Watching Bones

I realize that this is extremely late in coming, but I was watching some Bones reruns I had recorded to delete and make room on our media center, and I couldn’t help but notice how ironic this section of dialogue was… Guess it just shows how the show and characters have changed over time.

This is from the episode A Boy in a Tree, originally aired in September of 2005, so it’s from the very first season. (For some reason I couldn’t find it listed in the recaps on the Fox/Bones site, but you can find it at TV.com.)

Booth: It’s not a suicide
Bones: Because Booth thinks that prep schools turn out entitled criminals
Hodgins: We all went to private school and none of us are criminals
Zack: In fact we fight criminals. We’re crime-fighters.

Zack sure made a leap from crime-fighter to serial killer cannibal’s apprentice… Guess a lot can happen in a few seasons time!

Check out some of the latest news from Ausiello over at EW - he’s got some pretty interesting news!

Question: Is Zack ever coming back to Bones? — Daly
Ausiello: According to exec producer Hart Hanson, yes. “We definitely want to have him back,” he says. “But you risk picking that scab too much and people going, ‘Aw, bring Zack back forever.’” Meanwhile, Hanson says the rotating intern experiment has an expiration date. “We don’t to do the Murphy Brown thing,” he says. “But we’re getting a lot of good stories out of these new people coming in and shaking things up in the lab.” Two more interns are on the way, including a devout Muslim (played by Pej Vahdat) and someone who is hearing impaired (not yet cast).

Question: When will Angela’s girlfriend, Roxie, be off Bones? I think she was a terrible add-on to the this season. — Jessie
Ausiello: Based on this next clue, I think the end is near: The new Muslim intern I mentioned above makes Angela a soothing mix tape after her heart is broken by Roxie. Coincidentally, Hart Hanson tells me that the Angela/Hodgins love story is not over. “We’re not done with them,” he says. “But they have some obstacles to overcome.”

So the news about having Zack back isn’t anything new, but we’re going to be seeing two new interns, one of which may have a thing for Angela - which isn’t a surprise in itself! Remember the British intern who “vroom-vroomed” her? And… Hurray!!! They’re not done with the Angela/Hodgins relationship! I know, I know, that doesn’t mean we’ll see them back together or even walking down the aisle now that she’s officially divorced, but I’m SO glad to hear that they’re not going to just leave things as they are right now. And obstacles - well, those are always good!

Okay, so who else was thrilled and surprised by Zack’s admission at the end of last week’s episode - The Perfect Pieces in the Purple Pond? I knew there was supposed to be a surprise twist at the end, but I was really surprised at this one! (By the way, if you haven’t watched it yet, don’t read any further - please?!)

We kind of knew that Zack was returning to the show on a guest-star basis. And we also knew that he was going to “escape” from the looney bin and that obviously he’d have to go back. I kind of expected a little bit of a different end where Booth had to return him, and was surprised that he turned him over to Sweets to take him back in. But that wasn’t really a big deal, and it certainly wasn’t the real shocker.

When Zack admitted that he’d never done that - meaning murder, not sex - my own face probably mirrored Sweet’s. What? But he’d admitted to it at the end of last season! When questioned further by Sweets, it turns out that all Zack did was tell Gormogon where to find the victim - that he didn’t actually take part in the actual murder. So my question is this: Okay, so that makes him an accomplice to murder, but not a murderer. What kind of jail time would he get for something like that? It’s obvious by the way he told Sweets that he wasn’t allowed to tell anyone - Dr./Patient confidentiality and all that - and that Hodgins had told him that he wouldn’t do well in jail, that Zack fully expects some kind of jail time (instead of just time in the psych ward) if it comes out that he didn’t actually kill anyone. And I agree that maybe the better place for Zack is where he is - he probably wouldn’t survive in jail. But still - he’s not a murderer!

I want the rest of the team to find out so bad I can’t stand it. This kind of thing can’t stay hidden for too long, can it? Were you as surprised as I was? Relieved even? Did the writers redeem themselves for making him a killer with this little twist?

As fun as Clark was on the season premiere, and as interesting as it should be to see who else the squints have to deal with as the interns parade through, those of us who have grown attached to Zack still mourn his defection. Although, many people involved in the show have pointed out that since they didn’t kill him off, we still have the possibility of seeing him again. Well, it looks like we’ve got more solid hope for that coming up!

