TV & Beyond on 2025-07-20 15:30:00

TV & Beyond on 2025-07-20 15:30:00

by | Jul 20, 2025 | TV & Beyond Articles

starring Adam West that was produced by Lorne Michaels and co-written by Conan O’Brien and Robert Smigel. It was made in 1991, but despite its high concept and high quality, it never went to series. The pilot aired on NBC in late July of that year as a TV movie, but only those with fast-moving VCR-record buttons were able to capture it before it vanished into the ether. Those who did manage to capture it on VHS instantly became enamored, falling in love with Adam West’s sublime comedic performance and its askew sense of humor. 

The premise of “Lookwell” was a little arch, as was the fashion at the time. West played Ty Lookwell, a wealthy, retired TV actor who loved to lounge around his 1970s-decorated home eating popsicles (the kind that can magically tighten your skin!) and watching reruns of “Bannigan,” a cop show he once headlined. “Bannigan” is more or less forgotten by modern audiences, but was once popular enough to earn Lookwell an honorary police badge. When Lookwell encounters some sort of criminal mystery, he begins to fancy himself a real police detective and attempts to solve the case. The joke is that Lookwell, an ego-driven actor with no actual concept of how the real world operates, investigates very poorly. In one scene, for instance, he tries to infiltrate a racetrack by dressing as a race car driver. For Lookwell, that means a leather helmet, old-timey goggles, and a white scarf. 

Adam West is an expert at playing sublimely oblivious characters, making him one of the best comedy actors of his generation. West has said in several interviews that “Lookwell” was one of his proudest moments, and that he will always regret that it didn’t go to series. 

Lookwell is amazing

Lookwell in a greaser wig at an audition in Lookwell

NBC

Thanks to the gods of online archiving, “Lookwell” is easily enough found on YouTube. I encourage you to break for a moment, watch it, and then come back. 

Funny, right? From the first scene where Lookwell is auditioning for the role of Buzz McCool in “Happy Days: The Next Generation,” to the final moments, when an exasperated police chief, Detective Kennery (Ron Frazier), miserably allows Lookwell to believe he had solved the crime (he hadn’t). Kennery used to be the technical advisor on “Bannigan,” and Lookwell believes they’re friends. I love the running gag that no one can quite remember Lookwell’s old TV show. Someone says that he was on “Bennigan.” No, he says. That was George Kennedy. He’s not “Brannigan” either. That was Hugh O’Brian. And, no, “Bennigan” and “Brannigan” are not real cop shows. Although John Wayne starred in a 1975 action thriller called “Brannigan!” And, yes, you did recognize him. Lookwell’s sidekick, Jason, is played by Todd Field, the eventual director of classics like “In the Bedroom” and “Tár.” 

Jason and Lookwell met because the former was a student in Lookwell’s acting class, a class that sifted through Shakespeare, but using “Bannigan” episodes as their basis. 

The plot of the “Lookwell” pilot is about a string of car thefts, and Lookwell gets inspiration from strange places. He comes to the dumbest conclusions. “The cars aren’t being stolen at all!” he screams, as if it’s profound. His disguises are unconvincing, and Lookwell often ends up being beaten up or arrested. His beggar disguise is a highlight. “Good evening, I have no home. Hi there! The sidewalk is my pillow.” Comedy gold. 

In interviews, O’Brien, Smigel, and West have all expressed regret over the low ratings and low interest in “Lookwell.”

Adam West would continue the Lookwell shtick into another show

Lookwell dressed as a beggar in Lookwell

NBC

In a now-unavailable interview with the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, O’Brien joked that “Lookwell” lost in the ratings to a test pattern in Nova Scotia. West said that he had made at least 12 unpurchased pilots in his career, and “Lookwell” was the only one he felt sad about. That interview was quoted by Vice, and West said that the pilot “was able to capture a bit of my nonsense and my sense of absurdity, so I really enjoyed that … It’s the funniest pilot that never got sold.” 

