Bionic Woman (2007) User Reviews

Choppy, disjointed

[rnorthro14 · 5/10 · 28 September 2007]

I had high hopes, being a fan of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica series but the "Bionic Woman" series premiere was something of a disappointment.

I can live with recycled story lines. I can also deal with the pedestrian plot. This episode was just poorly spliced together with little to no transition from one scene to the next. One gets the impression that the premiere had been intended to run during a 90-120 minute time slot but was seriously over edited and cut down to 43 minutes. What results is basically little more than an extended trailer with very little character development.

This strategy is unfortunate because there are interesting characters with which to work here. The strained relationship between Jaime Sommers (played by English actress Michelle Ryan) and her live-in teenage sister is a bit of an overdone cliché (can you say Party of Five, Buffy the Vampire Slayer?), however I like the possibilities to explore some of the secondary characters. I want to know more about Miguel Ferrer's character as a shady project leader. I am interested in finding out about the story behind Will Andros - Jaime's love interest - and his seemingly villainous brother Anthony. Will Yun Lee's character also has potential.

If I were to describe the series premiere in two words, it would be "missed opportunity". Hopefully this is just a case of overzealous film editors overdoing it in the cutting room; the first episodes of many series start off a bit shaky compared to the series as a whole. There is some decent parts with this cast and a storyline with an opportunity to create some intriguing plot twists. I can only hope that the creators of the show put all these parts and create a decent show.

Lindsay we miss you...even more now.

[leorican · 5/10 · 26 September 2007]

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.

So-so pilot (very mild character spoilers below)

[muitnep001 · 6/10 · 1 September 2007]

Based on the previews, I had high hopes that "Bionic Woman" would be a darker, more intense and more intelligent show than its predecessor.

After seeing an early pilot, however, I'm hedging my bets on whether this show will succeed.

The pilot certainly strove to be edgier and darker, mostly due to lighting and set design, but the flat writing served only to push the story forward without giving much personality to any of the characters.

Michelle Ryan does play a convincing young American in the title role, and Mae Whitman as Ryan's younger, dependent deaf sister obviously foreshadows domestic troubles ahead, although I believe Whitman will be replaced by Lucy Hale and the character's deafness dropped for the actual televised pilot. If so, then that will be a mistake, as Whitman plays a very interesting character and Hale seems blandly pretty by comparison. Chris Bowers as Ryan's love interest and the genius behind the bionics is just another shaggy-haired, scruffy-bearded pretty boy, without any depth or interest.

Miguel Ferrer, Will Yun Lee and Molly Price all bring their considerable talent to supporting roles playing characters involved with the bionics project. It's either a very good or very bad sign when the supporting cast prove far more interesting than the supposed leads.

Also compelling are the shady characters mysteriously related to the bionics project, including the first bionic woman, played by Katee Sackhoff, and the people she works for/with, played by Thomas Kretschmann and Mark Sheppard.

Despite the only marginally interesting main characters and uneven special effects, the pilot offered enough secondary talent, mystery and potential to merit watching future episodes.

I give this show a 60% chance of surviving beyond a first season, and only a 50% chance if they make the anticipated changes to Ryan's sister.

Even for a remake it is dull and uninspired

[liquidcelluloid-1 · 23 February 2008]

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

Another remake...

[murphmeister75 · 6/10 · 27 September 2007]

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...

AS bad as it can get!

[mcayouette · 2/10 · 7 December 2007]

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

[cwilson-46 · 6/10 · 27 September 2007]

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..

Oh my god !

[lizbeth2-1 · 1/10 · 16 October 2007]

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 !

Looks great.

[arcanamundi · 9/10 · 11 September 2007]

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 it was fairly good

[jkstexas2001 · 7/10 · 26 September 2007]

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.

Blatant, god-awful drek

[likeahorsey · 1/10 · 27 September 2007]

I wish I could get the hour of my life back that I spent watching this absolute homage to crap. It's hard to tell what's worse, the writing or the acting, but does it really matter. Michelle Ryan is the most uninspiring lead imaginable, although you cannot fault her for the horrendous script she has to attempt to breath life into. And when I say horrendous, I truly mean it. Shame on writer Laeta Kalogridis for churning out ear-splitting dialogue that would be considered poor by anyone who's completed an education beyond the first grade. Miguel Ferrer is wasting both his talent and time by appearing in a series that apparently exists solely to employ a cast and crew of hacks. Every feeling, emotion, and reaction is completely forced and an affront to the intelligence of the average viewer. Furthermore, the music used is HORRIBLE and obviously a desperate, tacked-on attempt to draw in female viewers. Nobody who works on this show knows the meaning of words such as "subtle" or "finnese". Perhaps when it goes off the air (which cannot be soon enough), this show can be shown in wards housing comatose patients in order to keep them company, but honestly, it is probably not even worthy of such use.

