Worst TV Show of the Week Brought to you by the Parents Television Council WARNING: Graphic Content!!! Do NOT push play if you don't want to see the explicit video!!!

Bones on Fox

The phenomenal success of CBS’ forensic crime series CSI has created a glut in forensic procedurals.  Five out of the seven nights in CBS’ current fall schedule contain at least one show in which viewers are certain to see attractive medical examiners don latex gloves.  Not to be outdone, Fox’s foray into the genre follows the same formula and, on occasion, goes one step further.  For excessive gore and implied violence, the Fox network’s Bones (Wednesday, 8:00 p.m.) has been named Worst TV Show of the Week.

The October 1^st episode began with office workers riding an elevator up a metropolitan high rise.  As the elevator car rattles violently, a dismembered, decomposed leg wearing fashionable black pumps falls from overhead.  Later, forensic anthropologist, Dr. Temperance “Bones” Brennan, and her colleague, Dr. Camille Saroyan, inspect the elevator shaft.  The camera lingers on hunks of tissue plastered on the wall.  “I’m gonna need a spatula to scrape off all the flesh and the organs,” Dr. Saroyan announces dryly.  Dr. Brennan replies, “The bones are in hundreds of pieces.  I want them bagged.”  Putrid blood and liquid fester around a severed hand resting on top of the car.  The doctors turn their flashlights upward and illuminate the dead woman’s remains smeared along the length of the elevator shaft. 

Admittedly, the rest of the show is relatively tame, but it should be noted that the series’ goriest material consistently airs at the beginning of the Family Hour.  Each week, Bones begins with the discovery of a body (or parts thereof) in the most ghastly states of repose.  One week, a victim was found partly submerged in an outhouse cesspool.  The feces accelerated decomposition so that the top half of the body was reduced to a skeleton, while the bottom half was relatively intact.  Another week, the hacked up pieces of a man floated to the surface of an industrial pool while a teenage boy urinated into it.  Yet another episode began with an opossum dining on the partially decapitated head of a man mauled by a dog.  Again, these scenes occurred when children were the most likely to tune in.

Unfortunately, parents have little recourse if they wish their children to avoid such scenes while channel surfing. Currently, the FCC has no authority to restrict violent content on television.  Theoretically, broadcasters can air any amount of violence they think viewers can stand without fear of penalty.  Over the years, crime procedurals have contributed to the nearly 100,000 acts of violence that children watch before the age of 18.  The consensus within the scientific community affirms that there is a relationship between children who watch violent programming and their aggressive behavior in later life. There is also evidence that watching such programming leads to desensitization towards violence and fear of becoming a victim among child viewers.  This past spring, the FCC urged lawmakers to consider regulations that would restrict violent programs to late-evening hours, when fewer children watch television.  So far, however, no action has been taken. 

For excessive gore and irresponsibly airing the show’s most objectionable content at the start of the Family Hour, Bones has been named the Worst TV Show of the Week.