Smigel said in a 2004 interview with the AV Club that “Lookwell” was risky because it was, at the end of the day, perhaps too arch for mainstream audiences. Indeed, Smigel himself is a little baffled by his own project. “I don’t know how good it is,” he said, but praised West’s comedic talents, wondering why he didn’t become an even bigger star than he already was. It was Smigel who explained why “Lookwell” was never picked up. Like so many shows before it, “Lookwell” was shelved when NBC underwent a regime change. When that happens, all the old regime’s unaired pilots get thrown out, so the new regime can start fresh. “If it takes any amount of time to develop,” Smigel said, “there’s a good chance that the person who put it in motion is going to get fired, or quit, and the next person isn’t going to want to do it.” 

West may have missed out on “Lookwell,” but West was able to continue the “clueless detective” shtick into an obscure, but also hilarious, 1993 comedy series called “Danger Theatre.” West starred in a segment called “Tropical Punch,” a cop show like “Hawaii Five-0,” with West as the lead detective. He was, however, staggeringly incompetent and drove his two partners crazy. 

Okay, so maybe “Danger Theatre” isn’t exactly a good make-up for “Lookwell,” as it may be even more obscure. But now you know about two sublime Adam West performances that you can catch up on.

TV & Beyond on 2025-07-20 15:00:00

TV & Beyond on 2025-07-20 15:00:00

by | Jul 20, 2025 | TV & Beyond Articles

boasting success at the box office and on the Billboard charts.

Not every prominent musician can headline a film to box office success, as proven by The Weeknd’s recent box office bomb, “Hurry Up Tomorrow.” But to Eminem’s credit, he certainly sold his role as B-Rabbit in “8 Mile” very well, given that it was tailor-made for him. Since his work under Curtis Hanson’s direction was well-received, it impressed some in the industry to consider giving him roles in films that would have given him a different environment than Detroit, as well as a completely different genre than one would expect from the rapper who popularized the term “Stan” in our lexicon. In another timeline, he’d have starred in Neill Blomkamp’s “Elysium.”

Eminem was considered to play the lead in Elysium

Max Da Costa (Matt Damon) in "Elysium"

Columbia/TriStar

In 2009, Neill Blomkamp burst onto the Hollywood scene with his modern sci-fi masterpiece, “District 9.” The film was nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards and remains one of the best directorial debuts of the 21st century. Cinephiles were eager to see what Blomkamp’s follow-up would be, and to their excitement, he would return with another original sci-fi project with “Elysium.”

“Elysium” stars Matt Damon in the lead role, and much like “District 9,” follows Blomkamp’s penchant for social commentary amidst the sci-fi backdrop. However, while the social commentary in “District 9” was handled effortlessly, critics felt that “Elysium” lacked the same bite. Blomkamp himself has been critical of his sophomore effort. Interestingly enough, the film could have turned out to be significantly different than what was produced, especially if it had starred Eminem as the protagonist. Blomkamp discussed his initial plans to AP:

“I’d written a low-budget version of ‘Elysium,’ which was a very different film. So with my low-budget version, which was a different film, I was like … ‘I want to try to find someone very unusual and weird and unexpected …’ And then he [Eminem] refused to leave Detroit, and the movie was meant to not be in Detroit, so I was like, ‘That wouldn’t work.'”

Ultimately, Blomkamp wrote the film on a larger scale, which inspired him to seek out a different, bigger actor to play the lead. Because of this, the Academy Award-nominated filmmaker opted to cast Matt Damon. In an interview with Variety, Damon confirmed that Eminem almost headlined “Elysium” and reflected on some big roles he passed on in his acting career:

“You never know exactly what the alchemy is going to be. Sometimes you end up with somebody and you can’t believe that wasn’t your first choice the whole time. I’ve always felt the right actor gets the part. Even on movies like ‘Milk’ for instance. I was desperate to do the Dan White role. It was one of the best scripts I’d ever read. Then it got pushed back because of Sean [Penn’s] schedule and I was devastated, even though it was only two weeks of work. “When I saw the movie and saw what Josh Brolin did with it, I went, ‘You know what? The right actor got the part.’ I do believe it all works out.”

