Bones
Every body has secrets

// The skinny: An FBI agent and a bone anthropologist team up to solve freakish murder cases.

// Review: America has spoken. These days they either want to watch reality tv detritus, serialized dramas, derivative sitcoms or procedural crime shows. Bones falls in the latter. While it's not exactly riveting television, there is much worse out there.

/ The show pairs a cocky FBI agent (David Boreanez) with a brilliant and cynical anthropologist (Emily Dashanel). Together they solve murders with two having a Mulder-Scully type of relationship; he thinks with his gut while she approaches everything with cold logic. They also have a team of lab rats who spout geek babble about dirt, bugs, and bone fragments which aids in their investigations.

/ If you've ever watched a CSI then you have a pretty good idea what you are in for. The show tries to shock the audience with bizarre murders and gruesome close up shots of corpses. It attempts to carve out its niche through its eccentric characters. Here's a spoiler: like all of the other shows of this ilk, out of the 4 different possible suspects it's the one who appears the most innocent. I know- surprising.

/ The writing is average. It tries to infuse humor with Dr. Brennan being oblivious to any cultural reference. The acting is also average. Personally I think Boreanez mugs at the camera way too much. There is also a lot of hamfisted will-they-wont-they sexual tension, which includes the partners often unnecessarily talking inches apart from each other. Unfortunately the show falls off the rails when the focus shifts from the actual cases to the inter-office drama.

// Wrap up: Bones has a sum is greater than the parts feel. There is nothing especially great about it, but it's one of the few shows I watch where dirt particulates and bone fractures shape the plot.

Entertainment rating: 3