David Boreanaz, in an interview with TV Guide, revealed that “Zack’s not really going anywhere. We will see him again throughout Season 4, in certain circumstances.” Okay, that’s kind of vague. But wait, there’s more… apparently our hope that Zack will continue to work with the team isn’t too unfounded - at least not entirely. According to David, there will be an episode where Zack once again helps the team with a case, but in doing so he escapes custody. (It’s vague as to whether he is brought to the Jeffersonian to do work or what.) What should be interesting, and maybe a little funny, is that Booth has to be the one to go and put him back in prison.

Also, we can finally rejoice, David tells us that we will finally get a better explanation of how Zack came to be the Gormogon’s apprentice. It’s about time!!! Maybe we’ll also get a better look at what went on while he was in Iraq, and why he was sent home. That would be a nice bit of info to have as well! Guess we’ll just have to hang in there and watch!

This Saturday if you’re going to be in the Hollywood area, you might make plans to swing by the Avalon Hollywood to catch the Hot in Hollywood 3 show. (Be sure to call ahead for tickets though, they run $60 for one general admission ticket.) Not only does the event benefit AIDS charities, but the show is incredible, featuring a variety of performers out of their “normal” settings. Among the group listed to perform this year is Bones’s very own Emily Deschanel and Eric Millegan.

They performed together two years ago at the 2006 (and premier) HIH where they sang together “Almost Paradise.” This year they will sing “I Got You Babe,” and seeing the two of them together again should be awesome.

Other big names performing include stars from My Name is Earl, How I Met Your Mother, Dirty Sexy Money, Grey’s Anatomy, and Ugly Betty, just to name a few.

Here’s a look at the HIH promo for 2006 where Emily and Eric performed - there’s a very brief interview clip with Emily, a few shots of her, and a quick shot of her and Eric on stage. Looks like fun.

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!

Just wanted to share this article with you - it’s an interview with Eric Millegan in the Lansing State Journal. He talks with them about the night he got the news that his character was being written off the show and how a good night went from bad to worse. It’s a neat insight into the fateful day for one of our favorite squints and how the news was broken to him.

I am a little confused about the “Gormogon logic” they talked about very briefly in the article - something about killing a few to help the many. Maybe I just need to rewatch some of the older episodes when the Gormogon storyline began… That’s something I’m hoping they pick back up on next season as they hopefully bring Millegan back for a few guest spots - the whole “how” he was convinced to join the Gormogon and what brought him to that point. Guess we can only hope!

Millegan reflects on ‘Bones’

U-M, Interlochen alum went from Broadway to TV

Eric Millegan was getting ready for a fine evening.

The “Bones” co-star and University of Michigan theater grad was courtside with his favorite basketball team, the Portland Trail Blazers. Then:

• He learned he would soon be unemployed.

• He learned he’d been helping a serial killer.

• And the Trail Blazers lost.

“That went from one of my best days to one of my worst,” Millegan said.

He’s had time to get used to it now, but viewers may need a while. The season finale aired Monday, packing a surprise.

There was Zack Addy (Millegan), former child prodigy and current sweet-faced scientist. He had been secretly helping Gormogon, the serial killer.

“When I first found out, I was like, ‘That’s ridiculous!’ ” said Millegan, 33.

Then he agreed it’s possible: Zack takes pride in being ruled by logic; he fell for the Gormogon notion of killing a few people to help the many.

By the end of the hour, Gormogon was dead and Zack was being shipped to a mental institution. He might return, Millegan said, but not as a regular.

So Millegan is back to job-searching. He has more turf to search than most, all the way from Hollywood to Broadway.

Before any of this, he was a sweet-voiced teen who grew up in Oregon, but has some of his best memories from Michigan.

He spent three summers at the Interlochen Arts Camp - “the most amazing time in my life” - and won a scholarship to the University of Michigan’s elite musical-theater program.

Those were good years, he said, especially after he became open about his homosexuality. And after graduating, he became busy in musicals.

On Broadway, he was a disciple in the “Jesus Christ Superstar” revival. Elsewhere, he starred with Estelle Parsons in “Harold and Maude” and starred in the early workshops of “Spring Awakening.”

Then came “Bones” and Millegan was considered a fresh face. “I’d been in the business for 10 years,” he said.