PS: Notice that the doctor is clearly shot in the right shoulder and when they load him onto the ambulance in the next scene, the paramedics state "male victim with gunshot wound to the left shoulder." Yeah...Nice production work NBC.

A good show and a fun watch

[dmtinker · 8/10 · 26 September 2007]

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.

Entertaining, not spectacular, but definitely fun to watch.

[edsnowmail · 6/10 · 27 September 2007]

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.

The most boring protagonist ever

[yevonwm · 3/10 · 14 October 2007]

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.

Giving it a 1 (awful) is perhaps too high.

[colan · 15 February 2008]

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.

Not at all surprised at the reaction to this....

[Gloobey · 7/10 · 29 September 2007]

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.

Yawn.

[terren8556 · 3/10 · 26 September 2007]

I eagerly watched the previews of the show on NBC's site, and more than once. The first time, months ago, I was really looking forward to the show. It looked like a fresh, original, and much more character driven, less hokey version of the '70s version.

The actor playing the lead is quite lovely, but in an approachable and down-to-Earth type of way. The storyline with Jamie's deaf sister, and the scenes between the two, looked really interesting-- real drama mixed with the science fiction motif. I hoped for a storyline that approached just the right mix between drama, SciFi, and action that involved a strong woman lead coming to terms with a drastic and permanent change in her life. One whose remarkable new superpowers if anything, complicated things for her even more.

It's emblematic of how something with great potential was greatly compromised, in that I noted that they got rid of the actor playing Jamie's deaf sister, and that whole storyline, and replaced her with an Olson Twins lookalike, stereotypical angst-ridden, smart-Aleck caricature of a teen.

That was only the first, and worst, of the sell outs. Perhaps all else was going to be the same anyway, but with what could have been one of the most durable foundations of the story taken away, what was left was a glorified, extended play music video.

The writing and pace of the story seemed intent on cramming in as much, with as much flash, in as little time as possible. There was no room to connect with any of the characters, or to really care about them.

Within fifteen minutes we are introduced to Jamie, her sister, her scientist professor boyfriend (another two-dimensional cardboard cutout hunky guy with a stubble); we learn that she's pregnant, compulsory tender moment over dinner at a restaurant, and then poof, accident, secret underground lab, bionic woman, other bionic woman....pant, pant.

Of course, there was the compulsory, only been done a million times before, attacked-by-and-beats-up-thug in the alley scene.

The chemistry between Jamie and her "boyfriend" was nonexistent--or we weren't given time to even see it. What little we were allowed to see of it, including the scene in the restaurant where she tells him she is pregnant, was superficial to the point of being almost laughable. And the scene where she confronts him about what has been done to her, they go to bed, and then he gets shot--what was the point?

What could have been a truly effective and interesting depiction of her transition to a cyborg, and adjustment, was instead given only cursory note. It was as if the writers weren't interested, and, just as regarding the part of the story before her accident, were impatient to just get it over with.

I know that Michelle Ryan can act; the long ago, very promising previews--with the deaf sister and accompany storyline--on NBC's website demonstrated that. But the glitzified, hurry-up writing, and frenetic pace of the story, and the changes that were made that I mentioned in the beginning ensured that there was little opportunity for any of the actors to sink their teeth into their characters, or the story.

The first bionic woman, the storyline with the Russian, and the man released from the supermax prison would have been all the more interesting if they had not been introduced in the tepid context of the overall story.

What a disappointment; I had almost completely lost interest in the episode before the ending. For me, I don't know if it's going to be worth the time to stick it out for another episode or two.

Promising but is clearly indebted to seminal science-fiction

[amalthea-7 · 7/10 · 6 October 2007]

The new "Bionic Woman", while clearly indebted to key science-fiction films, is slick, engaging and shows promise. It is more obviously referencing the feel of "Blade Runner" with its moody, rainy night cityscape and even the soundtrack recalls Vangelis' work on that film. I'm sure themes of "what makes us human?" and the ethics of science and biotechnology will be lightly explored, but all of this I am eager to see in this new show.

The characters are already intriguing and engaging from the first episode. Michelle Ryan quickly gains sympathy for her character, Jamie Sommers, who is struggling with the duality of being youthfully independent while a guardian for her younger sister... then struggling with being "repaired" into a bionic woman by an impassioned lover/scientist not wishing to lose her after a horrific car accident - or is the crash entirely purposeful, and if so, for what reasons? Yikes!

Katee Sackhoff, of the new "Battlestar Galactica", is a pleasure to watch as the rabid first bionic-woman, Sarah Corvis, with her wicked glint in the eye, calculated smile and gleefully tough persona. In fact, the women of this show seem to be the strongest performers by far, although credit goes to Chris Bowers for making the lover/scientist, Will Anthros, an intriguing character- is it passion which motivates him to repair Jamie, or something else?

