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\n <\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n fox<\/span>\n <\/div>\n
The infamous “Bones” lawsuit revealed just how unscrupulous television studios can be. \u201cBones\u201d was a hugely popular Fox police drama that aired from 2005 to 2017 and lasted for a whopping 246 episodes over 12 seasons. The series starred Emily Deschanel as the calm, intelligent, and focused Temperance “Bones” Brennan, while David Boreanaz played the rougher Seeley Booth. The two regularly solved very strange and often very brutal murder cases. The series started out as a quirky detective show, but quickly turned into a romance series between the two main characters. “Bones” became a TV staple for millions and a cornerstone of Fox for many years. <\/p>\n
The series remained popular during its production period, even after moving to streaming. \u201cBones\u201d was one of the most-watched titles on Fox\u2019s service, Hulu. <\/p>\n
To give you some background, the mid-2010s was also a time of increased vertical integration. In other words, companies now own their own shows and the services\/networks that showcase them. This type of vertical integration was illegal for decades thanks to the 1948 Paramount decision, but that decision was overturned in 2019. By the end of that period, many studios were ignoring the decision anyway. <\/p>\n
But the problem arose when Fox – simply put – sold its programming to Hulu for a pittance. Deschanel, Boreanaz, author Kathy Reichs (whose life was the main inspiration for the show), and executive Barry Josephson struck a deal that would give them a cut of the proceeds. Sleazy accusations against affiliates of “Bones,” claiming that the show is not what it actually is. that<\/em> A big hit \u2014 Fox cleverly found a way to cut salaries. The quartet filed suit. The lawsuit, published in The Hollywood Reporter, was settled in 2019. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/p>\n The lawsuit dates back to 2015, when Bones was still airing. The Hollywood Reporter briefly summarized that Fox’s studio division is charging its affiliates for the rights to air Bones, but the studios are paying far less than they are charging the affiliates. That meant that those receiving royalties from such sales, like its stars, were deliberately cutting back on those royalties. <\/p>\n Fox clearly wasn’t being honest about this whole thing. Studio representatives apparently argued to the arbitrator that Bones wasn’t making as much money as it seemed and that despite the franchise’s long and healthy lifespan, it wasn’t really a hit. Fortunately, the arbitrator, a man named Peter Lichtman, saw through Fox’s ruse. An investigation into the studio’s licensing practices found that Fox saved money by suppressing the sales of Bones and intentionally signing talented actors to a series of releases. As Lichtman understood, this was brazen, blatant fraud. <\/p>\n He actually slammed Fox, saying in the decision: \u201d[Fox representatives] It appears that he gave false testimony to cover up his misconduct. [They have taken a] It had a “blank attitude toward wrongdoing” and had a “company-wide culture and climate of acceptance that encompassed an aversion to truth.” Painful, very painful, Fox underwent a very severe bankruptcy. It was determined that Boreanaz, Deschanel and Kathy Reichs owed $51 million (!).<\/p>\n Boreanaz has previously said that he and Deschanel’s access to acting teachers helped make Bones a hit. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/p>\n Another article in The Hollywood Reporter revealed that “Bones” was indeed a hit. In fact, it is said to have brought in $500 million in profits for the network in its first seven seasons. This was clearly a cash cow, and it was the height of arrogance for Fox to claim it wasn’t a hit. Meanwhile, the streaming model was ripe for decay. In previous generations, studios produced TV series, sold them on the open market, and ultimately handed them off to networks or local TV affiliates (if syndicated). Programs can make money if networks and stations can sell advertising during the programs they buy. A portion of the profits will then be distributed to executives and stars. <\/p>\n However, when studios sell shows to their own divisions, they do things a little differently. Recall that the streaming service is based on a subscription model and Star does not receive royalties from the subscription fee. By selling shows for almost free, studios are able to rake in all the profits from the series and not give any royalties to the stars. Clear? If not, blame everything on that most indescribable beast: “Hollywood accounting.” <\/p>\n You might think that the Bones scandal would end this type of dishonest streaming fraud forever, but it doesn’t actually end all fraud. Some may remember the 2023 strike. There, professional writers, actors, and directors went on strike en masse over (among other things) the lack of sharing in streaming revenue. Since then, the industry has continued to change and will never be the same again. <\/p>\n A revival of “Bones” is being discussed.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
#Fox #claims #Bones #wasnt #big #hit #avoided #paying #producers #cast #properly #SlashFilm<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
fox The infamous “Bones” lawsuit revealed just how unscrupulous television studios can be. \u201cBones\u201d was a hugely popular Fox police drama that aired from 2005 to 2017 and lasted for a whopping 246 episodes over 12 seasons. The series starred Emily Deschanel as the calm, intelligent, and … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":910,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2400,2399,2397,2403,1356,2140,885,2401,2402,2404,1566,2398],"class_list":["post-909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-avoided","tag-big","tag-bones","tag-cast","tag-claims","tag-fox","tag-hit","tag-paying","tag-producers","tag-properly","tag-slashfilm","tag-wasnt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Fox deliberately tried to exclude David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel from a share of Bones’ profits.<\/h2>\n
\n ![\"Booth](\"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Fox-claims-Bones-wasnt-a-big-hit-because-it-avoided.jpeg\")
\n <\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n fox<\/span>\n <\/div>\nBones was a $500 million monster.<\/h2>\n
\n ![\"Seeley](\"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776848815_467_Fox-claims-Bones-wasnt-a-big-hit-because-it-avoided.jpg\")
\n <\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n fox<\/span>\n <\/div>\n
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