Zack was the assistant to “Bones” Brennan (Emily Deschanel), who had an almost maternal fondness for him. Derided as “squints” by the FBI guys, they were better at lab work than at human contact.

“It’s been such a journey,” Millegan said. “I don’t think any character has changed as much, except for Brennan.”

He savored the three years of steady employment. Shortly after the writers’ strike was settled, before actors were called back to work, he went to that Trail Blazers game.

Then he got a call, asking if he could come in the next day for a meeting.

“I’m like, ‘Hmmm. I’m paranoid and this does not sound good.’ ”

So Millegan insisted on the news then. He learned that his character was leaving.

Some good came, he said, including the quiet moment between Zack and Brennan. “It’s a great scene; the whole episode was really good.”

And some bad came, including a return to unemployment. Also, the Trail Blazers finished with a .500 record and missed the playoffs; sometimes, things just don’t work out.

Eric Millegan seems like such a classy guy. The fact that he was gracious enough and cared enough and took the time to send out an email to explain a little bit to his fans this past Monday’s episode, well, that just supports the theory. He’s even shared some of his potential future plans with us, so we’ll know where to look for him in the future. Best of luck to you Eric - we’ll miss you greatly and hope to see you back on the show as a guest star soon and often!

Okay. If you’ve seen the season finale, you’ve found out what I found out two months ago. I will no longer be a series regular on “Bones.� Creatively, they decided to carry out this storyline in which my character, Zack, was the apprentice to the Gormogon serial killer. The storyline landed Zack in a psychiatric facility and so he is no longer working at the Jeffersonian. This wasn’t my choice, but I embraced the challenge as an actor.

Over the last two months, I have been auditioning for some very interesting projects and I will keep you informed as to how it all goes. I’m also planning on bringing my cabaret show to NYC before the year is over. Once the date is set, I will let you know. I want to apologize to all of you for the times, over the last two months, in which I’ve had to be vague about still working on the show. I know that I told TV Guide that no one was leaving the show and well, you never know, my character is alive and there’s always the chance that he could return. Maybe they’ll have to visit Zack to help solve a case! I couldn’t tell you the whole truth because I was sworn to secrecy by the producers to tell no one about my leaving the show until now. I hated not being able to tell you (it really really s ucked) but well, unfortunately, it was my job to keep the secret.

There you go. I will really miss being on the show and I will really miss working with my friends David, Emily, Michaela, TJ, John, Tamara, Patricia and company. I loved working with Hart Hanson, Stephen Nathan, Barry Josephson and all the other producers, writers, and directors. I enjoyed working with the crew and it was an honor to be a member of the FOX family for 3 years. Finally, thank you for your continued support.

Still not over the shock of Monday’s bombshell? Yep, me neither. As excited as I was that they were going to be bringing in a new grad student(s), I certainly didn’t want to see it happen at the expense of one of our own. Zach turning out to be the Gormogon’s apprentice really sucks, although the episode was played excellently by the cast.

Apparently, Eric Millegan wasn’t terribly excited about being written off the show, although he doesn’t seem actually upset about it either. He talks about how it was an exciting way to go. One would wonder if they wrote him off because he wanted to pursue other projects, but he assures us that that wasn’t the case. Below is an interview Millegan did with TVGuide. It gives us a better look into how long they’ve known and what they thought about the way his character was ending his time on the show.

TVGuide.com: OK, so I have to say this out loud. Zack is the Gormogon apprentice.
Millegan: Yup.

TVGuide.com: I’m still cringing. How far in advance did you know about it?
Millegan: Two months ago. They met with me and told me and I was like, “What? Zack eats people?” And they told me that I don’t eat people, I kill them — I never reached the eating stage. And I was like, “Oh, My god.” But I was kind of excited because I knew it was going to be an exciting send-off.

TVGuide.com: So you’re leaving the show?
Millegan: Yeah. But they said, “You know, you’re not going to get killed, so we’ll still have the option of bringing you back.” It was shocking, and I just had to follow it and know that this is what’s happening. Zack ends up carted away to a psychiatric facility, but there is the possibility that the others may come visit me.

TVGuide.com: So we might see you next season then?
Millegan: Well, I’m not a series regular anymore, but it’s possible that I’ll be back from time to time. I can’t say much more than that, unfortunately.

