Is there a symbolic reason for the rotating lab assistants on Bones, or was it a production decision?
After the main lab assistant, Zack Addy, was found to be in cahoots with an evil character a few seasons ago, the role of the lab assistant on Bones has been played by a rotating set of actors and actresses, any one of which would be featured on a particular episode.
The episode of Bones from the week before last (U.S. airdate,"The Patriot in Purgatory") brought together Dr. Temperance Brennan's lab assistants to all work together.
This interaction as part of Dr. Brennan's Phil Jackson-influenced team made me curious about why this assistant role has been designated to all of these performers, and not just focused down to perhaps a couple of recurring assistants with stronger character depth.
I have worked in science, and while there is some variety in personnel, I don't see this casting move as being symbolic of scientists working with a variety of different assistants on a day-to-day basis. Are we to believe that we're getting to know bits and pieces of these characters as Dr. Brennan might with her semi-limited ability to socialize?
If not, is this totally a decision based on economic and logistic needs of the production staff?
Best Answer
According to the Bones wiki, the assistants since Zack's departure are interns. As such, they would be working for a limited period of time in order to get on-the-job training as part of a degree program, and then they graduate and move on to real jobs. For the dynamics of the show, it gives a fresh energy every season or so.
ADDITIONAL INFO - In an interview with executive producer Stephen Nathan, he said:
"As of now we're going to continue to rotate them. We were looking back at all the interns we used this season and trying to figure out who would work out best, and we can't make a decision," Nathan said.
"We love them all. And I think [the variety] has really helped the show a lot, because fans have their favorite, so people tune in to find out who's going to be on that week. Also, we've been extremely lucky with the actors we've cast. Everybody our casting director Rick Milligan has brought in could easily be a regular on our show, and that's a very rare thing to find. It seems like we have a permanent cast of players now."
This would indicate the decision has less to do with how real labs work and more about ratings.
Pictures about "Is there a symbolic reason for the rotating lab assistants on Bones, or was it a production decision?"
Why did bones have rotating interns?
According to the Bones wiki, the assistants since Zack's departure are interns. As such, they would be working for a limited period of time in order to get on-the-job training as part of a degree program, and then they graduate and move on to real jobs.Who becomes bones assistant after Zack?
2 Clark Edison Clark was the first intern to take over after Zack, making him the measurement on whether this rotating intern experiment would work. Clark immediately established himself as different from Zack. He was all about work, with no interest in their personal lives.Which intern gets hired in Bones?
Squintern is what Booth calls the interns working for Dr. Brennan and are members of the Jeffersonian Institute. As of Season 4 several interchanging Squinterns are introduced in the absence of Dr. Brennan's original intern/assistant Zack Addy.Hall Effect - Sixty Symbols
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