David Boreanaz (Booth) is getting a lot of buzz lately in light of his recent feature film, The Mighty Macs. Considering how Boreanaz’s sportsfan status has bled into Booth’s character, it doesn’t surprise us at all that he’d land a big-screen role as a former NBA referee. And in her report on Macs, Amy Longsdorf of Morning Call doesn’t appear too surprised, either… but she did get some nice info on Bones in the midst of her coverage!

Namely, there’s this delicious tidbit about Booth and Angela (Michaela Conlin). While the two characters interact only infrequently on Bones, it appears that the two actors have a lot to say to each other — including some fightin’ words!

“It’s always fun to be on the set with Michaela,” Boreanaz said, “and throw down some Allentown and Philly love. I always tease her about [Allentown] being famous for gymnastics.” When they’re not trading hometown jabs, Boreanaz continued, they’re developing a valuable director-actor relationship: “I really like working with [Conlin] as a director. I’m always challenging her to push her character even further.”

Boreanaz also took a moment to bust out some major Bones pride, claiming that the show is “the tipping point for procedurals.” According to DB, Bones really set the high-water mark for crime dramas, with every other network subsequently shooting for a “relationship-driven” analogue.

And with Fox considering an eighth season for Bones, we can’t exactly dispute Boreanaz’s take here! Imitation is the best form of flattery, after all. Long live Bones!

Source: Morning Call

Michaela Conlin, T.J. Thyne, Tamara Taylor and John Francis Daley will now earn in the mid-five figures per episode range to remain on the drama should it get an eighth season.

Michaela Conlin (Angela Montenegro), T.J. Thyne (Dr. Hodgins), Tamara Taylor (Dr. Saroyan) and John Francis Daley (Dr. Sweets) have closed new deals to remain on the long-running Fox detective series should it score an expected eighth season order.

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The four actors, who were making in the $30,000 to $40,000 per episode range heading into their negotiations with studio 20th Century Fox TV, received pay bumps that brought them each to the mid-five figures per episode in exchange for an additional season on their contract, a source tells The Hollywood Reporter. 20th TV declined comment.

For Conlin and Thyne, who are both original castmembers, season seven was the last on their contract.

The raises are retroactive and will count towards the show’s seventh season, which has been scaled back some to accomodate star Emily Deschanel’s pregnancy. For her part, Deschanel and her co-star David Boreanaz have already renegotiated their contracts. TV Guide Magazine pegged his salary at $200,000 per episode, while she is said to make slightly less than that.

At the Television Critics’ Association semi-annual press tour in July, Fox entertainment chief Kevin Reilly said that they hadn’t had any formal discussions about renewing Bones yet, but “the producer would like to keep it going; and we’d like to keep it going.”

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Watching TV might not make you smart, but unless you spend all your tube time keeping up with the Kardashians, chances are it’s at least broadened your view of what smart looks like.

For more than 20 million viewers a week, it looks like Abby Sciuto, the pigtailed Goth girl Pauley Perrette plays on CBS’ “NCIS.”

A forensic specialist who’s been known to narrow a list of suspects by analyzing the DNA in people’s poop – a dirty job that happily occurred offscreen – Abby has a different skill set, but she’s the glass-is-at-least-half-full version of Chloe O’Brian (Mary Lynn Rajskub), the grumpy Counter Terrorist Unit worker whose computer wizardry on Fox’s “24″ helped Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) survive some of his worst days.

Abby’s so popular that when CBS was ready to spin off its No. 1 drama, it had Perrette help in the handoff to “NCIS: Los Angeles” with an early crossover.

Chloe’s so vital that including a woman who’s good with computers and other technology – think Penelope, the Caltech dropout Kirsten Vangsness plays on CBS’ “Criminal Minds,” Jasika Nicole’s Astrid on Fox’s “Fringe” or Angela, Michaela Conlin’s tech-savvy artist on Fox’s “Bones” – is now more the TV rule than the exception.

“Bones” is a geek-girl extravaganza, a romantic comedy (with corpses) built around a brilliant scientist/novelist named Temperance Brennan (Emily Deschanel) and her less cerebral FBI agent partner, Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz).

Conlin, whose character was initially less comfortable with science than most of her colleagues at Washington’s fictional Jeffersonian, has seen Angela evolve into a tech-savvy member of the team.

Sitcom’s universe expands

The lure of the lab has also been felt in comedy. One of TV’s most-watched sitcoms, CBS’ “The Big Bang Theory,” started out as a show about superbright male roommates (Jim Parsons and Johnny Galecki) and their blond, less academically gifted female neighbor (Kaley Cuoco).

“Big Bang” has only gotten funnier as it’s expanded the guys’ universe to include female scientists, especially the two played by Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch.

If seeing is believing, some think having girls grow up seeing women on television with math and science backgrounds may lead to more women pursuing careers in those fields. It’s already happening, said Perrette, who has participated in a public-service campaign to promote careers in science and technology.

“They call it the Abby Effect, actually. We’ve been on the show nine seasons, and these girls started watching when they were young, and they’re in college now,” Perrette said.

“I get letters and stuff from people all the time, all over the world – parents, grandparents, kids themselves – that say this fictional character that I play” influenced them, “and now they’re pursuing math and science. … To be able to play this character that has literally made young girls think that it’s OK for them to pursue math and science is unbelievable,” she said.
Inspiration for viewers

In terms of response to her “Big Bang Theory” character, Bialik said she gets “a lot from the geek male culture, an appreciation for this kind of female being presented and represented. But I think also for females in sciences, I’ve heard a lot from women who are either wanting to be scientists or who, you know, find it inspiring to see someone in science.”

For her part, Rajskub, whose pre-”24″ background was mostly in comedy – she was a regular this season on CBS’ short-lived sitcom “How to Be a Gentlemen” – sees women like Chloe as just another expression of TV diversity.

“I think the whole climate of shows right now, in different aspects, for women is fantastic. Because it’s showing a lot of different angles and complexities,” she said, adding, “not that being a smart woman is complex.”

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