User reviews

OK first things first..Michelle Ryan looks the part, seems likable and is attractive...however there is some depth missing in her performance. The premise is modern, or maybe typical is a better word, as this time around Jaime Sommers works as a bartender, yes a bartender. Gone is the high school teacher / tennis player. Maybe that was too 70's. Also gone are Rudy Wells and Oscar Goldman. However Rudy does have a cameo of sorts as Jaime's middle name is said to be Wells in the episode...Hmm maybe Rudy will show up. This Jaime takes care of her troublesome kid sister ( is there any other kind on these shows )is engaged and about to possibly marry her professor boyfriend and we find all this out within the first 10 minutes when....well here is where circumstances cause her to become, the Bionic Woman. Here is my problem with this version. Its dark, brooding, and comes across as Spiderman meets Alias meets X-Men. And half the show appears to be a night. Can I get some daylight please!!!! And the sister is an annoying addition and unnecessary. Another head scratcher is that after finding out what she is now...there wasn't much delving into her discovering and acceptance of her current state. The woman goes straight back to work serving drinks for god sakes like she just had a boob job and that was it and oh well back to work. Maybe this new Jaime is OK for the new generation but I don't find it appealing in its present incarnation. Maybe its the times we live in but almost every show I see on TV is dark, brooding and depressing. The bionic woman of the 70's was about adventure and action and a touch of tongue and cheek. This version is about violence, death, hit men, and dark depressing characters with ulterior motives. Yes there is action in it too but it all comes with all the extras above. Give me Lindsay and the fembots any day!!!! One good thing about this version I will say is they spruced up on how they show and deal with Jaime's speed. It doesn't come across silly or anything. Sadly Alias, aside from the superhuman strength, has already charted these waters of the beautiful babe with kickass fighting abilities. Been there done that. They should have just gone the way of an adventure/action show and maybe, just maybe...then again who knows...Dark , brooding, depressing seems to be the in thing these days.

Network: NBC; Genre: Sci-Fi Action; Content Rating: TV-PG (for comic book violence); Available: DVD; Perspective: Contemporary (star range: 1 - 4);

Seasons Reviewed: Series (1 season)

"Bionic Woman" barrels onto the fall 2007 schedule with a typhoon of hype that it doesn't deserve and outspoken armchair critic repulsion that it also probably doesn't deserve. Worst show ever? Hardly. As with "Cavemen", the internet rebellion is on overdrive again to take something down.

A remake of the 1976 series of the same name (with a slogan taken from the 1975 series of a different name), NBC's "Bionic Woman" updates Jamie Summers and her ear, arm and legs (and installs a bionic eye) for a new generation. Now, that special effects have reached the technological point that they can be pulled off on TV cheaply without looking so, 70s sci-fi is fair game for any high-tech re-imagining.

I'll admit, I was taken with these visual effects in the first episode, when Jamie (the bodacious Michelle Ryan, perfectly up for all the action) escapes from the lab that re-assembled her and runs through a forest. We actually see her legs moving, instead of the blurred Tom Welling that dashes through "Smallville". Soon the pilot climaxes in a blurry bionic-woman-on-bionic-woman fight scene shot with such shot cuts it's guaranteed to pull you out of the action with it's trickery. As is all of the show's fighting. We can make a woman run at lightening speed look real but we can't make a fight scene look like it wasn't created entirely in the editing suite.

But let's talk about "Smallville". On that comic book series the action sequences are creatively constructed and bring to a head the emotional strands of the story. The acting, at least from the supporting players, is quite good and the show is a cinematic production, visually restrained and musically appropriated. "Bionic" is a cold, shallow exercise in frenzied fight scenes and time-tested shoot-outs.

The show doesn't have an original bone in it's body; and not just because it's a remake. Like any big budget production it plays everything safe from soup to nuts, following even it's own formula strictly. Jamie works for a secret government agency, led by Miguel Ferrer (still playing the gruff but concerned team leader from "Crossing Jordan"), who sends her out on assignments to foil terrorists across the country and around the world. It's "Chuck" without the quirky humor, "Heroes" without the invention, "Smallville" without the heart. It may be apples and oranges but look at the ho-hum episode in which Jamie returns to college for an assignment and compare that to a similar and far more inspired episode of "Chuck" where that show's unlikely secret agent returns to college.

