History Series / Bones

* ArtisticLicenseBiology:

* CourtroomAntics: Caroline has been known to engage in them every now and then.
-->'''David Barron:''' Objection. Assuming facts not in evidence.\\
'''Caroline Julian:''' What do you mean? The defendant has every needle disease in the book, except HIV. \\
'''David Barron:''' Same objection. Plus Miss Julian seems to deeply desire to testify herself.\\
'''Caroline Julian:''' Yes, I would like to testify, because then I'd know what answers I was getting.\\
'''Judge:''' Alright, settle down. This is a murder trial, not a night at the Improv.

* AmoralAttorney: Not a direct example as Bones isn't an attorney, but the exact same UnfortunateImplications of the trope are explored in ''The Girl in the Fridge''; Bones and an OldFlame turned {{Rival}} are opposing experts in a murder trial. Bones clinically delivers her conclusions, her ex makes somewhat less professional conclusions while chatting up the jury - and implies that Bones isn't really as smart as she sounds. In between sessions, her ex states that he's merely "playing the game" - he's supposed to argue that the evidence supports the defendant, just as she's for the prosecution. In-universe, Bones' consultant argues for impartiality and sweet-talking the jury, but sees nothing wrong with her ex using inside knowledge (which he got by ''sleeping'' with her) to attack her character instead of the evidence (the prosecution objects and the judge sustains[[note]][[http://remediallawnotes.blogspot.com/2014/07/character-of-witnesses.html Character of Witnesses]]; "Personal opinions on the moral character of a witness, being usually too general, sweeping or subjective, are excluded." Bones' ex isn't saying that she's reading the evidence wrong, he's saying she's a lousy scientist. Such a broad accusation is ''absolutely wrong'' in a courtroom where she is not the defendant.[[/note]], but Brennan's consultant waves it off as a technicality; "He looks like a regular guy who's not allowed to speak the truth because the stupid rules get in the way."). This leads into the same Unfortunate Implications as Amoral Attorneys - that ''scientists'' aren't supposed to be impartial, but to have agreed in advance as to who is guilty no matter which side they're on.

* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Dr. Oliver Wells. He takes being an InsufferableGenius UpToEleven, to the point not even Bones likes him. Everyone (except for Fisher, go figure) will outright admit they don't like him. He's kept around out of necessity (and being a polymath).

* WouldntHurtAChild: Repeatedly invoked by Bones in the seventh episode of season seven. She's in a prison and [[EvenEvilHasStandards knows the prisoners wouldn't hurt a pregnant woman]]. UpToEleven when she [[DissonantSerenity walks calmly through]] the middle of a prison riot, where the prisoners don't just get out of her way, but actively block some people who might get close to her.

* ArtisticLicenseLaw: Brennan gets sentenced to six months probation for simple assault in season 11, and Booth is assigned as her probation officer. Not only does Booth ''not'' have the required training to work as a probation officer, but he and Brennan have been married for several years by this point, which would create a '''massive''' conflict of interest and therefore no judge in their right mind would assign him to supervise her.

''Bones'' is an American forensic comedy-drama series created by Hart Hanson that aired for 12 seasons (2005–17) on Creator/{{Fox}}.

Temperance "Bones" Brennan (Creator/EmilyDeschanel), forensic anthropologist, is the pride of the Jeffersonian Institute's medico-legal lab. She's a brilliant scientist who's traveled all over the world in the course of her work and has even used her experience in the field to write a series of bestselling mystery novels. She's the person the FBI calls when a body (usually, well, ''bones'') can't be identified by normal procedures.

''Bones'' is a television series which started on September 13, 2005 and ended on March 28, 2017 after 12 seasons. Temperance "Bones" Brennan (Creator/EmilyDeschanel), forensic anthropologist, is the pride of the Jeffersonian Institute's medico-legal lab. She's a brilliant scientist who's traveled all over the world in the course of her work and has even used her experience in the field to write a series of bestselling mystery novels. She's the person the FBI calls when a body (usually, well, ''bones'') can't be identified by normal procedures.

* ArtisticLicenseLaw: Brennan gets sentenced to six months probation for aggravated assault in season 11, and Booth is assigned as her probation officer. Not only does Booth ''not'' have the required training to work as a probation officer, but he and Brennan have been married for several years by this point, which would create a '''massive''' conflict of interest and therefore no judge in their right mind would assign him to supervise her.

* HollywoodNerd: Brennan, Hodgins, Zack, Sweets...most of the Lab characters fit here. They’re all good looking, have nerdy interests and varying social awkwardness in Brennan and Zack’s case. Angela is the non-nerdy exception.

* CookedToDeath: In one episode the victim was baked alive in the oven of an airplane.

* FlexibilityEqualsSexAbility: In ''The Body in the Bag'', Sweets and Booth have to watch a woman's sex tape [[ItMakesSenseInContext to look for clues about a murder]] and Sweets comments on how flexible she is, earning him an odd look from Booth.
* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: InUniverse, the episode ''Big In the Philippines'' is about a country singer [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin who is astoundingly popular in the Philippines]] despite being virtually unknown in the U.S. (his American fans amount to twenty or less, whereas he's a radio superstar in the Philippines).

* AdultFear: Brennan's anxiety when she couldn't get a hold of [[spoiler: Max, who was babysitting Christine]] in ''The Family in the Feud''.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: In the alternate universe episode at the end of season 4, Nigel-Murray jokes that Zack is the kind of person who [[spoiler:would go to jail for a murder he didn't commit]]. Sort of a retroactive Funny Aneurysm Moment from a watcher's view, but a straight example in-universe.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent:
** "The Ghost in the Machine", which puts the viewer in the POV of the victim's skull.
** "The Movie in the Making", which has the investigation filmed by a camera crew, with sidelines commentary of the cast members.

* HollywoodLaw: [[DiplomaticImpunity Diplomatic immunity]] is badly abused in two cases. In the first, a diplomat is threatened with being returned home to be prosecuted, in which case she'll be put in prison and killed by other inmates. To avoid this, she waives immunity. Too bad for her, immunity belongs to the state, not the individual, so she can't actually waive her own immunity. Later, Pelant falsifies records to claim Egyptian citizenship, without any mention of him actually having (fake) diplomatic status. Somehow, all Egyptian tourists are diplomats now.

* MindScrew: Hodgins tells Angela to record ''Series/SleepyHollow''. It can't be another adaptation, because the real story was never written in-universe, according to ''Sleepy Hollow''s showrunners. And yet later, there's a crossover, Abbie and Ichabod are showing up at the Jeffersonian as real people.

* StatusQuoIsGod: A form of it with the ''Series/SleepyHollow'' crossover. It was written in a way that the "Bones" characters could go to Sleepy Hollow and manage not to see a bunch of things that would change everything they ever believed and permanently alter them and the show as a whole. Brennan wondered why Crane's writing matched a document hundreds of years old, but seemed to accept his explanation of inherited handwriting similarities. Over on the ''Series/SleepyHollow'' half of the crossover, they didn't see all the supernatural stuff happening and came back to "Bones" pretty much unchanged.

* AbsenteeActor: David Boreanaz wasn’t present in the season 11 premiere (''The Loyalty in the Lie'') due to being hospitalized for an injury. The “Doom In the Boom” explosion storyline was the original premiere plot but [[RealLifeWritesThePlot Booth’s disappearance due to the issues with Jared was created instead]].