24 fun facts about Bones

1.

"The beer hat Booth wears in the bathtub in 'The Pain in the Heart' sits on the desk of an executive producer's assistant. The cup holes are used to hold pens, highlighters, and scissors."

No word on where Booth's rubber duckie, also first introduced in the season 3 finale, now resides.

2.

"Every time David Boreanaz is on camera, he has craps dice, a brass Zippo lighter, and a Saint Christopher's medal in his pants pocket (unless he's not wearing anything with pants pockets in a particular scene)."

Booth is a former gambler and ex-Rangers sniper; he's also still a good Catholic who believes the patron saint of travelers will keep him safe.

3.

"Three Deschanels have worked on the show, Emily, Zooey, and Caleb. Two Boreanazes have, David and his father (cameo appearance). Two Hansons have, Hart and his father (cameo appearance)."

Emily's sister Zooey guested in season 5's Christmas episode, "The Goop on the Girl" as Brennan's distant relative. Their father, six-time Oscar-nominated cinematographer Caleb Deschanel (The Right Stuff, The Passion of the Christ), directed season 2's "The Glowing Bones in the Old Stone House." Boreanaz's father, Dave Roberts, appears as an FBI staffer seen putting a piece of paper on the copy machine in the upcoming 100th episode, "The Parts in the Sum of the Whole." And creator Hart Hanson's father, Paul Hanson, played a vending machine repairman in season 4's "The Bones that Foam."

4.

"Chad Lowe and David Boreanaz are the only two people to both direct and act on the show."

Through this point in season 5, Boreanaz had directed two episodes—season 4's "The Bones that Foam" and the 100th episode. Lowe, who guested in season 4's "The Doctor in the Den," had directed four: season 3's "Boy in the Time Capsule," season 4's "Fire in the Ice," season 5's "The Dwarf in the Dirt" and "The Bones on the Blue Line." (By time the series ended in 2017, Lowe had directed a total of 13 episodes, Boreanaz directed 11, and Emily Deschanel directed one.)

5.

"There are 304 bone boxes in the Bone room."

By comparison, there are only 72 bone boxes in Angela's office.

6.

"In 'The Dentist in the Ditch,' there were 1000 CGI spiders modeled in the scene."

In addition to hatching spider eggs on a clay-encased skeleton, season 5 also laid 16,000 CGI chickens (into the background of the chicken factory in "The Tough Man in the Tender Chicken").

7.

"We have a pet squirrel named Dr. Sweets (after John Francis Daley's character) who begs actors for food and has been known to cling to the legs of some female actors. We also have a pet cat named Camgela (after Tamara Taylor and Michaela Conlin's characters) who is widely known as the prettiest and friendliest cat on the Fox lot."

In a totally unrelated note, "The top three writers' room snacks are: trail mix, cheap string cheese, and Orbit White bubblemint gum."

8.

"The Egyptian room backgrounds are all VFX."

Fine. Just tell us the upper body on T.J. Thyne during Hodgins' trysts there with Angela was real.

9.

"There are pictures of three American Presidents eating in the FBI kitchen: Nixon eating Chinese food, Ike eating a chicken leg and Kennedy eating a hot dog."

Almost as exciting: "There is a black and white photo of FBI agent W. Mark Felt [a.k.a. Deep Throat] hanging in Booth's office."

10.

"Our casting couch is brown."

Here, Bones casting director Rick Millikan holds an audition for an upcoming episode.

Bonus fun fact: "The casting bungalow is a protected historical landmark in the city of Los Angeles. It was one of the first buildings on the lot and was originally used as a tack room for horses. It became a dressing room for actors in the late '40s and wasn't used as an office building until the late '80s. Rick Millikan has held an office here since The X-Files began in 1993."

11.

"Showrunner/executive producer Hart Hanson has been known to make repairs to his ancient FJ40 in front of the production office."

Other interesting tidbits the staff is open to sharing: "Bones producer Jan DeWitt tells people he is a plumber so they will not ask him for gossip or a job" and "Executive Producer Stephen Nathan is fond of writing in his pajama bottoms."

