FOX renews 'Bones' for Season 7

David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel will be back on the case

Tuesday, May 3, 2011 12:04 PM

Daniel Fienberg

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Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz of 'Bones'

Credit: FOX

FOX has renewed "Bones" for a seventh season, holding onto its veteran procedural for the 2011-2012 season.

The official "Bones" pick-up announcement came on Tuesday (May 3) morning, roughly 12 hours after series star David Boreanaz tweeted "OT! Orange and Black craziness! Oh, Season 7 is GO for Bones."

Boreanaz's beloved Flyers ended up losing to the Bruins in overtime, but at least the renewal came through.

"'Bones' is creatively fresh, itâ€™s a rock-solid player every time it airs and this season it has helped us win on Thursday nights for the first time in our history,â€ states FOX Entertainment President Kevin Reilly. "Hart Hanson and the fantastic cast and crew, as well as the millions of loyal 'Bones' fans, make this show really special, and Iâ€™m excited to have it on our air for another stellar season."

This season's "Bones" renewal was basically a foregone conclusion, pending Â negotiations between the network and producer 20th Century Fox TV. That hasn't always been the case for the character-driven dramedy, which also stars Emily Deschanel, TJ Thyne, Michaela Conlin, Tamara Taylor and John Francis Daley. "Bones" spent its early years as a bubble renewal, often earning last-minute reprieves, with FOX making multiple announced threats to shift the series to a Friday time period, only to reconsider when it became evident that "Bones" had a devoted audience which would follow the series to any time slot, no matter how frequently it was transplanted.

Over the past two years, though, "Bones" has been a steady presence on Thursday night, giving the network a stake on the valuable primetime real estate and boosting its audience through post-"American Idol" exposure and also through relentless repeat airings on TNT.

Last month, "Bones" was even used as the launching pad for a potential backdoor pilot based on Richard Greener's "Locator" novels and starring Â Geoff Stults, Saffron Burrows and Michael Clarke Duncan. The fate of that potential series will be announced in two weeks at the network's upfront presentation to advertisers.

The "Bones" renewal announcement made no mention of any restrictions that the series might face due Deschanel's pregnancy. There had previously be speculation that a reduced order or late premiere might be in the cards, but either Hart Hanson and his writers have found a way to work around any Deschanel absence, or else there will be more details coming soon.