All New 'Bones' Tonight!

'Bones' is finally returning from extended hiatus, but can it live up to all the hype?

Fans have been posting all over the internet so much since the season finale that there is no way the expectations of viewers haven't been escalated. There have been numerous complaints about the lack of any sex scene/build-up toward Booth and Brennan's relationship. Of course, this isn't HBO or Showtime, and no one is expecting real sex scenes...but you know, we had that fake scene in the Booth dream-coma (Season 4 Finale) and we had tons of Hannah sex scenes (beginning of Season 6). For goodness sake, we even had Cam/Booth sex scenes! So why not give loyal fans something instead of skipping all of the fun of a budding relationship. 'Bones' is supposedly attempting to avoid the Moonlighting Curse, but I'm a little concerned they're going to accidentally jump the shark instead.

What is the Moonlighting Curse? 'Moonlighting' was a widely popular show in the 1980s which had a lot of sexual tension between its main characters, but when they eventually hooked up they lost tons of viewers. The belief is that people didn't watch the show any more now that they knew that the main characters who they had always wanted to see together were actually together. It's called the curse because there's a belief that other television shows will also suffer poor ratings if they bring main characters with sexual tension together as a couple.

Hart Hanson, and others connected to the show, have been interviewed about concern over the Moonlighting Curse, and have insinuated that the Booth/Brennan pregnancy will let them avoid it all together. They're able to skip all the lovey-dovey new relationship stuff and suddenly have their main characters just be together. The only problem with this is that a lot of fans really do watch the show just for those Booth/Brennan moments, and many of them were waiting impatiently to see how the couple would get together and what would ensue right after they did. That has all been lost.

Hanson and co. are banking on the fact that by avoiding the Moonlighting Curse they'll hold onto viewers, but what if their attempt at avoidance is the very thing that loses them loyal fans?

I'd bet a lot that ratings for tonight will be spectacular, but I'm curious to see what happens in the long-run. What do you think? Do fans feel cheated and will it stop any of them from watching 'Bones'?

Watch an all new 'Bones', "The Memories in the Shallow Grave",  tonight (Nov. 3rd) 9/8C on FOX.