The Bionic Woman (1976–1978)
6/10
Enjoyable television series in which the first female cyborg is assigned to her own spy missions.
14 March 2024
In this television spin-off of "The Six Million Dollar Man," professional tennis player Jamie Sommers (Lindsay Wagner) nearly died in a skydiving accident, but was saved by the United States government, which used parts bionics to save her. After fully recovering from the terrible accident, the beautiful young woman, Jaime Sommers, transforms into a bionic person. Now, with her new abilities, she becomes a secret agent and must stop dangerous crimes and save the country from her. He discovers that the best way to stop the bad guys is with his bionic abilities. Both legs, one arm, and one ear are artificial, giving him a number of superpowers. He works as an agent for the Office of Scientific Investigation fighting spies, mad scientists and aliens... As does his friend Colonel Steve Austin (Lee Majors). Meanwhile, Jamie is teaching basic education classes to young children at the Venture Air Force military base.

A nice and well-paced television series in 58 episodes, over 3 seasons, including action, adventure, intrigue, and fantastic events shot by naive means and traditional special effects. Lindsay Wagner's first appearance in The Six Million Dollar Man (1974) was supposed to be her last role in honor of her contract with Universal. However, the public reaction to her was so strong that she was offered her own series. The absolute protagonist is Lindsay Wagner who is the complete show, she is very attractive and gives a very sensitive, friendly and attractive performance. She even did most of her own stunts. As it became clear that Jamie Sommers was becoming a role model for children, the level of violence in the series decreased, and Jamie rarely (if ever) ) kills someone.

The characters of Oscar Goldman (Richard Anderson) and Rudy Wells (Martin E. Brooks) appeared in the series The Six Million Dollar Man (1974-1978) and in the spin-off, The Bionic Woman (1976). When the spin-off moved to another television network, this practice continued. This was the first time that the same characters appeared in two different television series broadcast on two different networks at the same time. An unexpected effect of the show's popularity was that the producers discovered that some children who were fans of the series were deliberately trying to seriously injure themselves in the hopes of obtaining bionic parts. This prompted the producers to write a letter to at least one of those children to tell them that the show is purely fictional.

The 1971 novel "Cyborg" by former U. S. Air Force pilot and N. A. S. A. public relations man Martin Caidin was the source material for The Six Million Dollar Man series (1974-1978). And The Bionic Woman (1976), both created by Kenneth Johnson.

In addition to the series' regular actors such as Richard Anderson, Martin E. Brooks and Martha Scott (6 episodes), a notable cast of guest actors appears, such as: Forrest Tucker, George Maharis, Jack Kelly, John Houseman, Andy Griffith, Barry Sullivan, Barbara Rush, Donald O'Connor, Vincent Price, Kristy McNichol, Lew Ayres, James Olson, William Schallert, Ed Nelson, John Saxon, Vito Scotti, Katherine Helmond, David Opatoshu, Ed Nelson. Sandra Bullock rose to fame playing Kate Mason. She was the protégé of Steve Austin and Jamie Sommers; the Bionic Girl; in this franchise.

Producer Harve Bennett was the opening voice of the show, making this recording after Richard Anderson had already recorded the rest of the monologue. Anderson was not available at the time to record the addition, so Bennett did it himself. The success of the series The Six Million Dollar Man and its spin-off, The Bionic Woman (1976), was a turning point for television networks, as it convinced Hollywood that the fantasy superhero genre was viable as prime-time entertainment material, more on its own terms than drama and opposed to cheesy parody comedy like Batman (1966). Characters Steve Austin and Jamie Sommers (from The Bionic Woman (1976)) were ranked number nineteen on TV Guide's list of the "25 Greatest Science Fiction Legends"
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