Have you ever wondered why the spin-off from 'The Six Million Dollar Man' was not called 'The Six Million Dollar Woman'? Apparently, the network rejected the title on the grounds it made Lindsay Wagner sound like the world's most expensive hooker. Its true! The character of 'Jaime Sommers' first appeared in a two-part episode of the parent show, then in its second season. Steve Austin ( Lee Majors) is happily reunited with his childhood sweetheart, but just as they look all set to tie the knot, she is injured in a skydiving accident. Dr.Rudy Wells and his team replace her legs, arm and ear with bionic parts, and soon she and Steve are bounding about the countryside in slow motion to the accompaniment of bad love songs ( sung by Majors ). But she rejects her new bionic bits, and dies ( or seems to ). Reaction was so strong Jaime returned the following year ( she had been placed in suspended animation ), and then landed her own show. A loss of memory means she does not recall her love for Steve, and the O.S.I. ( Office of Strategic Information ) puts her to work as an undercover secret agent. When not breaking into Russian Embassy safes to retrieve stolen microfilm containing America's missile defence plans or thwarting diabolical masterminds, she is to be found teaching children at a Air Force Base school.
It was nice to have a woman as the lead in a '70's show, but nicer still that she could actually act. Strapping lads like yours truly wasted no time in putting her picture on the bedroom wall ( next to Linda Hayden and Maddy Smith ). The show's plots were interchangeable with those of the parent ( at least one episode was a scene-for-scene remake ) but it was no flop in 'The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.' sense. Like 'Charlie's Angels', some stories seem to have been written just to give Wagner a chance to either dress up or sing. Vincent Price and Evel Knievel ( as himself ) both guested. Richard Anderson must have been happy seeing how he was being paid for playing 'Oscar Goldman' in two prime-time shows. Notable episodes include the two-parter 'Doomsday Is Tomorrow' in which Jaime comes up against a 'Demon Seed'-like computer, the three-parter 'Kill Oscar!' with John Houseman as a madman who has invented 'Fembots' ( no, Mike Myers did not devise the word! ), and 'Deadly Ringer' in which Jaime is put in prison while a double takes her place. The latter contains a harrowing scene ( for the time ) - Jaime bawling her head off in a padded cell. Wagner copped an Emmy for her performance - rightly so.
'The Bionic Woman' was a big hit both in Britain and America. 'Look-In' ran a two-page comic strip based on it, later combined with 'Six Million Dollar Man' to make 'Bionic Action'. There was a change of network before the third and final season got underway. It made the mistake of bringing in ( if you can believe it ) the bionic dog - an Alsatian named Max. The bionic phenomenon was scraping the bottom of the barrel. The last episode - 'On The Run' - was a spoof of 'the Prisoner' with Jaime resigning and waking up in an internment camp because the information in her head was priceless.
Lindsay reprised the role of 'Jaime' for a bunch of T.V. movies in the late '80's, the last one - 'Bionic Ever After' - had her marrying Steve at long last.
In 2007, along came the dreaded remake. Starring ( if that's the right word ) British actress Michelle Ryan as 'Jaime', it unwisely tried to darken the concept. The producers disparaged the original, thereby ensuring hardcore fans would boycott the new show in droves. It was axed after less than a dozen episodes. Like the 'Night Stalker' retread, the new 'Bionic Woman' team should have studied the original closely to see what it was that made it work. The assumption was that more money and bigger special effects would mean a better show. Wrong. Computer gimmickry can never replace a charismatic star such as Wagner.
It was nice to have a woman as the lead in a '70's show, but nicer still that she could actually act. Strapping lads like yours truly wasted no time in putting her picture on the bedroom wall ( next to Linda Hayden and Maddy Smith ). The show's plots were interchangeable with those of the parent ( at least one episode was a scene-for-scene remake ) but it was no flop in 'The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.' sense. Like 'Charlie's Angels', some stories seem to have been written just to give Wagner a chance to either dress up or sing. Vincent Price and Evel Knievel ( as himself ) both guested. Richard Anderson must have been happy seeing how he was being paid for playing 'Oscar Goldman' in two prime-time shows. Notable episodes include the two-parter 'Doomsday Is Tomorrow' in which Jaime comes up against a 'Demon Seed'-like computer, the three-parter 'Kill Oscar!' with John Houseman as a madman who has invented 'Fembots' ( no, Mike Myers did not devise the word! ), and 'Deadly Ringer' in which Jaime is put in prison while a double takes her place. The latter contains a harrowing scene ( for the time ) - Jaime bawling her head off in a padded cell. Wagner copped an Emmy for her performance - rightly so.
'The Bionic Woman' was a big hit both in Britain and America. 'Look-In' ran a two-page comic strip based on it, later combined with 'Six Million Dollar Man' to make 'Bionic Action'. There was a change of network before the third and final season got underway. It made the mistake of bringing in ( if you can believe it ) the bionic dog - an Alsatian named Max. The bionic phenomenon was scraping the bottom of the barrel. The last episode - 'On The Run' - was a spoof of 'the Prisoner' with Jaime resigning and waking up in an internment camp because the information in her head was priceless.
Lindsay reprised the role of 'Jaime' for a bunch of T.V. movies in the late '80's, the last one - 'Bionic Ever After' - had her marrying Steve at long last.
In 2007, along came the dreaded remake. Starring ( if that's the right word ) British actress Michelle Ryan as 'Jaime', it unwisely tried to darken the concept. The producers disparaged the original, thereby ensuring hardcore fans would boycott the new show in droves. It was axed after less than a dozen episodes. Like the 'Night Stalker' retread, the new 'Bionic Woman' team should have studied the original closely to see what it was that made it work. The assumption was that more money and bigger special effects would mean a better show. Wrong. Computer gimmickry can never replace a charismatic star such as Wagner.