A Scene From Bones' Pilot Was Plucked Right From Real Life
As fun as it is to watch Temperance Brennan (Emily Deschanel), Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz), and the rest of the "Bones" gang fend off serial killers and other assorted dangers on a weekly basis, doing that in real life would be incredibly stressful.
Thankfully, forensic anthropology tends to be a much quieter and more mundane profession than Hart Hanson's procedural might lead you to assume — one that requires you to spend countless hours collecting human remains that can no longer be readily identified and then spend even more time analyzing them in a lab. (Suffice it to say, having to hang around crime scenes and mass graves for a living is stressful enough without having to worry about the perpetrators hunting you down.) But just because "Bones" is a fictionalized take on this vocation doesn't mean it avoids directly lifting from real life every now and then.
Speaking at a 2007 Q&A with other members of the "Bones" cast and crew (via IGN), Hanson admitted that he wasn't even interested in making a show about forensics until he learned about the exploits of the real-life forensic anthropologist, professor, and novelist Kathy Reichs. It was Dr. Reichs who created the Temperance "Bones" Brennan character in the first place, drawing in part from her own personal experiences in the area of forensics. Interestingly, however, Hanson clarified that his show isn't actually based on Reichs' "Bones" novels so much as Reichs herself, and even (occasionally) incorporates specific incidents from her life.
Forensics shop talk isn't for everybody
The problem with working in a field like forensics is that it becomes easier to forget that a lot of your profession involves dealing with some pretty horrific stuff, specifically the kind that people within earshot might not want to hear about while you and your co-workers are idly chatting. That's exactly what happens in a scene from the "Bones" pilot when Brennan and her crew are shooting the s**t about their current assignment, grossing out some folks who happen to catch wind of what they're discussing and awkwardly shuffle away. It's an amusing moment that, as Hanson revealed during the aforementioned Q&A, was based directly on something similar that happened to Reichs (who shared the story with the show's producers herself).
That wasn't the only event from Reichs' real life that made it into the "Bones" pilot either. The episode also begins with Brennan returning from a trip to Guatemala in which she helped identify victims from the country's civil warring, much like Reichs did back in 2002 (as detailed on her personal website). Mind you, it appears Reichs wasn't busted at the airport for carting a human skull around in her travel bag like Brennan is during the episode (nor did she use her martial arts know-how to teach a grabby Homeland Security officer a lesson ... so far as we know, anyway). But it's like I said, life as a forensics specialist in general tends to be a tad less exciting than it is in the "Bones" universe.
All 12 seasons of "Bones" are currently available to stream on Hulu.