Before we abandon the Bones sidebar - has anybody read Kathy Reichs' "Bones" novels? The character of Brennan - heck, the whole universe - is about as totally different as can be from the TV show. Really makes me wonder why Reichs (who is a producer) went so far afield from her own creation.
Well, that's often the nature of an adaptation. It's not about copying the original, but creating something distinct and different from the same foundations, adding something new alongside the original rather than just duplicating what's already there. Even if two different versions start out close together, they'll develop their own distinct identities over time.
Not to mention that any TV series character is going to be shaped by the actor who plays the role. No matter how a character was originally conceived, the way the actor plays the role will affect how it's written, as the writers adjust the character to fit the actor's strengths, or change relationships to take advantage of unexpected actor chemistry.
And it's not unheard of for one writer to develop two or more different versions of the same continuity, to explore the same characters or ideas in different ways. For instance, Paul Dini writing for both
Batman: The Animated Series and the DC Comics universe, or Alan Burnett producing the DC Animated Universe,
The Batman, and various DC Universe DVD movies in distinct continuities. Or David Gerrold completely rewriting and rebooting some of his earlier novels, or Arthur C. Clarke doing much the same with
Against the Fall of Night when he reinvented it as
The City and the Stars. Writing is about creativity and imagination, after all, and exploring alternative versions of your characters and ideas is an exercise of creativity.
