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Finally! Here’s the entire conference call conversation we all had on Friday afternoon with Bones star Emily Deschanel & executive producer Hart Hanson. They are both so friendly and funny, it’s always a true pleasure to talk to them.
It’s also fun to hear them nearly correct each other or finish each other’s sentences. It’s a sign that they must really be friends. The Bones cast and production team must all be very close. They allude to it in the things they say. And it shows in the series they create for us.
Here’s what we all discussed:
Q: Now that they’re kind of tossing around the L word this season – or at least in the premiere – and they seem to really be taking stock of their emotions and how they feel about each other is that going to be an ongoing theme for this season?
H. Hanson: Yes, they’re going to be lesbians.
E. Deschanel: That’s exactly really what I thought of when he said that. Oh, really?
H. Hanson: Yes, they have to wrestle with the emotions that were uncorked in the season finale and then I was going to use the wrong verb – and looked at again in the season opener, the season five opener.
E. Deschanel: But also throughout the season this is something that’s kind of touched upon, debated, discussed, well not that much discussed. But it’s definitely a theme that continues through the season.
H. Hanson: Different characters become aware of the dynamic at different times.
Q: What about Zooey guest starring on the show, which frankly at this point I had started to file under things that are never going to happen, do you have any details yet on her character, the dynamic she’ll have with Brennan, the dynamics she’ll have with Booth, and air date?
H. Hanson: We are looking – we are trying to get Zooey in for the Christmas episode which is episode ten. She will play Brennan’s closest blood relative not counting her dad and her brother that she hasn’t met before.
E. Deschanel: That’s also hoping that something doesn’t happen.
We’ve tried this before and then she has a very busy, unpredictable schedule so something could come up and she’s like, “Sorry, I have to take this job somewhere.” Or she has to go on tour or something. I know she’s excited about it. I was e-mailing with her the other day and so hopefully it will work out, but it’s not confirmed. We’re just saying that’s what she would play if she does it.
H. Hanson: We’re just going to keep trying and one day she is going to be on this show.
Q: I’m wondering how Bones is going to cope with Booth’s changes this season?
H. Hanson: Well, you’re going to have to tune in to watch. That’s part of the story. I can tell you in general she’s going to cope the way she copes with everything in life, which is very irrationally and using her big brain instead of her heart.
E. Deschanel: Her big brain instead – yes. Her tiny heart, it’s barely there. I mean I would say that she definitely is somebody who guards her emotions and – exactly, excuse me, Hart is now patting my back.
H. Hanson: We started getting into the details of it. But you know what we said about from the beginning about Brennan is that she doesn’t lack emotions, quite the contrary she’s extremely emotional she just learned early in her life that things were easier for her if she wrapped her emotions very tightly in an armor of intellect and rationalization. That is – that’s what has to be got through for these two people to get closer. That’s the process we’re going through.
Q: And as far as actually getting them together is it just a fear that if they get together their spark will sort of die?
H. Hanson: I wouldn’t say it’s a fear. It’s – we’re just telling this story in the best way we possibly can in the time we’re guessing that we’re allotted. At the same time a series and a relationship takes on its own momentum so we’re trying to serve two masters, tell the story the best way we can while telling that story at the same rate that it seems to be demanding of itself. Oh boy.
Q: How long do you think we have until we know –
H. Hanson: Well, we know we’ve been ordered for two more seasons.
E. Deschanel: I’m thinking ten.
H. Hanson: Are you thinking ten? Emily’s thinking ten.
E. Deschanel: I just do it one episode at a time.
H. Hanson: Yes. So we’re constantly adjusting what happens when in the best way we can. We don’t want to leave – we don’t want to jump any story and we don’t want to leave any story behind. We just want to tell this story in the best possible way we can, like a series of novels. Each season is like another novel in a series of novels.
Q: Regarding the relationships, not just Booth and Brennan, but Angela and Hodgins, what kind of feedback do you get from viewers? Are they impatient or do they seem to trust you – that you’ll do right by them and the characters before it’s all said and done?
H. Hanson: We get every iteration of what you just said. There is a lot of passion in both directions. I would say nobody is patient. Everybody has a lot to say on it which is all good for us. It’s just good.
E. Deschanel: People always want to know when are Booth and Brennan going to get together, if somebody stops me in the street or something like that. It’s always a question that’s hard to answer.
H. Hanson: I get hollered at on behalf of every single character all the time including Goodman from season one, played by Jonathan Adams.
People still will come up and say, “When is Goodman coming back?” And Cullen, Booth’s boss for a while. We have a very passionate, very vocal audience base. Boy, are they not shy. They holler at me all the time. I’m glad they don’t holler at you.
It’s a great problem to have. The – silence and apathy would be a disaster. I’d rather be hollered at all the time than hear nothing.
E. Deschanel: Agreed.
H. Hanson: I’d rather be hollered at “Oh, you’re a genius, we love you, please keep going.” But that doesn’t happen. [kidding]
Q: Last season Brennan asked Booth to be the father of her child. Now that his feelings have changed for her, will we maybe readdress that question – is any baby stuff coming up?
H. Hanson: Without a doubt we will address that question.
E. Deschanel: Yes, I think you see Brennan with all ready for Booth to be the father of her child but then when all these complications happen it’s – she puts it away for a while.