I recognize this is all criticism you either know already or just assumed from the show's status as a remake. But you'd have to see it to know how just about everything down to the studs doesn't work. It's wildly over-directed and to counter-act that it's blandly scripted. It is a hollow-to-the-core Hollywood production, mechanically assemble out of condescension and laziness, betting that viewers will sit slack-jawed through the 50 minutes of routine, talky set-up just to see Jamie bust out a bionic feat of strength and save the day in the final 5 minutes. That's all we'll get and we'll be lucky to get it.

The biggest insult? For my money it's the way the show takes "Breath Me", a song that lent such beauty and such an emotional punch in the gut to the "Six Feet Under" finale and just slap-dash lays it over a training montage. Heresy!

* ½ / 4

Firstly and foremost, I have to point out that I am a big fan of the new Galactica, although I don't personally see why that should apply to the reception of a separate show. And yes, I know there are considerable crossovers in writing and acting talent, but the show still deserves to be evaluated on its own.

Secondly, rose-tinted memories aside, remember that old seventies shows have not generally stood the test of time. They were strictly formulaic, beset by comedy fashion and hairstyle, and the bionic woman itself was a cheap knock off of its masculine origin show. For God's sake, they varied the implants just so she would be different to Steve Austin.

Of course, restrictions of formula still apply. An audience that has been gobbling up 24, Lost and Prison Break for the last few years now has higher expectations of a new show. Better production values, more stylised dialogue and a greater sense of mythology pervade these shows. And Heroes has pushed the benchmark out about as far as it can go.

So any new pilot on any network is going to come under serious scrutiny. And I think Bionic Woman holds up. I will concede that the script for the pilot was a little ropey - I had the distinct feeling a pilot movie script had been seriously hacked down to size. But the performances were strong enough to hold it, and the photography and visual design showed some innovation.

The biggest problem with series (as opposed to movies) is that it can take much longer for a show to build up the momentum it needs to create its identity. The Bionic Woman had always been a family show, just like The Six Million Dollar Man. If the new Bionic Woman is going to establish itself as the same, then it will have to pitched just right.

So it gets six out of ten. Better than average. Better than a lot of shows that somehow continue, but worse than many who have fallen by the wayside. Lets just hope that NBC give Jamie Summers time to show us who she really is.

Whether it's a hit or not, for me it has already wiped another laughable 70s show off the map. Maybe they could update The Fall Guy, only it would be about a CGI artist who used his power of computer graphics to help a different woman every week...

I was a fan of the ORIGINAL Bionic Woman and Six Million Dollar Man, but this series is severely lacking. The actress is nice enough but the character is way too naive. On top of that they have her performing bionic jumps and 40+ MPH run in MID to HIGH HEELS? Give me a break.

Come on folks - pay attention to the details!

This series needs drastic changes if they want a second season, character needs to get smarter, attention to details needs to happen - especially where bionic moves are occurring. She also needs a supporting character she can trust and depend on during her missions. The current organization she works for is apparently composed of spies and double spies as no one seems to trust one another. In any hostile environment, you need someone to watch your back - someone you trust 150% of the time. Don't get me started on her younger sister.

Unless things change - series will tank.

I don't know.

I was expecting a lot and it didn't deliver.

The one thing I do miss is the special effects noise that was made when Lee Majors and Lindsey Wagner ran. You know - Dadadadadadadada.

I was waiting for it and nothing.

And this BW seemed a little too upset at her boyfriend for saving her life - you would think should be grateful for being alive and put back together.

She could of been dead and/or no legs, arm, eye or ear.

I hope this show improves, if not - gone!!!!

I don't know - maybe I was looking for something and just wasn't there.

They seem to build on the characters of others beside Jaime. You know, she was like an after thought to the story.

Let's wait and see..