Eminem and Neil Blomkamp’s respective film careers have taken some interesting turns

Eminem getting interviewed in "The Interview"

Columbia Pictures

Following his well-received performance in “8 Mile,” Eminem has mostly kept his screen appearances small, often playing an exaggerated version of himself. He made cameo appearances in the Judd Apatow comedy, “Funny People,” and the Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg political satire, “The Interview.” Eminem also made an appearance in the HBO series “Entourage.”

As for Neill Blomkamp, his film career has had its share of ups and downs. While he will always have “District 9” to be proud of, his projects since then have failed to garner a modicum of impact that his bold sci-fi masterpiece brought to cinemas in 2009. Following “Elysium,” Blomkamp directed “Chappie,” “Demonic,” and “Gran Turismo.” Blomkamp has expressed interest in returning to his original film with a sequel, which would be titled “District 10.” Despite the career hiccups, Blomkamp brings a unique energy to the sci-fi genre that is desperately needed in our theaters. Here’s hoping that “District 10” or his upcoming “Starship Troopers” movie can bring back some of that spark that burned so bright with his debut.

TV & Beyond on 2025-07-20 14:00:00

TV & Beyond on 2025-07-20 14:00:00

by | Jul 20, 2025 | TV & Beyond Articles

announced they’d completed the sequel’s script on June 27, 2025. Warner Bros. has since received the script and is apparently quite happy with it. Hence, it’s seeming more and more like “The Batman Part II” will make its 2027 release date.

“The Batman” was a nearly three hour-long epic that saw Batman (Robert Pattinson) meet many of his classic foes. The main villain of the movie was the Riddler (Paul Dano), a serial killer out to expose corruption in Gotham. The root of said corruption was mob boss Carmine Falcone (John Turturro), who’ served by gangsters like Oz “The Penguin” Cobb (Colin Farrell). Batman also met Selina Kyle/Catwoman (Zoë Kravitz), though the movie bypassed her bad girl phase and portrayed her as Batman’s ally from the start.

The Penguin at least will be back for the sequel. Going forward, it appears that Reeves’ Gotham will also have a big ensemble of bad guys the way that “Batman” comics do. So, which new ones will enter the picture in “Part II”? Reeves has said he hopes the choice will be “surprising” to the audience, but also that he doesn’t expect the villain to overshadow Batman (via Total Film):

“I want the emotional part of the story to be Robert Pattinson’s — to be Bruce & Batman’s … I’m excited by the antagonist of the next movie, but I don’t want Batman’s arc to step back to allow space for another group of characters.”

I know “The Batman” featured a small cameo by Barry Keoghan as the Joker, but Batman vs. the Joker is a story we’ve seen before. Harvey Dent/Two-Face would similarly be treading on old ground. And while I think there’s a case for merging Reeves’ Gotham into James Gunn’s DC Universe, Gunn and Reeves have said that won’t happen. So, that likely rules out the villains due to appear in Gunn’s DCU, like Clayface and Bane.

Who does that leave?

The Court of Owls

Members of the Court with a Talon in the center in Batman: The Court of Owls

DC Comics

Here’s one the Bat-fans have been asking for (and reading into clues left by “The Penguin” for). The Court of Owls were introduced by writer Scott Snyder and artist Greg Capullo in 2011 as the villains of their debut arc on “Batman.” They’re a secret society that has secretly controlled Gotham City since its Colonial-era founding, yet are so secretive even Batman doesn’t know they exist. The Court wear owl-shaped masks (because owls eat bats) and use assassins called Talons to enforce their will, as a Gotham nursery rhyme describes:

“Beware The Court of Owls, that watches all the time, ruling Gotham from a shadowed perch, behind granite and lime. They watch you at your hearth, they watch you in your bed, speak not a whispered word of them, or they’ll send the Talon for your head.”

Pattinson is a fan of the “Court of Owls” story, and gave his approval to a fan theory that in this universe, Thomas and Martha Wayne were members of the Court. “The Batman” was all about how a powerful few control Gotham, so introducing the Court could continue that theme. Plus, a big part of “The Court of Owls” is Bruce being trapped in an underground labyrinth, slowly deteriorating mentally. Pattinson’s Batman is easily one of the more fragile versions of the Dark Knight, both physically and mentally. It’s easy to see him fitting into a story about Batman struggling psychologically and realizing just how small he is compared to all of Gotham.

