Category: TCA Press Tour (Page 44 of 56)

I’m not sure if Dr. House is actually an anti-hero, given that, even with his terribly irascible manner, he still manages to save the day far more often that not. Still, he’s a drug addict with a nasty temper who makes decisions based less on a will-the-patient-live-or-die mindset and more of a I-just-want-to-know-if-I’m-right mindset, and that’s not exactly the kind of guy who find yourself rooting for, per se. In fact, it’s a minor miracle that it took a full three seasons for his team of doctors to abandon him out of sheer frustration with his methods.

As the show enters its fourth season with a few Emmy nominations in hand, it sounds as though things are going to continue to go great guns. At the very least, it looks like everyone’s back in tow to some extent: although their characters had all tendered their resignations by the end of Season 3, Omar Epps, Jennifer Morrison, and Jesse Spencer were all on the panel.

Producer Katie Jacobs admitted, “We struggled with how to sort of do exactly this. The truth is, everybody is back eventually, and everybody is back having changed and in different capacities. And, you know, it’s also sort of organic, so we only know where it’s going to a point. For us, for me, it’s the most exciting season we’ve started off so far because it feels very organic. You know, the last two seasons we’ve done an arc — season 2, season 3 we started out with arcs that involved other characters as a way to explore more deeply House’s character. But I think that their three-year fellowship, and all in different ways, has sort of naturally come to an end.

“In the first episode,” she explains, “House is alone, and House is trying to solve cases by himself. Of course, Cuddy is pissed and Wilson thinks he’s losing his mind. And Cuddy will insist that he hire a new team…but he will do it in a very House-ian way. Over the first bunch of episodes. he’s going to call in all the candidates, all the resumes on his desk — 40, I think it is, a large number — and we’re going to see who survives. We’re going to play a ‘House’ version of “Survivor” and see what candidates really will make the best part of House’s team. And House is going to give all the candidates numbers; because he can’t remember their names, they’re actually going to wear running numbers!”

Meanwhile, the trio of actors formerly known as House’s team remained pleased to be on the show, even if they really have no idea where they stand at the moment.

Morrison says that they found out about their characters shuffling off the show when “they told us all that they wanted to talk to us over lunch one day, which does feel a little bit like being called into the principal’s office. But they were fantastic and let us know what they were planning on doing.

Spencer corrected her. “Well, they didn’t actually know, though, did they? Well, I mean, they told us that we were coming back, but they didn’t know at that time in what capacity we were actually going to come back. And we are still not entirely sure. (But) we know we are back.”

Jacobs hinted, however, that just because we see them doesn’t mean they’re actually there. “(House) thinks he sees them. And Wilson is saying, ‘You know, you’re just feeling guilty, and you’re out of your mind.’ And Chase is working in Arizona in a hospital and Cameron’s with him. And Foreman is at Mercy Hospital running his own diagnostic
department. And we have fun with that as well. I definitely don’t mean to be coy, but I don’t want to spoil it for you entirely.”

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I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again to give credit where credit is due: if it wasn’t for my wife, I wouldn’t watch nearly as much “Bones” as I do. As a diehard David Boreanaz fan, she was there from Episode 1 of the series to watch her boy in his new gig…and, not surprisingly, that meant that I was there a fair amount of time as well. It’s come quite a long ways over the past few years, with Emily Deschanel growing into her character…or maybe it’s her character doing the evolving; I can’t always tell…and the rapport between Deschanel and Boreanaz getting stronger all the time. Additionally, the ensemble cast has continued to gel, which only adds to the success of the show.

* The character of Zach Addy – played by Eric Millegan – went off to Iraq at the end of last season, but since Millegan was on the panel, it was reasonable for us to presume that he’d be back for Season 3. Before Millegan could answer, however, creator Hart Hanson interrupted, “Don’t verify it, Eric! Waffle! Just because you’re here on the panel doesn’t mean you’re back!” Millegan looked for a moment as though he thought Hanson might be serious, but when Hanson admitted that he was kidding, Millegan revealed, “Yeah, I’m back. And, gosh, I don’t want to give too much away, but he was sent home early. He was supposed to be in Iraq longer, and he was sent home early, and in the show we’re going to explore why he was sent home early and how he feels about that.”

* As far as Fox’s repeated threats to move the show to an invariably-deadly Friday night timeslot, Hanson stated with conviction, “We’re not going.” Would that he had the power to make that decision. “We’ll do what we can,” he finally said. “You know, FOX does what they can. They’re fair. They have a good plan. We’d just like to perform well enough that we don’t have to move to Fridays.”

* Speaking on the subject of the definite sexual tension between Booth and Bones, Deschanel offered a titillating revelation. “I think this season we’re growing deeper as friends and other things,” she says, “just deeper as a relationship, pretty soon. I mean, we investigate a certain kind of fetish that comes up in a crime that we’re investigating and that kind of brings up a lot of sexual tension and stuff between us.” (“Pony play,” cracked Boreanaz.)

Going on, Deschanel said, “And you can see how we have been affected by being left at the altar after Angela and Hodgins left their wedding and how that kind of affected us and how we’re forced in some way to face what we feel for each other. And you’ll see that at the beginning of the season, how we’re dealing with that.”

Boreanaz added, “You’ll see us very separate and apart and not kind of clicking, I think, in the beginning. Then you’ll see how that kind of gets back and working and how it sparks up again and the reasons why it works, the reasons why it doesn’t. Again, we can possibly throw in a therapist maybe to help us with our relationship in order to deal with the workplace, which I think is — I don’t think you’ve ever seen that on television, so I think that’s a really unique insight into how these two characters will grow with each other as the show grows.”

Hanson, however, got the last word on the subject…as is only appropriate for the show’s creator.

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