I've seen the pilot and have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by how good it was. It's true that the writing could be better, but I'm sure that will improve as everyone on the show limbers up for the job. I'm glad that NBC did the show instead of SciFi - the effects are good, the cast has some budget behind it (which makes a huge difference in terms of quality), and if you're a fan of BSG you'll get to see some of your favorite character actors from that show as well.

I'm a fan of this kind of show (Buffy, Dark Angel, Nikita, etc.) and think that the pilot promises that the new Bionic Woman will easily be just as good as Dark Angel, Nikita, and Alias (and probably better than all three). It would need a radical overhaul of the writing staff to be as good as Buffy, and some Jaime-allies to round out the ensemble.

Overall, I highly recommend that you tune in for at least the first three episodes - I think this might be really good.

I think the critics are being too harsh. It takes awhile for a show to reach its stride. I think they did a good job with the casting and the special effects. The people complaining about CGI have no clue about the budget constraints of a TV series. (They weren't that bad, by the way). I think it opens with interesting villains. I cannot believe how snobbish some folks are who immediately write off a show after only watching the pilot. I personally hope that they don't cancel it but give it time to flesh out the storyline. The only thing it really lacks in my opinion is a catchy soundtrack. The music in Six Million Dollar man really made the show - when Steve Austin went bionic on the bad guys, the theme music really made the show a hit. I hope they revamp that part of it.

Okay I don't understand how somebody can put so much money in such a show !

I've never been a huge fan of the other show so my opinion is certainly not to compare both shows but honestly this show has nothing to please :

The story is just plain boring: nothing is new, it's just the same story : girl has an accident and girl gets new legs and girl has to fight both the government and the bad guys... I think, we people deserve a little more consideration than that !

The actress seems nice enough but hey I'm not really interested in what's happening to her ... for that she should have good lines to say... the dialogues are just as the rest;.. unefficient and not worth much...

Finally the special effects are SO lame.... at least we should need good FX to be able to believe the story...

The biggest question here is ... how much do they pay the people working on the show? I'm pretty sure I could do better since the show is as old fashioned as the previous series was...

My advice? cancel this show and save the money for something better !

I really can't believe all the bad reviews this show has gotten. I thought it was well directed, a good cast and, so far, a good plot line. If they don't bog the show down in a convoluted plot, it should be a good series.

I thought it was well filmed and blocked. Yes there were a few points that were a bit irritating but nothing that was a show stopper. The boyfriend/surgeon was a bit of a putz and his character was weak and whimpy but it was a minor point.

All in all, I thought it was a very enjoyable watch. It they can keep a good plot line going and not get involved in something long, painful and pointless (see the X-files). It should be a good show.

Yes, I said fun to watch. Will it win any awards for writing, acting, cinematography, effects, lighting, or music? Probably not, but then so what? It's still fun to watch. I admit having never seen Battlestar Gallactica, so I can't give you any comparisons but then why would I, they are not even in the same genre, sure they are both science fiction but that where it ends and it'd be silly to compare them just because some of the actors were in both.

It is a natural to compare this to the original show that was hugely popular back in the 70's, but... except for the bionics and her name there really isn't any similarity. It's a new show with new characters and modernized.

Sorry Oscar.

A great show? No. A good show? Maybe, a few more episodes will tell. Either way it's entertainment and I liked it.

This show has flash gordon to compete with which is a shame as flash gordon has a good protagonist and no budget and this show has a nice budget but a pathetic protagonist. A clumsy woman that doesn't even want her powers? Im really not feeling this new wave of remakes that overfocus on drama to try to humanise the protagonist and give the plots feasibility. Its a shame too as there's a nice chunk of actors in this show, some you'll recognise from movies and starbuck from the new galactica as a baddie. If you really do not have anything else to watch then give this a shot but expect to want to kill the bionic woman yourself as shes such a miserable character.