Sofia Falcone

Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone in The Penguin

HBO Max

Carmine Falcone may be dead and buried, but his legacy is alive and well in his daughter, Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti). She stole the show in “The Penguin” and Milioti has even gotten an Emmy nomination for her performance. (By the time the “Batman” sequel is out, she could even be an Emmy winner.)

When “The Penguin” begins, Sofia has just been released from Arkham Asylum. It’s not a coincidence she got out the week her dad died; Carmine had a nasty habit of strangling women to death. Sofia discovered the truth about her father, so he framed her for his crimes, getting her sent to Arkham and branded “the Hangman” killer by the media. With Carmine gone, she’s freed, but her time locked up led her to a truly dark place mentally. Sofia spends “The Penguin” in a turf war with Oz — one she loses, so, by the end of the series, she’s locked back up in Arkham. Including her in “The Batman Part II” would take some exposition, sure, but not more than one or two lines.

Granted, Sofia may not be main villain material next to the Bat. But still, after Milioti’s firecracker performance in “The Penguin,” it’d be a mistake to not include her at all in “The Batman Part II.” The thought of her sharing scenes with Pattinson’s Batman is thrilling and an opportunity not to ignore. Sofia’s last scene in “The Penguin” also features her receiving a letter from Selina, her half-sister — could that be a way to bring both women back into “The Batman Part II,” perhaps?

Mr. Freeze

Mr. Freeze in the cover for Detective Comics #1088

DC Comics

It’s been almost 30 years since we’ve seen Mr. Freeze in a “Batman” movie. The panned “Batman & Robin” made the character into a joke, compounded by the ill-advised casting of Arnold Schwarzenegger as Freeze. As such, it’s time for the Batman rogue to get some big-screen redemption.

Now, on one hand, as a man who walks around in a mobile cryogenic tank and carries a freeze ray, Mr. Freeze is one of the sillier Batman nemeses and one too outlandish, perhaps, for the grounded “crime epic” Reeves and co. are going for. But Freeze is also one of the most human Batman villains. Ever since the acclaimed “Batman: The Animated Series” episode “Heart of Ice,” Freeze’s motivation has been vengeance for the death of his terminally-ill wife Nora (or attempts to cure her illness).

Mr. Freeze represents what Batman would be if he never got over his own losses and chose to take his pain out on the world instead of helping others. Bruce’s arc in “The Batman” was all about him realizing he has to be more than vengeance, so done well, Freeze could be an effective foil.

Plus, “The Batman” ends with the Riddler and his cronies flooding Gotham by breaking down its sea walls. A villain with a freeze ray in a city that is half underwater? There’s a lot of possibilities for creative set pieces there.

The Scarecrow

The Scarecrow in Batman: Fear State

DC Comics

Dr. Jonathan Crane is a psychologist obsessed with studying, and sadistically inflicting, fear. To that end, he has adopted the persona of “The Scarecrow” and created “Fear Toxin,” a hallucinogenic that brings out people’s worst phobias. His fear motif makes him an excellent foil for Batman; Batman preys on criminals’ fears while Scarecrow terrorizes the innocent.

The Scarecrow appeared in all three of the Christopher Nolan “Dark Knight” films, played by Cillian Murphy (who did a screen test for Batman himself). But it still feels like there’s untapped potential for the villain onscreen. In “Batman Begins,” Scarecrow is overshadowed by the real main villain, Ra’s al Ghul (Liam Neeson). In the two subsequent films, he only has cameos. I say he’s been benched long enough. (This time, let’s get a more dramatic and scarier Scarecrow costume than a burlap mask on a suit.)

Scarecrow is one of the more psychological Batman enemies. That makes him a great fit for the type of “Batman” film that Reeves wants; one where the emotional journey is for Bruce himself. All the “Batman: The Animated Series” episodes starring Scarecrow were less about the villain himself and more about how Batman powered through the Fear Toxin’s waking nightmares. That opens the opportunity for some surreal, horror-infused hallucination sequences. Similar to the Court of Owls, Scarecrow is a villain that could work to break Pattinson’s already neurotic Batman.