H. Hanson: I always thought it was telling and a good source of the story that when the possibility of Booth being the father of her child receded somewhat for various reasons, her interest in having a baby also receded. I think that’s just one of the things that’s very telling in that relationship. She doesn’t just want to have a baby, she does not know this, but she wants to have Booth’s baby.
Q: Have you guys met David’s new baby? And how is the family doing?
E. Deschanel: I’ve seen many, many pictures of the baby. She is adorable. No, I mean she’s very young, so it would be inappropriate to bring her to the set. We’re kind of giving them time to bring her out into the world. I look forward to meeting her, she’s adorable and I know they’re just overjoyed with this new addition to their family.
H. Hanson: Certainly David has settled down quite a bit. He’s been a nervous wreck for the month preceding –even longer – the months preceding the baby’s arrival. He’s a whole different guy now. He’s happy and very, very pleased.
Q: You guys are in the same time slot you were in last year. No one is threatening to move you guys to Friday, you know you’re coming back next season already. Does stability feel different?
H. Hanson: Yes. I – how do I say this nicely? I actually – for the first time in many seasons believe the network when they – Peter Rice and Kevin Reilly said we are going to keep you on at 8 p.m., Preston Beckman on Thursdays. I’ve been screaming about that since the beginning because for those who notice such things any time we’ve been in a single time slot for more than two or three episodes our numbers go way up, people find us. Then we move again. Despite the fact that it’s a tough time slot, 8 p.m. on Thursdays, I personally am more pleased for us to be in one place with stability.
As you said every year they’ve said we’re going to move you to Fridays in the winter and that’s always just painful even though everyone is winking when they say it. Yes, stability feels better. I feel like our promos are sharper and more prevalent this year. We have a good feeling about Bones this season from the network.
E. Deschanel: I don’t want to take anything for granted and I think it’s something that we’re always trying to work as hard and harder than we did the last year and it’s – I don’t think because of what we’ve been through none of us take anything for granted. It’s nice that they’ve made that gesture that they’ve kept us in the same time slot, that they’ve picked us up for two seasons. That’s really nice.
H. Hanson: It doesn’t change our work.
E. Deschanel: It doesn’t change our work.
Q: Following up on that though, from this position of stability can you look back at the past few years and see advantages to sort of the chip on the shoulder attitude that you guys have had for a couple of seasons?
H. Hanson: I cannot. As Emily said we tucked in right from the beginning, right from the pilot. It’s a very good company, an excellent crew. It’s not like it kept us sharp or anything what it did was kind of inure us to pain – I would much rather have been where we are now back in the beginning in one slot. It’s sort of the CBS mode of doing things is to stick a show into its slot and let it find an audience. I think that would have served us well.
E. Deschanel: I think – I like the fact though that we’ve never – we’ve always kind of been like the show that just surprises everyone that they move us around all the time and yet our audience will grow and I love the fact that that’s the way our show is and that we weren’t some crazy hit right off the bat. I think we’ve been able to grow naturally and our audience grows while we’re growing. I like that element.
H. Hanson: Maybe you’re right. Maybe it did kind of bring us together like the Little Engine That Could.
E. Deschanel: Right. Our egos would have probably gotten huge if we were in one place and people watched our show from the beginning.
Q: Can you please extend everyone’s congratulations to David and his family for the new baby? Everybody is excited for them.
E. Deschanel: Aw, we will.
H. Hanson: I will do that. People have been twittering that and certainly the response on Searching Bones has been like that so I’ll keep – I’ll tell him you said that.
Q: A lot of people have noticed is that David isn’t dressing the same way in the first episode. He doesn’t have his “cocky” belt buckle and he’s wearing a black tie and socks –what’s up with that? Is that part of the brain tumor thing?
H. Hanson: It is. It is. He’s got to come back in his own inimitable way over a little bit of time.
Q: Do you know if the crossover with Lie to Me is going to still be happening or is that just rumor?
H. Hanson: It’s slightly better than rumor and it’s much less than a fact. I think the fact that here we are going into our fifth season, we’re a machine in a way in terms of generating stories and getting scripts out and Lie to Me is still – they’ve got a new show runner. It’s a lot harder for them. In a way we’re waiting to see if Lie to Me is able to do that. If they are then we have a few ideas. If they are not, we really understand. Retooling a series is like doing the first season again and really those guys have to have their heads down just trying to make their new season and establish their new series. Their first priority is not going to be doing a crossover with us.
Q: Oh, but Lightman would be perfect person to see that Booth was not being honest about his feelings. That would be perfect.
H. Hanson: I’m writing that down. [laughs]
Q: Emily, Hart’s very active on Twitter, will you ever become more active there too?
E. Deschanel: I don’t know. My sister joined recently. It’s one of those things I’m so busy with everything I don’t do Facebook, I don’t do MySpace, FaceMates, I don’t know. I don’t do any of that. It’s just like I have a hard time keeping up with phone calls, e-mails, and texts already so I might consider it in the future. Right now I don’t know, I don’t know why anyone – I don’t know what anyone would care what I’m doing and I’m kind of like what people might care about I don’t really necessarily want to share. So it’s –
H. Hanson: It’s a bit onerous, too I’ve got to tell you— I sit in front of my computer all day, so for me to switch over and do one little thing two or three times a day is nothing.
E. Deschanel: Right.
H. Hanson: You don’t have that. It’s onerous. I did it because Stephen Fry talked me into it.
Continue Reading Part 2