What made Bones so bad and when did it start?

Submitted by ResponsibilityOk5050 t3_y9ucbs in television

I started rewatching Bones and the first few seasons were great. Now, I haven’t watched it in months and I recently put it back on for background. I am on season 7 now, it is mid. It is slightly better than season 6, but I feel like the characters don’t have good on screen chemistry anymore, the dialogue is cringe (always has been slightly, but its worse), the characters just feel like they are playing stereotypes. The only good characters are Sweets, the interns (sometimes), and maybe Angela.

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jim-p t1_it9a29a wrote

I watched the whole run when it aired originally and I'm actually also a few seasons into a rewatch now. I can see a few things hitting people the wrong way, such as:

  • When >!Zach!< turned out to be an apprentice of >!Gormagon!< but then they walked it back but not in a way that allowed him to return.
  • The whole >!Gormagon!< plot entirely, for that matter
  • When they killed off >!Sweets!<
  • When they killed off >!Vincent Nigel Murray!<
  • The whole >!Pelant!< plot
  • The problematic treatment of >!Dr. Haru Tanaka!< who was >!androgynous!< getting turned into a guessing game/joke
  • The hallucination/dream sequence/alternate reality episodes
  • Several episodes wouldn't have had much plot if they followed basic procedures they used to regularly call out early on, like using proper PPE for what they're doing.

Probably more I'm forgetting

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Bobby_Marks2 t1_ita530e wrote

I for one loved that first bullet point of yours. An actor needs to be written out of a show, and instead of killing him off or having him retire they do something interesting with him. They left the door open to him coming back (in case Eric's mental health ever allowed for it), but it was out of their hands.

It's fun going back to the show, because it's so god awful compared to the kinds of content we get today. Today, a new Bones show would be six $40m/each episodes that glorified serial killers rather than forensic minds.

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jim-p t1_ita77su wrote

I get it, the things I listed weren't necessarily all good or bad but points at which I could see some people checking out or writing the show off. More "contoversial" events rather than things I, personally, didn't like.

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meowskywalker t1_it7hhj5 wrote

Like any police procedural it eventually gets boring doing the same plots over and over. Until suddenly there’s a man who can hack into a computer by carving code onto Bones.

Also holy shit Booth’s interrogation style of assuming everyone in the interrogation room must be guilty and treating them like scum gets irritating fast. He’s needlessly antagonizing innocent people who might be able to help the investigation in a less confrontational conversation. I understand it’s accurate to real life but this is a fantasy show why can’t I have a fantasy cop that isn’t that?

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__bobafett__ t1_it7zoq5 wrote

The Pelant character is where they lost me too. I think the last episode I watched the rich bug guy had to choose between stopping Pelant from draining his bank accounts or saving a school full of children from a drone strike. It was so ridic.

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meowskywalker t1_it80mvl wrote

Reminded me of Dark Knight Rises when the stock exchange is attacked by terrorists who hacked in to the computer but they still assume all of Bruce Wayne’s terrible stock purchases were definitely totally legit. No way to fix it, I guess.

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TVxStrange t1_it7pjs2 wrote

When Temperance ran away.

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bitca57 t1_it8er6c wrote

I only watched the series when it originally aired and have never rewatched since it went off the air. So I can't speak to when it got worse. However, over the years of watching it, I remember being less and less inclined to watch, especially the last couple seasons. It's just one of those things where every show has an expiration date, but networks don't know when to end a show. It's not about quality to them. It's about milking it for everything they can. Fox sucked every dime out of that show until it was no longer profitable for them.

I don't believe any show can benefit from being on the air for 10+ seasons. It's just too much. The characters get stale and the storylines start to run out. You end up repeating plot lines and going around and around in circles. People think that procedurals have the opportunity to go on for longer than the average show because it's "case of the week" and there are endless possibilities, but truthfully, there are only so many cases you can do that are truly that interesting. And there are only so many obstacles you can put a romantic relationship through before it just starts becoming unbelievable and you start questioning why those people are still together if the only thing they ever do is fight, bicker, and never see eye to eye on any situation.

The show ran its course, but Fox was still profiting from it. So they kept it going. I think 6 seasons is a good ending point for any TV show.

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eleven_eighteen t1_itajusr wrote

I stopped around the time of the episodes where they were in England. Can't remember when that was. It just became clear that the main guy was nothing more than a complete dick and I was sick of watching him. I just hate those characters with pretty much no redeeming qualities who treat everyone else on the show like garbage but all the other characters keep putting up with them. And not just putting up with them but they let themselves be walked all over and rarely push back, at least in any kind of meaningful way.

The same basic problem I had with The Mentalist. Main guy started being written very lazily, he'd treat everyone like shit and make them look like fools and then in the last few minutes he'd explain what happened and on to the next episode. The earlier episodes actually felt like there was a process of him piecing together a case bit by bit and the rest of the crew actually helping a bit.

I have no problem with asshole characters. But at least give them some kind of personality beyond asshole and/or have some consequences for their shit behavior. Or do it with a side character who isn't on screen 75% of the time.

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AgentElman t1_it7kknc wrote

I like the later seasons much more than the first seasons - but for the same reasons.

In the later seasons the good characters are Sweets and the interns. Whereas those are largely missing in the first seasons.

I enjoyed Bones when watching it the first time, but on rewatch I find Bones and Booth's constant bickering to just be annoying. Less Bones and Booth makes the show much better.

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