times, but I guess people watch different days, so each “day” of the show had a different percentage. Huh. Whatever. (Sorry if you’re a fan, I just couldn’t ever get into it.)

Wonder how they got their numbers? They sure didn’t ask me…

David Boreanaz certainly isn’t the first star to lend his voice talent to the animated world of superheroes, but it seems that more and more are jumping on the bandwagon that are the comics-come-to-life. Keri Russell will star in the new animated DVD-movie “Wonder Woman.” Along with Russell, we’ll also get to hear Rosario Dawson, Alfred Molina, Virginia Madsen, and Nathan Fillion (oddly enough, another Whedonverse alumni - from both Buffy and Firefly.) (Fillion and Russell also worked together on the film “Waitress.”)

Russell said about the movie that it is “funny and action-packed and adult in a nice way.”

I wonder what comic-book character will be next, and what stars we’ll get to see play the parts… It’d be nice to hear Boreanaz in another film - but I guess we’ll just have to wait to see what happens! The Justice League certainly is a good comic to see continued.

The cast and crew of Bones just got a trip to jolly ole England to shoot the two-hour season premiere in London, and now they’re considering - Spain?

That’s the rumor anyway. Looks like they enjoyed being out of the country so well, they’re looking to try another location. Not to mention the fact that the currency exchange is better there than in London - that’s an argument you can’t ignore!

Besides, can’t you just see Booth in a bullfight - or running with the bulls? (And yes, I do realize how cheesy this pic is, but hey, it’s all in fun…)

Really though, it wouldn’t be too far a stretch to see them elsewhere out of the country would it? With Bone’s knowledge in her field, she’s one of the top experts, so why wouldn’t she be called in to consult in places other than those close to the Jeffersonian? Besides, we can all use a change of scenery after the whole Gormogon experience…

We all know that Angela and Hodgins are hard at work to secure a divorce from Angela’s husband as a result of a hot tropical vacation, but what we don’t know other than the brief descriptions we’ve been given, is who he is. Well, it looks like we won’t have to wait too long to find out. The character, or sorry, Grayson Birimbau - aka Mr. Angela - has been cast.

Sean Blakemore is scheduled to play the lucky guy - or not so lucky depending on how his encounter goes with Anglea after all these years. Hart Hanson said about the casting that “We’re gonna find the best guy in the world for Angela. Whoever we finally cast, Jack has to be completely and utterly cowed when this guy finally walks in.”

The guy seems to have it made - his character is described as “kind and brilliant, and hot and rich to boot,” which gives Hodgins not much up on him. Sounds like they’re pretty well evenly matched… Guess we’ll have to wait and see who Angela chooses.

Funny thing is that Michalea Conlin revealed in an interview recently that they were looking for someone like Djimon Hounsou to fill the shoes of her husband. In walks Sean Blakemore. I can’t speak for acting ability, but I do have to say Blakemore fits the bill for me better.

One of the interesting things to see with this new twist will be not only how Angela/Hodgins deals with the shake up, but how it holds the audience. With many fans still seething over the season finale, will it help or hurt those who are on the fence about whether or not to continue watching? Regardless of the crappy way Zack was written off, the show is still great, so hopefully this will only prove to be another redeeming storyline in an already-mostly-great show.

Bones without Booth? What kind of show would that be? Well, that’s the show we almost got, if it hadn’t been for the chemistry between Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz. Turns out that originally, the show was slated to have Brennan as a single lead with Booth’s character as just a limited supporting role. Booth was planned to be in 13 of the 24 episodes in the first season, while Brennan was going to interact with other cops in addition to Booth.

While it took a little while to cast the leading man, David Boreanaz was suggested to Hart Hanson and he jumped at the chance to sign him. He said, “I thought he could be funny. I underestimated him. He can be very funny.” Brennan’s character turned out to be an even bigger challenge. Emily Deschanel was recommended by a friend of Barry Josephson’s who had worked with her on the movie Glory Road. She fit the role, but unfortunately she wasn’t quite as easy a sell for all those involved.

Apparently, Boreanaz wasn’t thrilled with Deschanel at the very beginning, and “challenged” her to step up to the role. According to Hart Hanson, “David had another actress he liked, that he thought should be the lead. David’s a very strong-willed man. So he… I wouldn’t say sabotage… he challenged Emily to rise to the occasion by advancing on her.

David’s about 6′1″, and about 200 lbs of shoulders with pecs attached, and the ‘package’ and knees… very, very… he’s a guy… And he advanced on her in the network test. And Emily stepped into it. She stepped right toward him. And then they had one of the exchanges that we used in the pilot. And it was when even a thick-head like me went ‘whoa.’”

It’s a good thing Emily is the actress she is, or we might just be watching some other version of Bones!

At the Banff World Television Festival recently, Hart Hanson gave attenders an earful about the show and what we almost had - from the beginning and if we hadn’t have had the writer’s strike to screw us out of so many episodes this season. What he had to say was pretty enlightening.

