The episode aired in 2009, right when both shows were arguably at the height of their respective cultural powers. Boreanaz ended up returning the favor in short order, as he appeared briefly in the “Family Guy” season 9 episode “Road to the North Pole.” For what it’s worth, /Film ranked “Family Guy” season 9 as the best in the show’s long, storied history. Boreanaz had at least a small part to play in all of that.

This was not the only crossover that was proposed by Hanson and the creators during the long run the series enjoyed on Fox. As he explained in the same interview, “Bones” came very close to crossing over with another crime show, “Lie to Me.” However, timing and logistics got in the way of that one happening:

“Crossovers come up all the time as a possibility. For a while we were talking about doing a ‘Lie to Me’ crossover. I always thought a ‘Fringe’ crossover could work if we started at the same crime scene. It’s so difficult to arrange crossovers because somehow the two shows have to come to an agreement on a time and a place and all those things. And most of quite honestly are doing things at a flat-out run just trying to get a show to the air. With ‘Lie to Me,’ Sean Ryan had just taken over the show when we started talking about it, and he had his hands full.”

“Bones” is currently streaming on Hulu and Amazon Prime Video.