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Worst TV Show of the Week

Bones on Fox

Crime dramas have always been part of television; but in recent years, such programs have become increasingly graphic in depicting violence and dead bodies. One example of TV’s current fetish for showing violence in as gruesome detail as possible is the January 27^th episode of Fox’s Bones (9:00 p.m. ET), the Worst TV Show of the Week.  

The episode opens with prisoner Heather Taffet being taken to a hearing. A former prosecutor turned serial killer of children, Taffet is known as the Gravedigger for her practice of burying children alive. In the prison van on the way to the hearing, Taffet mercilessly mocks FBI psychiatrist Sweets, hoping to shake him up so that he cannot testify against her. But as Taffet is being taken into the courthouse, she is killed by a sniper’s bullet.

Taffet’s head explodes in a burst of blood, as a sickening “splat” sound is heard. Sweets’ face is splattered with blood, as the camera zooms in repeatedly on Taffet’s headless corpse. Huge chunks of skull, hair, and brain matter litter the pavement, as a huge gush of blood pours from the neck hole of the corpse onto the sidewalk. The camera pans lovingly over the gory carnage and pieces of flesh, bone, and brains, ending by caressing the enormous puddle of blood spilling from Taffet’s body.

But this is just the beginning of the episode’s obsession with gore. In the forensic lab, the bloody, flesh-covered skull fragments are minutely examined. Eventually, Bones and her assistants place all the fragments on a rotating display, while they discuss “hydrostatic shock.” “Cause of death: exploded head!” exclaims one coroner gleefully.

Eventually, the team determines that a professional sniper – an old friend of detective Booth’s -- was hired to commit the crime by the father of two of the Gravedigger’s victims. During the course of their investigation, Booth and Bones visit the apartment from which they have determined the shots came. There, they find a bathtub covered with a plastic tarp, which has been duct-taped into place. Inside, they find the half-eaten corpse of the woman who rented the apartment. The camera zooms in on her half-rotted face and exposed ribcage, the tub filled with congealed blood and corrosive chemicals. The coroners later discuss at length the fact that the woman was stabbed in the back of the neck (a wound shown in extreme close-up), then her corpse dumped into the tub, which was filled with the equivalent of Drano and left to rot. This discussion takes place around the skeleton of the woman, to which a residue of fleshy pulp still clings.

There are various other subplots throughout the episode, such as Dr. Sweets’ professional insecurity, Booth’s interest as a former sniper himself, and Bones’ troubled relationship with her father, who is a suspect in the crime. These aspects could make for a compelling story; unfortunately, the show’s creators seem much more interested in focusing on explicit gore than on character development. And naturally, Fox rated this gruesome program about exploding heads and rotted corpses appropriate for 14 year old children.

For extreme violence, Bones is the Worst TV Show of the Week.