I know that we’re all upset about losing one of our favorite squints, and the thought that Zack turned evil is completely wrong, but hey, it’s what we’re stuck with. But, how would you like it if instead of having Zack go off the deep end and only available for occasional guest spots, he ended up completely gone - as in dead and gone? Originally, Zack wasn’t intended to be the Gormagon’s apprentice, but a victim of the serial cannibal. The thing that really sucks about this is that the reason Zack ended up the apprentice is that the strike caused the writers to have to wrap up the season quickly, so instead of saving the storyline to develop better next season, we ended up with a chopped version which didn’t really mesh with the rest of the season, plus we lost Zack. (Although I guess really we were going to lose him anyway…)

Apparently though, regardless of his mental state of being, Eric Millegan’s guest appearance status has been confirmed for season 4, so we can at least count of seeing him again. (Yay!) So far the ideas include visits to the mental hospital and gloves for Zack’s melted fingers.

One of the funny things about all this is that although Zack’s departure from the show has garnered a most definite negative response, the season finale was the highest watched episode of Bones to date, and since then the Fox Bones site has more traffic now, and more response of their forum than ever. I guess it’s no secret that controversy sells!

(At least temporarily, that is…)

Well, we’re not completely over the shocker that Zack is not going to be magically back next season, but we’re having to come to terms with it quickly, because the casting for the rotations of grad students has begun! Meet Michael Badalucco, whom you might remember from The Practice - he played Jimmy. (Although since I don’t watch that show, I remember him best as “Baby Faced Nelson” from Oh Brother Where Art Thou. Kind of a weird person to be playing on Bones, if you ask me… but hey, whatever works - and let’s hope he does!)

It seems like the news is being met with varying degrees of outrage and acceptance. For those die-hard Zack fans who can’t seem to let go, this is just another hit for the show. Some people are wondering what’s happening to the writers and if the show has hope of pulling out of the downward spiral that it seems to have taken. Others are more accepting of the change and are willing to move past the sorrow of Zack’s removal from the show. Either way, the die has been cast, so I guess we can only wait and see how the new “rotation of grad students” goes and hope for the best.

Thus far, the show has been great, with the exception of the complete loss of weeks of episodes due to the strike - which I think played a big part in the absolute shocker of Zack’s turn to the dark side. So I can only hope that the next season will pull through with the same great writing as we’ve become accustomed to. Only a little over two months!

I guess it’s a safe bet to say that talent runs in the Deschanel family. We all know and love Emily Deschanel for her role as Temperance Brennan in Bones, but her little sister Zooey Deschanel is on her way to the big time (if one would say she’s not there already) with her supporting role in this summer’s hit The Happening.

Another of M. Night Shyamalan’s thrillers, The Happening is being called a “paranoid thriller” - whatever new label that is. The movie is about some phenomenon that causes people to commit suicide - in a completely calm and assured manner. Zooey Deschanel plays Alma Moore, the wife of Elliot Moore (played by Mark Wahlberg). Apparently the movie is pretty graphic, showing scenes up close and personal of a construction worker who has thrown himself off of a building site with arms and legs and bones snapped and twisted in strange positions due to the fall, complete with blood and gore. The graphic gore gets worse, but I won’t tell you any more about it. But it’s safe to say that this movie is most definitely not for the faint of heart.

Although the critics haven’t been terribly kind to the film, it seems that the audiences like it pretty well. Critic Roger Ebert said of the film, “It is no doubt too thoughtful for the summer action season, but I appreciate the quietly realistic way Shyamalan finds to tell a story about the possible death of man.” If you were a fan of M. Night Shamalan’s other films, this is one you probably want to check out. And be sure to take time to appreciate Zooey’s performance while you’re at it!

Emily Deschanel has added her name to the list of celebrities supporting the Declaration of Compassion for the Planet and it’s Inhabitants. We all know she’s a big supporter of the environment and animals, so this isn’t a big surprise. I’m all about taking care of what we have, although I have to say I’m not as extreme about it as some.

I’ve taken a look at this declaration, and I’m not really sure about the whole deal. Modeled after the Declaration of Independence, it says “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all creatures are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That whenever any form of human activity becomes destructive to these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new practices that shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

The text concerns me that soon people will be lobbying that animals have the same rights as humans, and that it’s not only wrong to treat them cruelly, which I do agree with, but that it’s wrong to even kill them for food at all - even in an agreed-upon, “humane” way.

The text goes on to tout the evils of agribusiness, although it doesn’t offer any alternatives or really any facts. The goal is to have 100,000 signatures, but so far the organization has recorded 212. The Declaration will be unveiled on June 28th at a ceremony at the 7th annual Catskill Animal Sanctuary Shindig.

Other big names in support of the Declaration include Kristen Wiig, Russell Simmons, Zana Briski, and Brook Shields. To learn more about the Declaration or to sign it and add your support, check it out at the Catskill Animal Sanctuary.