I did appreciate this show for one thing, unintentional humor. My sig other and I watched this and were laughing within the first 10 minutes. From the dreadfully cliché story line, forced, weak romance as if she's 12 years old and everyone on the show has the maturity of high schoolers, to her "powers," there's more cheese than Wisconsin produces in a decade here. Quite possibly this is the worst show to ever hit the boob tube since in the 80s they tried this show that revolved around a bunch of fun-loving flight attendants, a show so bad you could tell they were reading of cue cards just off camera.

And the writers went on strike AFTER the show started airing, which makes one wonder after watching this total garbage and waste of broadcast bandwidth how they can possibly justify more money for what they do. And now, I guess showing maybe there is a god, it's getting canceled. Good riddance, wow this was a bad show. Wow.

But again, it's a funny show due to it's completely stupid vapid and implausible aspects, to the really bad acting, if one can even justify it as "acting," to Jaime Sommers huge loft in NYC, laughable because it would run about four million or so for such a thing, but hey, it's "fantasy" I guess, and you're living in a fantasy if you think this show is anything more than garbage.

It's a typically cynical attitude to a perfectly good re-imagining of a series that was pretty dreadful to start with. C'mon, let's face facts, with the source material being so ropey in the first place, there was no reason to expect very much at all from this. The truth of the matter is that this is far more interesting than the awful 70's original and deserves to be judged on its own merits, of which there are many. Michelle Ryan is remarkable given her woeful origins in soap opera hell.

Look, if you are open enough to take this on board without getting bogged down in all of the baggage that comes with it, then there is much to enjoy.

This show has no direction...it was over before it started. After giving the first two episodes a chance, this show is just plain BAD! Characters, writing, pacing, special effects all bad. "THE" Jamie Sommers was going to nail some strange guy in the men's room...this scene sums up just how bad and desperate the writers for this show are. Of course, maybe the show would have been more interesting if she had contracted a social disease fused with Bionics. The character development is so weak that I just don't care for anyone on this show. I didn't care who Jamie Sommers was before the accident, I didn't care when she was in the accident, and I think she is pretty creepy in the hero role.

This soon to be short lived series will put the tomb stone on Bionic anything for some time to come....thanks NBC.

Personally I thought this was a pretty good show for a pilot esp one that is only 1 hr long. You can not expect an hour pilot to have the effects and dialog that a 2 hr movie would have. Also for the people making comparisons to other shows and talking about stuff that wouldn't last you sound like the people that said Stargate would not last and it just ended after 10 year run with a spin off going into its 3rd or 4th season. Also i must say i really don't like the battlestar galactica that is on now. Some people like light shows not dark stuff all the time. Part of the problem with new shows now is that viewers expect a perfect show starting with the first episode. You have to give the cast and writers time to grow into the show. Very few shows start out with a great beginning.

Having seen this since it first premiered, I must say that it didn't lived up to it's hype as I expected. What I really expected was more oomph, more thump and more bass, figuratively speaking. There are some exciting moments interspersed with drama and tension but in the end, it just felt bland. I'm not saying I liked it, I just felt that it needed more. Whatever ambitions set up by the director of this remake had didn't warrant a valid sense of appreciation of what it could've been and as in the case of this remake of the classic TV series, is not ready to expand on them either and ultimately fans and newcomers alike won't be convinced.

I really wanted to like this new show. i was a huge fan of Lindsey Wagner's version in 1976. I thought this new show would stick to the same story line as 76's version, you know, tennis player and all. The new Jamie, Michelle Ryan, is a beautiful actress, but simply too young to play this role of Jamie Summers. I agree with the other comments about this show. Giving Jamie a bionic eye? Doesn't that belong to Steve Austin? The story line up to this point has been terrible. A whole neighborhood wiped out and the only survivor is a young girl that shows no concern for her grandparents dying, or the rest of the neighborhood. Oh and wait....Jamie is not the first bionic woman in this new version. The first version was a bad batch. A rotten apple. I truly don't believe this show will finish off this season. I give it another one or two episodes and then NBC will realize their mistake and pull it off their schedule. Sorry Michelle Ryan. Don't take it personal. You only act out the terrible story lines the writers write for you. Its not your fault the show is crappy.