Scooby-Doo

Y'all know how completely in the tank I am for Bones, but I was relieved by the quality of the season premiere. It's a risky move, breaking up a gang, but I think it's wise. Seven months is enough time for Brennan to get a new haircut and beat up some guerillas, for Angela to get happily knocked up, for Booth to meet a lady who may be blonde, journalistic, and eager to wander into war zones but can't possibly be long for this series, for Cam's job to be endangered, for Sweets to adopt a deeply ridiculous hat for which he should be severely punished. But it's not enough time for the team's chemistry to dissipate, just for it to alter.

The thing that really caught me, though, once I got beyond my relief that the show has not become instantly horrible despite the disruption, was the clear reference to the team as the Scooby Gang. It's not as if Bones is the first show to ever do that; Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the most prominent and best show to claim the mantle. I just think it's fascinating that such a silly show yielded such an effective and durable archetype. I never thought Scooby-Doo was particularly good, and certainly the live-action adaptation was more humiliating than revivifying of the franchise. The reappropriations are more about reinterpretation than homage, or even particularly direct reference. Certainly nobody on Bones is Shaggy. Or the damn dog.