The Bones Spinoff That Was Quickly Canned By Fox
In the sixth-season episode of "Bones" called "The Finder," which aired in April of 2012, Brennan and Booth (Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz) travel to the Florida Everglades to investigate the death of a maritime museum worker whose remains in the woods lead to the discovery of a fragment of a 17th-century map. The map may lead to sunken treasure (!) and our heroes know that if they find the rest of the map, they'll likely uncover a murderer.
To help with their investigation, the two agents hire an eccentric local named Walter Sherman (Geoff Stults), an old friend of Booth's. Walter is a kooky former soldier and head injury sufferer who possesses a bizarre, obsessive talent for locating lost objects. It's implied that Walter may even have semi-clairvoyant powers.
Walter is running his own hustle in Florida, working as a "finder" for hire, and he's aided in his finding quests by his legal advisor Leo (Michael Clarke Duncan) and a spiky pilot named Ike (Saffron Burrows). Fans of "Bones" could likely tell right away that the introduction of Walter Sherman and his crew served as a backdoor pilot for a "Finder" TV series. Of course, that came to fruition less than a year later on January 12, 2012. "Bones" was a hit, so perhaps a more specialized TV series about a freelance private investigator would ride the hit show's wake to great success, right?
The new "Bones" spinoff, also called "The Finder," was a mid-season replacement that January, and it brought back Stults and Duncan in their respective roles. Burrows' character was replaced by a U.S. Marshal named Isabel Zambada (Mercedes Masöhn) and a plucky teen hacker named Willa Monday (Maddie Hasson). Although extending from "Bones," "The Finder" was largely inspired by the two books in Richard Greener's "The Locator" series, published in 2004 and 2006.
But it didn't become anywhere near as successful as "Bones," because it only ran 13 episodes.
The Finder
"Bones" may be noted for its efficiency and brisk gallows humor, but "The Finder," also created by "Bones" bigwig Hart Hanson, was a different animal. Indeed, it seems to have more in common with the ousted spy series "Burn Notice" than with the taut, structured procedural of "Bones." Walter was not a law enforcement employee, but a free agent with unorthodox investigation techniques. "The Finder" was, just by glancing, far removed from "Bones," which may explain why the show didn't quite catch on with "Bones" fans and only stayed on the air for a single season.
"Bones" fans may also have been put off by the eerie, semi-supernatural element of "The Finder." While there is no explicit magic or mysticism in "The Finder," Walter's uncanny ability to locate missing things is referred to as a "Finder Power," or sometimes "Akashvani," the Sanskrit word for "celestial announcement." Furthermore, "The Finder" also featured a character named Timo (Toby Hemingway) who had a talent for reading Tarot cards. Meanwhile, "Bones" was a show based on the science of pathology and the two main characters' ability to remain objective and unflappable in the face of bizarre, gory crimes. Introducing characters who were more or less mystically powered into the "Bones" universe seems like an ill fit. That would be like having a wizard suddenly show up in "Law & Order."
At the very least, "The Finder" seemed to possess the same flippant sense of humor as "Bones," as the backdoor pilot episode ends with a scene of Walter stuffing a museum curator in a trunk. Walter is clearly willing to comedically flout the law to bring ne'er-do-wells to justice.
"The Finder" was ultimately rejected. It may take The Finder himself to track down big fans of "The Finder" (yuk yuk).
Did people like it?
The series wasn't terribly well-received upon its release, getting only lukewarm reviews from critics. Brian Lowrey at Variety said that "The Finder" was like a less compelling version of the USA series "Human Target," and ultimately found the rote premise to be boring. Tim Goodman at the Hollywood Reporter felt "The Finder" too often implored viewers to accept farfetched and feather-light stories and characters.
Those who did bother following all 13 episodes of "The Finder" found the show broadcasting out of order and fouling up several moments of in-season continuity. After its seventh episode, it was moved from Thursday night to Friday night, the worst timeslot for primetime shows. "The Finder" was doomed.
Speaking to the Los Angeles Times in May of 2012, right when "The Finder" was canceled, show creator Hanson said there was sourness from "Bones" fans right away. He knew that even "Bones" required time to grow, and fans weren't willing to give the same time to his new show. He said:
"I was hopeful that the 'Bones' audience would check it out, but as I said to the network: It's always tough to explain the Bones audience to people," Hanson said. "Every character that we've introduced on 'Bones' has been roundly hated from the get-go. [...] I got a lot of messages saying, 'Hey, quit trying to force "The Finder" down our throats.' There was no way to explain to people that 'The Finder' wasn't replacing 'Bones.'"
"The Finder" flagged in the ratings from the start and faded away after five months, a failed spinoff lost to time.
Thanks to the streaming era, however, it is no longer lost. "The Finder" can currently be found, in the correct order, over on Disney+. Perhaps it's due for rediscovery.