TVGuide.com: Was this all written for you because you wanted to leave the show, or are you simply following the fate of your character?
Millegan: Oh, I’m following the fate of my character. It wasn’t my choice — it was a creative decision to shake things up and make a good season finale.

TVGuide.com: So you only found out you were the apprentice after the strike?
Millegan: That’s right. About a couple weeks before we resumed shooting.

TVGuide.com: Were there more Zack storylines that would have been pursued, had there not been a strike?
Millegan: Yes. As you know, at the end of Season 2, I went off to Iraq. They wanted to address it all in Season 3, but because of the strike they never got to it.

TVGuide.com: I was wondering when the show was going to address Zack’s post-traumatic stress. I kept waiting to see how he was going to deal with it.
Millegan: Yeah, I’m sad that we never got to go there.

TVGuide.com: When you first heard about the Gormogon storyline, who did you think the culprit might end up being?
Millegan: You know, I didn’t think about it. People on the board started saying they thought it was Sweets, the psychiatrist. But that didn’t even dawn on me. And it never dawned on me that it might be one of us, either.

TVGuide.com: When did the rest of the cast know that it was going to be you?
Millegan: Not until I knew. After they told me, they told everyone else.

TVGuide.com: Was it hard to keep it a secret form the rest of the world?
Millegan: Yes. But it’s my job to keep it a secret. And one thing that was hard was that Mike Ausiello did an interview with me at TV Guide’s Sexiest Stars party, and he asked if I was leaving the show. I said no, and I didn’t say I was leaving because I wasn’t allowed to. But then everybody on the message boards ran with that, saying, “Nobody’s leaving the show!” And I just thought, “Oh no, people are going to be mad at me when they find out.”

TVGuide.com: The actor who plays the master Gormogon, we haven’t seen him on the show before, right?
Millegan: No.

TVGuide.com: So was it strange playing Zack as a bad guy?
Millegan: He’s not so much a bad guy. He’s more a victim of brainwashing. It’s Zack’s intelligence that got in the way, because Gormogon rationalized [his cause] with him.

TVGuide.com: Do you think by the end of the episode, Zack really understood how he’d been used by the Gormogon master?
Millegan: Yeah, I think it really hit him hard. And actually, there was a moment that was cut out of the episode of Zack saying he’s sorry right after he explains how to catch Gormogon. Just an “I’m sorry.” I saw the cut, and realized they’d cut that out and was like, “No! Zack has to say he’s sorry!”

TVGuide.com: What have you’ve enjoyed most about working on this show?
Millegan: Working with the people. David [Boreanaz], Emily [Deschanel], T.J.[Thyne], Michaela[Conlin] and Tamara [Taylor] have been just wonderful to work with, and we really bonded very closely. Emily and I are even going to be singing “I Got You Babe” together at an AIDS benefit in August. So I’m still going to be bonded to them.

TVGuide.com: I think fans are going to feel like there’s an important chunk of the family missing.
Millegan: I hope so. I hope people miss me.

I can’t believe this. I never saw it coming. Don’t know how really, the signs were there, but somehow it’s a complete shock that Zack Addy, the baby-faced, innocent, genius squint on Bones’s team is in fact the Gorgomon’s apprentice. I’m shocked. I’m disappointed. I’m a little bit in denial.

This is a sad, sad, day for us.

Like I said, there were signs. I’d heard the rumors that Eric Millegan may not be coming back next season - even after he said he wasn’t leaving the show. And there had been speculation, although the same discussion boards also offered Hodgins and Sweets as possible Gorgomon suspects. I didn’t take any of those seriously. How could it be Zack? I feel like we’ve missed a big part of his story - due in large part to that stupid strike that took away so much time from us! Is this in some how related to what he went through in Iraq?

The people in charge of the show have pointed out that since Zack wasn’t killed, they still have the option of bringing him back as a guest star - but short of having the staff of the Jeffersonian visit him in the looney bin, I can’t see them giving him a day-pass to help out on a case. Even as silly as having his ex-co-workers visit him may be, I suppose it would be better than not finding out the why’s and wherefore’s behind what happened. How in the world was someone as brilliant as Zack conned in to becoming the apprentice to someone so obviously sick? Bones said on the show last night that his intelligence got in the way. Well, I’d still like a better explanation than that.

