Television Series, NBC, 9 PM Wednesdays
Rating (after five episodes): 2.5 out of 5 Stars
The Bionic Woman was originally a spin-off from the successful Six Million Dollar Man series. So now, NBC has decided to do a remake of an offshoot that was never a particular ratings heavy hitter in the first place (in fact, the peacock network only aired one season of the show after ABC elected to dump it). Apparently, though, David Eick (who also remade Battlestar Galactica) saw something in the property that he thought he could turn into a good television program.
The updated version is a far cry different than the original (much like Eick’s re-imagining of Galactica), favoring a darker, grittier tone than the original’s straightforward action-adventure. In the new show, Jaime Sommers is a bartender whose boyfriend (unbeknownst to her) is a leading expert in the field of bionics (she thinks he is a university professor). The two are involved in a car crash (which was an assassination attempt on him), and the only way he can save her life is to replace her legs, one arm, one ear, and one eye with bionic implants. Jaime is then coerced into working with the shadowy Berkut Group that her boyfriend is involved with (or was, as he dies in the first episode) which goes about “saving the world” without all the red tape. At the same time, she has several run-ins with a rogue bionic woman (with a steamy performance by Battlestar Galactica's Katee Sackhoff) who was her predecessor.
The show got off to a good start, though it seems to have stumbled some in the ensuing weeks. While Michelle Ryan does a good enough job of portraying the mystified Jaime Sommers, the viewers are asked to stretch their suspension of disbelief in accepting how quickly she adapts to her role as secret agent. While the initial episodes deal some with her prepping for her new role, it all seems to go too smoothly. By the fifth episode, she is tasked with portraying a British exchange student and she seems to slip into this role too easily for a former bartender.
On top of this, the series is often ground to a halt with a very annoying anchor – which I define as an artificial contrivance to create conflict for the main characters. Jaime has taken on the role as surrogate mom to her troubled teenage sister whom she has kept in the dark on her new change of life. This throws a weekly wrench into the plot as Jaime tries to juggle her responsibilities as a secret agent with those as a parent. So each week Jaime disappears (sometimes for several days) to deal with some threat to world peace and then has to fabricate some excuse to explain why she had to leave her fifteen year old sister alone. This plot contrivance adds nothing to the series and adds unnecessary conflict which fails to contribute to the weekly story-lines. It reminds me of the double-life that Sydney Bristow lived in the early seasons of Alias (this shows spiritual predecessor) which often weighed down those episodes. The producers of that show eventually dropped that anchor just as David Eick should do with Jaime Sommers conflicting responsibilities. A much more interesting storyline to pursue would be the conflict between Jaime and Sarah Corvus (Sackhoff) who has revealed that the bionic implants are terminal and fatal to the possessor (a la Blade Runner). Or just focus on Jaime’s development as a secret agent and her conflict with the Berkut Group and its shadowy motives.
The series has experienced some behind the scenes turmoil with several of its executive producers departing for the dreaded “creative differences”. This may have helped contribute to uneven quality of the episodes so far. However, the series shows definite promise if it can just work out some of the rough edges and stay focused on its strong points, i.e., Jaime’s development as a bionic prototype and secret agent and her ongoing conflict with Sarah Corvus. I am still willing to check in on the show from time to time, but it has failed move up to my must watch list (which is shrinking each week).
Bionic Woman has produced only moderate ratings through its first five weeks. Though it debuted in the Top 20, it has since slipped considerably. It usually manages to pull second place in its timeslot and has performed well in the sought after adult demographic, but its numbers continue to slip a bit each week. NBC has ordered additional scripts, though, and it has probably performed well enough to garner a full season order.
Missed an episode of Bionic Woman?
Watch it on Amazon.com Unbox
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Rating (after five episodes): 2.5 out of 5 Stars
The Bionic Woman was originally a spin-off from the successful Six Million Dollar Man series. So now, NBC has decided to do a remake of an offshoot that was never a particular ratings heavy hitter in the first place (in fact, the peacock network only aired one season of the show after ABC elected to dump it). Apparently, though, David Eick (who also remade Battlestar Galactica) saw something in the property that he thought he could turn into a good television program.
The updated version is a far cry different than the original (much like Eick’s re-imagining of Galactica), favoring a darker, grittier tone than the original’s straightforward action-adventure. In the new show, Jaime Sommers is a bartender whose boyfriend (unbeknownst to her) is a leading expert in the field of bionics (she thinks he is a university professor). The two are involved in a car crash (which was an assassination attempt on him), and the only way he can save her life is to replace her legs, one arm, one ear, and one eye with bionic implants. Jaime is then coerced into working with the shadowy Berkut Group that her boyfriend is involved with (or was, as he dies in the first episode) which goes about “saving the world” without all the red tape. At the same time, she has several run-ins with a rogue bionic woman (with a steamy performance by Battlestar Galactica's Katee Sackhoff) who was her predecessor.
The show got off to a good start, though it seems to have stumbled some in the ensuing weeks. While Michelle Ryan does a good enough job of portraying the mystified Jaime Sommers, the viewers are asked to stretch their suspension of disbelief in accepting how quickly she adapts to her role as secret agent. While the initial episodes deal some with her prepping for her new role, it all seems to go too smoothly. By the fifth episode, she is tasked with portraying a British exchange student and she seems to slip into this role too easily for a former bartender.
On top of this, the series is often ground to a halt with a very annoying anchor – which I define as an artificial contrivance to create conflict for the main characters. Jaime has taken on the role as surrogate mom to her troubled teenage sister whom she has kept in the dark on her new change of life. This throws a weekly wrench into the plot as Jaime tries to juggle her responsibilities as a secret agent with those as a parent. So each week Jaime disappears (sometimes for several days) to deal with some threat to world peace and then has to fabricate some excuse to explain why she had to leave her fifteen year old sister alone. This plot contrivance adds nothing to the series and adds unnecessary conflict which fails to contribute to the weekly story-lines. It reminds me of the double-life that Sydney Bristow lived in the early seasons of Alias (this shows spiritual predecessor) which often weighed down those episodes. The producers of that show eventually dropped that anchor just as David Eick should do with Jaime Sommers conflicting responsibilities. A much more interesting storyline to pursue would be the conflict between Jaime and Sarah Corvus (Sackhoff) who has revealed that the bionic implants are terminal and fatal to the possessor (a la Blade Runner). Or just focus on Jaime’s development as a secret agent and her conflict with the Berkut Group and its shadowy motives.
The series has experienced some behind the scenes turmoil with several of its executive producers departing for the dreaded “creative differences”. This may have helped contribute to uneven quality of the episodes so far. However, the series shows definite promise if it can just work out some of the rough edges and stay focused on its strong points, i.e., Jaime’s development as a bionic prototype and secret agent and her ongoing conflict with Sarah Corvus. I am still willing to check in on the show from time to time, but it has failed move up to my must watch list (which is shrinking each week).
Bionic Woman has produced only moderate ratings through its first five weeks. Though it debuted in the Top 20, it has since slipped considerably. It usually manages to pull second place in its timeslot and has performed well in the sought after adult demographic, but its numbers continue to slip a bit each week. NBC has ordered additional scripts, though, and it has probably performed well enough to garner a full season order.
Missed an episode of Bionic Woman?
Watch it on Amazon.com Unbox
Axiom's Edge Sci Fi Website
Preview of Fall 2007 Sci Fi TV Shows
Comprehensive Index Of Sci Fi TV Shows
Axiom's Edge Webstore
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