You’ve made me want to watch it now, naturally!

The metalevels around Kathy/Temperence is fascinating – Kathy Reichs wrote books about Temperence Brennan, drawing on her professional experience. Then they converted the books into the show, Bones. Then in the show, they made Brennan an author, who draws on her experience to write procedural crime fiction about a character named… Kathy Reichs.

And then they make a movie of the books in the show.

I love Bones for so many reasons – the smart handling of (straight, cis) gender politics. (I don’t remember them venturing out of that safe-ish zone so much, but they handle that area better than most). The interesting cases. The way they picked up the idea that Brennan is socially inept and embraced it, making her a much more engaging character than if they’d tried to turn her into Charisma Girl. The way they aren’t afraid to keep their characters on the straight and narrow – it’s bizarre how many shows seem incapable of generating interest without making everyone “gritty” (i.e. awful). And the way it constantly reminds me of a good friend of mine who edits a certain blog…

If you like Bones, I also recommend Castle – for a similarly entertaining procedural crime drama, where the real hero is a woman, and she’s backed up by her male friend. In Castle, Kate Beckett is the cop and Richard Castle is a writer, and while he’s the show’s namesake he’s not the sole lead by a long shot. Castle handles tension better than Bones does, although it doesn’t give you quite as much of a glimpse into the characters’ out-of-work lives (aside from Castle, whose family play quite a big role).