‘Bones’ plot mimics real case
Ten years after her still-unsolved murder, JonBenet Ramsey continues to touch a cultural nerve. Tonight’s episode of “Bones” (8 p.m., Fox) concerns the grim discovery of the decomposed body of a former child-pageant star. The investigation includes interviews with her divorced parents, whose marriage disintegrated due to the father’s revulsion at his wife’s pageant obsession. A visit to the dead girl’s dance class and interviews with other pageant mothers reveal a world of hyper-competition and the extreme manipulation of body image in children only 9 and 10 years old.
The subject is almost too perfect for “Bones,” a show whose main character, Dr. Temperance Brennan (Emily Deschanel), is gorgeous but completely indifferent to her looks. The ultimate antigirly-girl, she’s a compulsive brain with limited social skills. This reaches ridiculous heights when she sits down with a group of grade-school pageant girls and talks with them as if she were in a postgraduate anthropology seminar. “So yours is a highly hierarchical society,” she observes to the kids’ obvious confusion.
“Bones” plays up its “Revenge of the Nerds” quotient to the point of farce. It often walks very close to the edge of being a complete parody of the “CSI” formula. And there’s something strangely enjoyable about that.
“The Rich List” (9 p.m., Fox), the second new imported game show of the TV season, debuts tonight. Like the recently launched “1 vs. 100” on NBC, “List” offers contestants the chance to win a staggering sum but also threatens to leave them with nothing after one false move.
Eamonn Holmes, described by Fox as a “British TV personality,” hosts.
“Big Brother, Big Business” (6 and 9 p.m., CNBC) examines the rise of surveillance technology and the emergence of “data-mining” firms that compile dossiers on individuals and invade and endanger privacy.
Other highlights
After all it’s been through, the town still plans for Halloween on “Jericho” (8 p.m., CBS).
Kenneth butters up the new talent on “30 Rock” (8 p.m., NBC).
Eko has his own private day of the dead on “Lost” (9 p.m., ABC).
Scheduled on “Dateline” (10 p.m., NBC): an interview with Madonna.
Frannie learns Lizzie’s secret on “The Nine” (10 p.m., ABC).