Professor Hugo Strange

Hugo Strange in Batman: Arkham City

Rocksteady

Speaking of evil psychologists! Despite how many “Batman” movies there have been, not all of his major villains have leapt from the comics to the silver screen. One of those is Professor Hugo Strange, one of the earliest Batman villains. (He debuted in 1940’s “Detective Comics” #36, a few months ahead of the Joker’s fateful first appearance.)

Strange lacks a dual identity but is no less dangerous for it. In his earliest appearances, he was more of a diabolical scientist; one of his plans involved transforming innocent people into brutish “Monster Men.” As more colorful Batman villains debuted, Strange fell into disuse during the 1940s. He returned in the 1970s storyline “Strange Apparitions” by Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers; Strange was reinvented as a more psychology-focused villain, one who had learned Batman’s true identity and was out to unravel what drove the Dark Knight. This reinvented Hugo Strange is the one who has appeared ever since.

As one of the least ostentatious Batman villains, Strange could fit comfortably into Reeves’ Gotham. His introduction could also allow a greater focus on Arkham Asylum (several Batman adaptations depict Strange as a doctor working there). Like Scarecrow, Strange’s goal of probing the Dark Knight’s mind also fits Reeves’ stated goals of a “Batman” story focused on Bruce, with a villain who doesn’t overshadow Batman.

“The Batman Part II” is currently set for an October 1, 2027 theatrical release.

TV & Beyond on 2025-07-20 13:00:00

TV & Beyond on 2025-07-20 13:00:00

by | Jul 20, 2025 | TV & Beyond Articles

“Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” season 3 premiere, “Hegemony, Part II,” the Enterprise crew can at least temporarily catch their collective breath. “Wedding Bell Blues” offers a small time skip and a welcome respite from brutality, opting to focus on character relationships — specifically, the love triangle between Christine Chapel (Jess Bush), her new boyfriend Dr. Corby (Cillian O’Sullivan), and the lovelorn Spock (Ethan Peck). Unfortunately, the god-like alien Trelane (Rhys Darby of “Our Flag Means Death” fame) soon starts muddying the waters with his mischievous, reality-altering ways. Suddenly, Spock and Chapel are getting married, and only Corby seems to realize that something is wrong…

Yes, it’s one of those “Star Trek” episodes, and it’s refreshing to have a truly weird one — especially since “Wedding Bell Blues” throws in a little extra something for the fandom. Captain Christopher Pike’s (Anson Mount) hair has been the subject of memes and good-natured jokes for some time now, and the episode cheekily addresses this via Captain Marie Batel (Melanie Scrofano). Early in the episode, Pike and Batel ponder their feelings toward each other and how their occupations as starship captains means pose severe challenges for a more serious relationship. At the end of the conversation, Batel jokingly ponders what would happen if they both tried to live in her captain’s quarters — and where all Pike’s hair products would fit. This is such an obvious wink and nod to the hair memes that it’s easy to imagine quite a few fans punching the air when they see the scene.

Captain Pike’s glorious hair is an enduring meme

Anson Mount's Captain Pike smiling on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Paramount+

“Wedding Bell Blues” is an episode that’s steeped in the “Star Trek” mythos. Dr. Corby is familiar from the “Star Trek: The Original Series” episode “What Are Little Girls Made of?” (where he was played by Michael Strong). Likewise, Trelane was last seen in “The Original Series” episode “The Squire of Gothos” (with William Campbell in the role), and Trelane’s father entity turns out to be none other than Q, John de Lancie’s iconic extradimensional trickster entity.

Even amid this barrage of references and returns, the joke about Pike’s hair is a noteworthy moment. From numerous individual memes on the subject to an entire account dedicated to Captain Pike’s hair on X (previously known as Twitter), the gravity-defying hairstyle has built a fairly dedicated following. We can also be pretty sure that the hair product joke is no accident, as the people behind the show are extremely aware of the reputation Pike’s hair enjoys. In fact, Anson Mount was fielding hair questions in interviews all the way back in 2022. In an interview with Esquire, he gave credit where credit’s due, while acknowledging awareness that the Pike hairdo has been making waves: 

“That’s all our resident hair guru, Daniel Losco. His work seems to have been noticed.”

