The third season of the American television seriesBones premiered on September 25, 2007, and concluded on May 19, 2008, on Fox. The show moved back to its original time slot, airing on Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m. ET before moving to Mondays at 8:00 p.m. ET in 2008. Although a full slate of 20 episodes were produced, the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike interfered with the writing of Season 4, and the network rearranged the broadcast schedule to compensate. One episode from the second production season, "Player Under Pressure", was moved to the third broadcast season, and six episodes from the third production season were moved to the fourth broadcast season. Due to this rearrangement, the show had an extended hiatus after "The Santa in the Slush" aired on November 27, 2007; the show returned on April 14, 2008. The season averaged 8.9 million viewers.
Cast and characters
Main cast
John Francis Daley joined the cast this season, originally appearing as a guest star in three episodes, and then being promoted to a series regular and appeared in the opening credits beginning with episode 9.
This season featured the season-long story arc revolving around the cannibalistic serial killer known as Gormogon. In the season finale, the team discovers the Gormogon's identity and in the process, also uncover a horrifying secret: one of their own has been secretly working with Gormogon as well. The episode "Player Under Pressure" was originally supposed to air during the second season in April 2007, but was delayed in the wake of the Virginia Tech massacre. The original version included references to Hodgins planning to ask Angela to move in with him when they were already engaged at this point, so they re-shot new scenes for Hodgins and Angela.
DVD release
The third season of Bones was released on DVD in region 1 on November 18, 2008, in region 2 on November 17, 2008 and in region 4 on March 4, 2009. The set includes all 15 episodes of season three on a 5-disc set presented in anamorphic widescreen. The first four episodes of season four are included as bonus episodes on the region 1 and 2 releases. Special features include "Director's take", a series of episodic featurettes—"The Vault", "Making of the Body", "Car Crash-Exploding Van", "Squints", and "The Angelator". Three episodes include their extended versions, while "Player Under Pressure" includes both the aired and original unaired version. Also included is a gag reel.