Yes, there are hammy moments and moments where the dialogue was wooden (this could be said about so many prime-time shows!) and elements of the plot don't quite make sense- why is such a gorgeous, smart-seeming creature like Jamie, with a scientist for a boyfriend, working in a bar? But overall I found the show to be exciting and enjoyable, albeit it light-entertainment. Let's wait and see what is to come before laying down final judgements.

What a waste!

[contlaltdel · 2/10 · 4 October 2007]

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.

Great New Show

[ejdawg76 · 10/10 · 27 September 2007]

I thought it wasn't going to be as good as it was, they hyped the show so much i felt like they practically showed the show in the preview but there was a lot more to it, a lot happened in that one hour, i was impressed, i actually think the next episode looks better, i will definitely be tuning into the next show. Give the show a chance and watch the next few episodes before you fully judge the show. Michele Ryan was a great pick, she does make you care about the character which is important to a show, Katie Sackhoff is a pretty fun villain, there's something about her that hooks you in, i hope they find a way to keep her around. There was some cheesy lines but thats with any show, there aren't to many good shows on TV like there used to be especially since reality took over but this definitely seems like a fun scifi/fantasy show, that can take you away from a bad reality every week so try and check it out.

This would have been perfect as a TV movie.

[kungfugirlsclub · 7/10 · 26 September 2007]

I had really high hopes for the show, as I am old enough to vaguely remember the two shows from the 70s that it is based on. There is a little bit of disbelief suspension that needs to be exercised, and that's not good, considering there are other shows that just "Grab you and take you in." It's one of those shows, like many others, that wants you to believe that the young, beautiful Jamie Summers (played by Brit actress Michelle Ryan) can afford a HUGE San Francisco loft and support her young sister whilst making a living bartending. Oh, and her bartending job lets her come and go as she please (to fight evildoers) and she cuts limes during peak hours of business. And, of course, her boyfriend is not a bouncer or an appliance salesman, but a brilliant biological scientist. When a freak (or was it freak?) accident makes her a multiple amputee, she is equipped with $50 Million of new technology, but technology that will make her a slave to a top secret underground government organization. It's fitting that this organization is masterminded by Miguel Ferrer, who did the exact same thing (albeit with more hair) in 1987's Robocop. Of course, Ms. Summmers escapes the compound by running really fast (there is a nod, of course to Dick Donner's Superman here) and the show climaxes with a girl-girl karate fight on top of a building in the rain with heels. One-liners galore exist, but poor Ms. Ryan never seems convinced that she is a superwoman, and her people surrounding her don't seem very impressed either. This is just a pilot, though, and I am convinced that shows do get better, but this first arc would have been better in say, a two hour movie?

What a Bummer

[rasdane · 2/10 · 12 September 2007]

I'm a huge BSG fan, so I really looked forward to "Bionic Woman". I hoped for another re-imagening, where an old below-average show was turned into something new and different. Now that I've seen the pilot (on Amazon Unbox/TiVo), I can only say: What a let-down!

What makes BSG so great is the focus to detail and human stakes. I quickly grew to care about the characters and what happened to them, even in the face of a fairly ludicrous plot. That's why I've stayed with the show for three years.

BW doesn't manage to duplicate this character-involvement. The pilot felt rushed; the emotional points didn't land; actions didn't make sense. For example (***MINOR SPOILER***), why is Jamie so mad at her boyfriend after the surgery? Didn't he just save her life? Shouldn't relief/gratitude be a part of her character's reaction, too? (***END SPOILER***) The main thing BW has going for it is a strong cast on the villain-side, including BSG-holdovers Katee Sackhoff and Mark Sheppard, as well as the awesome Thomas Kretschmann. And Miguel Ferrer is always gruff... I mean, great. But the script/direction/editing (I never know who to blame) doesn't give them enough to too. It's a real problem when (***SPOILER***) Jamie asks -- and I paraphrase -- "What do you want with me" and evil-BW answers has to answer "I don't quite know myself." In a stronger show, she would know! Otherwise, there's no point to their fight. Which there wasn't really. (*** END SPOILER ***)

Finally, based on the pilot, Michelle Ryan doesn't seem up to the task of carrying the show. Now don't get me wrong, I was thrilled that the heroine for once isn't some generic ano-yogic surgerized LA bimbo. (Some of us dudes like a little variety, dear TV executives.) But her acting simply wasn't very strong. And for an action-show, she didn't seem very "in her body." In contrast, the reason why Katee Sackhoff is so awesome (in this and BSG) is that she is physically convincing as an athlete, who can and will kick your ass. And Ms. Ryan isn't.

The two stars are for the villain-cast as described above, who all deserve better. As do we, the audience. I won't be watching this show.

Bionic Woman Naysayers

[dansherr · 9/10 · 26 September 2007]

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.

Fairly entertaining

[johnnymacbest · 6/10 · 6 October 2007]

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 show....

[JOldridgeJr · 1/10 · 7 October 2007]

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.