How about you - did any of you see this coming? I have to say that even my husband who’s usually annoyingly good at figuring out the plotline before it’s revealed on the show didn’t see this one coming.

I can’t even begin to imagine how these people get their hands on the info they do - I crawl the web as often as my 15-month-old will let me for new scoops, but apparently I’m not looking in the right places (or I don’t have the right connections.)

The Bones Spoilers on LiveJournal have a slew of spoilers posted (hence the name), but on that they’ve got is just too good not to share. So, here goes:

Looks like some of the lines from the upcoming The Finger in the Nest has been leaked, and these guys were kind enough to share. One of the lines for TJ Thyne’s character Hodgins is: “First, my best friend who used to work here, with me, he got into some big trouble and… he’s locked up now and I miss him…”

Okay, we can assume he’s talking about Zach since we already know that Bones is getting a new grad student. But what’s he locked up for? Some of the speculation on the boards is that he’s Gormagon, but I don’t buy it. I’m going to guess it has something to do with the time he spent in Iraq - we never did get the full story on why he came home like he did. I don’t think he was a deserter or anything, and I don’t expect it to be anything huge, but who knows, I could be seriously surprised. And with awesome writers like the show has, I’m sure the way it pans out will be great.

Also, later he also says: And Angela - you know Angela, she and I used to - we were engaged to be married, and well, that went south, too.

I don’t know what to think about this one. If you believe Ausiello, we’ve been promised more kissing - but not necessarily from Bones/Booth, so I assumed it was the Angela/Hodgins deal. Maybe not? But really, can you see the writers breaking up our only satisfying relationship on the show? Oh well, guess we’ll have to wait and see! What agony!

Check out this video showcasing some of the Season 2 bloopers from Bones. There’s plenty of profanity, blowing of raspberries, funny faces, forgotten lines, and general goofiness to enjoy! One of my favorite is David Boreanaz as Booth giving us a close-up on his beautiful smile - as in through a magnifying glass close-up!

There’s a funny bedroom scene with Emily Deschanel (Bones) and Eddie McClintock (Sulley) under the covers, and Boreanaz does a little dance step more than once. We see a silly side of Eric Millegan’s character Zach, and what appears to be a fly-by air attack. There’s an unscripted Booth/Bones kiss, and loads of uncontrollable giggles.

Squeaky nose jokes, more cussing, and what blooper reel would be complete without the all-time favorite, the fart joke. Anyway, don’t just take my word for it, check it out! (They make having and doing their jobs look like so much fun.)

Sometimes you look at an actor in the different roles they play and the interviews they give and they just come across as a nice person. I realize as well as the next person that an actor can have many faces and there’s no way to tell which the real one is, but sometimes a genuinely nice person does stand out beneath the scrutiny of the Hollywood lights.

TJ Thyne and Eric Millegan both appear to be such people. (The rest of the cast doesn’t shape up too badly either - but this isn’t about them!) Lee Hawthorne has a little blog that showcases different autographs from celebrities that have been received over the past year or so. As you may have guessed, both TJ and Eric have provided autographs and they are posted on the sight along with only nine other names. Apparently, TJ Thyne sent an autographed photo as well as a letter, and if you read the inscription on the photo, he mentions Lee’s note and it’s obvious that he actually took the time to read it himself. Eric Millegan sent Lee not one but two autographed photos. (You’ll have to check out his blog to see them both - I only posted the one where the autograph was more clearly legible.) I have to say, I’m impressed. Considering how much fan mail stars must get, to take the time to send something out to a fan - well, that says something about your character.

(more…)

We all knew Eric Millegan could sing - why else would he have gotten a part in Pirates of Penzance? But here is his singing the National Anthem at the Trailblazer’s game. Yes, I realize that this is an old game, but I hadn’t had the opportunity to hear Eric yet, and I just had to share it with you guys.

You’ll have to give the video a second or two, at first it seems to be just a fuzzy shot of the backs of the players and some guy in a suit for the first little bit, although you can hear Eric singing. After a bit, it finally zooms in on the overhead screen and you can see Eric (with beard it seems) belting out a beautiful Star Spangled Banner.

Oh, and he’s good - he’s really good! Don’t believe me? Just listen for yourself!