BONES MILESTONE 100TH EPISODE CELEBRATION: L-R: Exec. producer Ian Toynton, exec. producer Stephen Nathan, 20th TV chairmen Gary Newman, Dana Walden, creator and exec. producer Hart Hanson, Emily Deschanel, David Boreanaz, chairman entertainment Fox Networks Peter Rice, president Fox Entertainment Kevin Reilly, and exec. producer Barry Josephson celebrate with cast and crew during the milestone 100th episode celebration on set on Jan. 26, 2010.

12.

"The crew has 'Five Dollar Fridays.' Anyone on set can put in $5 with their name on it into a bucket. If your $5 gets pulled out of the bucket at wrap, you get to keep all the money."

This isn't the only money being exchanged: "The writers have a penalty box on the writers' room table. Each writer has a 'penalty' and must pay every time they commit their penalty. For example, one writer must pay every time he shows a disgusting picture during lunch. Another must refrain from mentioning bowel movements while others are eating. A third has to pay up every time he leaves the room, promising to return in 'two minutes' only to emerge an hour later."

13.

"The exploded bits of 'flesh' on the cab in the bank robbery episode were made of raspberry preserves."

Bonus fun fact: "The writers' room has an eerie ability to predict the future with the stories they write. A real-life Santa robbed a bank shortly after 'The Goop on the Girl' was written. A human body part was found in a chicken nugget shortly after 'The Tough Man in the Tender Chicken' was written. And a real-life murder in the world of little person wrestling occurred shortly after writing 'The Dwarf in the Dirt.'"

14.

"The most frequently used skeletal structures in the hand that are used as clues in Bones murder mysteries are the phalanges (distal, medial and proximal)."

And yet, the only phalanges we care to remember are Brennan's dancing ones in season 3's "The Baby in the Bough."

15.

"The configuration of specific features of the skull and the angle of the ilia (pelvic bones) are the two ways that the gender of the victim is usually determined in Bones."

Bonus fact: "The writers have killed multiple writers' assistants and interns (meaning they used their name and/or likeness) on the show and have used another's nose as a murder weapon."

16.

"Angela has had more than one lab coat—she's had six different ones [up until the 100th episode]."

For those keeping score, we believe that's more than the number of her lovers we've met. Damn that celibacy vow.

17.

"Emily only wears all-natural fabric."

Deschanel has been a vegan since watching Diet for a New America in high school.

18.

"The lab coats that are worn by our background actors are embroidered with names of Bones crew members and often the extras know whose jacket they are wearing."

On average, the show goes through more than 4,000 actor submissions per episode to find its guest cast.

19.

"The earthquake/flood in the subway during [season 5's 'Bones on a Blue Line'] was partially done in an attraction at Universal Studios theme park. The interior subway car that Sweets was riding was originally designed and built for the television series Seinfeld."

This isn't the only borrowed set piece...

20.

"In Season 3's 'Man in the Outhouse,' the 'Busted by Bill' television studio was a set from the Kelsey Grammer/Patricia Heaton comedy Back to You, which was redressed for our episode."

Recycling happens on the show itself...

21.

"The walls from the ship in season 4's 'The Hero in the Hold' were reconfigured to create the Jeffersonian Basement Storage (where the rifle was retrieved) in season 5's 'The Proof in the Pudding.'"

Another interesting fact about season 4's "The Hero in the Hold"...

22.

"Booth escapes from the yellow submarine and finds himself inside an old ship decorated with mermaids and pirates. That part of the ship was actually the basement of a defunct 1940s power plant in Hermosa Beach."

That's just one of the locations the show has repurposed...

23.

"The 'Magicon' convention in season 4's 'The Princess and the Pear' was a closed furniture store in Santa Clarita. We had very little scenery to design because all of the convention booths were set inside pre-existing furniture displays."

Another notable makeover...

24.

"Patricia's cottage along the beach in season 4's 'The He in the She' was a decrepit, defunct fish restaurant redesigned (and cleaned!)."

Bonus fact: "Because Bones is set in Washington, D.C., but filmed in Los Angeles, one of our main challenges is to avoid seeing palm trees or any other signs of being in Southern California."