Fox TV Friday gave a second season go-ahead to its freshman drama, "Bones."

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"We're pretty damn happy," Executive Producer Hart Hanson told Zap2it.com. "I had long ago given up the hope of getting an early pickup. I knew we were performing quite well, and we seemed to have a really solid audience that they couldn't shake."

The show stars David Boreanaz as FBI Agent Seeley Booth and Emily Deschanel as forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan -- a crime-solving team at the fictional Jeffersonian Institute.

An advantage to the early pickup is that the season finale can now be written knowing the show will continue. Hanson said he is writing the finale with renewed vigor because "now we get to do a cliff-hanger."