The appropriately hairstylist-adjacent hair product joke can actually be seen as a subtle nod to Losco, as it confirms that Pike doesn’t just roll out of the bed looking like that. “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” is ending after season 5 and fans know all too well that Captain Pike’s complicated future will involve a severe downgrade in appearance (among other things), so here’s hoping that his hair will get plenty of time in the spotlight before fate catches up with him.

TV & Beyond on 2025-07-20 12:45:00

TV & Beyond on 2025-07-20 12:45:00

by | Jul 20, 2025 | TV & Beyond Articles

in the whole franchise; it’s a step above “Logan” for me and a small step below “X2.” But although I found “First Class” to be a thrilling (and refreshing) change of pace when it first came out, there’s one scene that always bugged me: the one where the villain murders Darwin (Edi Gathegi), a mutant whose whole thing is that he can’t die. 

Making it stranger was the racial element: Darwin was the only Black man in the group, and he was murdered simply as a quick method for Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon) to flex his powers. You might think some fans are looking too deeply into it by bringing up Darwin’s race, but it’s the movie that brings it up first. Shaw gives a speech to the young mutants urging them to join his cause; he says he can either join them or they can “be enslaved,” and as he says this, the camera cuts right to Darwin. 

The movie is drawing a parallel here between the mutants’ struggle for acceptance and the struggle of African Americans throughout American history. (This parallel is made even stronger with the movie’s setting in the ’60s, as the civil rights movement was making strides.) Much like how the 2000s “X-Men” movies drew heavily on the LGBTQ+ movement for their mutant stories, the focus on Darwin’s race made it seem like “First Class” was interested in doing something similar with race. Instead, the movie kills Darwin quickly and callously, and the racial parallels in the movie are largely dropped from there. 

In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Edi Gathegi revealed that it wasn’t just the fans who were disappointed by his character’s death. When he first read in the script what would happen, he had some notes.

Edi Gathegi thought Darwin’s death was ‘so played out’

X-Men: First Class, Shaw grabbing Darwin by the chin

20th Century Fox

“They gave me a couple of hours to read the script to determine whether or not I wanted to do it,” Gathegi explained. “So I read it, and I called my agents to say, ‘Hey, listen, I have a problem with the fact that this character is the only Black character in the film aside from Zoë Kravitz’s character. I am also the only mutant who meets an untimely demise halfway through the film.’ It was 2009 at the time, and I was like, ‘Killing the Black guy first is so played out. I can’t do this.'”

The worst part, however, was how he was given false hope about Darwin’s fate. As he explained:

“There were conversations that happened, and then they assured us that it was essential for the storytelling in order to motivate the mutants to avenge my [character’s] death. They also fully intended to bring my character back as they do in the comics. [Darwin] can’t die; he regenerates. So we held onto the hope that they would honor their word.”

Spoiler alert: they did not. Darwin stays dead for the rest of this “X-Men” timeline, and nobody even mentions him in any of the sequels. In his mere minutes of screentime, Darwin comes across as a compelling character with a lot of potential, and “First Class” seemingly threw all of that away without much thought. As Gathegi saw it, “The message that I received as an actor and as a man of color in this world is you can be the most powerful mutant in the world and they’ll never let you reach your full potential.” It was only 14 years later that Gathegi would star in a superhero movie that sent him the opposite message. 

‘First Class’ may have wasted Gathegi, but ‘Superman’ sure didn’t

Superman, Mister Terrific looking ahead

Warner Bros.

“The pendulum has swung in the complete opposite direction,” Gathegi told THR. “With Mister Terrific in ‘Superman,’ the message that I’m receiving is you can be one of the most intelligent characters in the universe, and you can help save the world. It’s a different level of conversation.”

Sure enough, the new “Superman” film establishes Gathegi’s character early on as an important, intriguing person, and then it actually follows through. It gives him arguably the coolest fight sequence in the entire film, lets him play a crucial role in saving the planet from Lex Luthor’s black-hole rift, and lets him live to return in the inevitable sequel. “Superman” did everything “First Class” should’ve done and more. 

The experience was thrilling to Gathegi, and he explained how nice it felt to play a character who was not only important to the narrative but undeniably cool: “When I looked at myself in the mirror, I felt like I was looking back at a person who could save the world,” he said. “So, standing next to Superman, there are no words to describe the magic of that.”

TV & Beyond on 2025-07-20 12:20:00

TV & Beyond on 2025-07-20 12:20:00

by | Jul 20, 2025 | TV & Beyond Articles

the long-awaited “Bones” revival.

But that doesn’t mean there weren’t some tough moments. When your show is on the air for 12 years, there’s bound to be some low points, like when a sexual harassament lawsuit was filed against Boreanaz. What’s more, as positive as the Seeley Booth actor has sounded in the years since “Bones” went off the air in 2017, he also hasn’t been shy about sharing his opinions of when the series didn’t quite hit the mark. Some of the gripes voiced by Boreanaz have been minor, such as his dislike of an arc that required him to grow facial hair. However, the former “Angel” star also revealed his thoughts on one particular storyline which he evidently found so egregious it constituted “bad television.”

Bones’ Gormogon storyline was divisive for fans

Laurence Todd Rosenthal's Gormogon is seen smiling in closeup in Bones

20th Television

“Bones” had a simple formula that worked well. The show followed an episodic format wherein Temperance Brennan and her team at the Jeffersonian Institute would be faced with a new body in every episode, which in turn would provide them with a new mystery to solve every week. But early on, the show’s writers faced pressure to include longer story arcs that spanned multiple episodes. Reflecting on early pressure to include a longform serial killer storyline, show creator Hart Hanson telling TV Tango, “It’s a nightmare, because at our essence we are an episodic show. We’re a network, 22-episodes-a-year, episodic show where we solve crime each week. When we go to more serialized stuff, it’s always more difficult.”

The third season of “Bones” saw the writers trying to work in a longer storyline that saw Booth and Brennan on the trail of a cannibalistic serial killer called the Gormogon. The character was first mentioned in the season premiere, “The Widow’s Son in the Windshield,” and throughout the following episodes he became the primary antagonist of season 3. The leader of a secret society of cannibalistic killers which stretches back over multiple generations, the Gormogon was eventually revealed to be a reclusive mystery man (played by Laurence Todd Rosenthal) who, in the words of John Francis Daley’s Dr. Lance Sweets, was “a nobody — an invisible man who was angry at history for not seeing him.”

The real shock revelation came when it was discovered that Jeffersonian Institute employee and Brennan’s former assistant Zack Addy (Eric Millegan) had been working as an apprentice to the depraved killer. This represented one of the most controversial storylines in “Bones” history, with viewers still struggling to understand how fan-favorite Zack Addy could possibly have been involved in such a heinous scheme. It turns out fans aren’t the only ones who were upset by this particular storyline, either, as David Boreanaz also wasn’t fond of the Gormogon storyline.

David Boreanaz thought the Gormogon storyline was ‘bad television’

David Boreanaz's Seeley Booth holds a child in a swimming pool in Bones

20th Television

In an interview during a SAG-AFTRA event in 2014, David Boreanaz openly criticized the Gormogon storyline, specifically highlighting a scene from the season in which the killer drags a child to the bottom of a swimming pool and Seeley Booth has to dive in to save him. Asked about his favorite memories of the series (which was still on the air at the time), the actor said:

“When I’m chasing this guy around with a freakin’ helmet, diving into a pool. Gormogon. Who is that guy? That was just wrong and bad television, I thought. You have these moments that are good and bad and that’s just the way it is, but you remember them.”

The Gormogon story arc didn’t necessarily produce any of the best “Bones” episodes, and remains controversial among fans — and with Boreanaz, apparently. Interestingly enough, the actor was less bothered by the more obviously ridiculous episodes, such as “Double Trouble in the Panhandle” wherein Bones and Booth had to go undercover at a circus as knife-throwers Wanda and Buck Moosejaw. In fact, he enjoyed those more wacky installments, saying “I loved the circus episode. I loved coming out like Boris the Russian Guy, you know? Being ‘flames of glory.'” A cannibalistic serial killer, though, was seemingly a step too far.