Super Jaimie

Most spin-off shows must be viewed with caution as they are usually pale imitations of their predecessors. The Bionic Woman was not one of them.

The beautiful Lindsay Wagner played bionic woman Jamie Sommers. She was joined by Richard Anderson as Oscar Goldman and Martin E. Brooks as Dr. Rudy Wells. She worked for the OSI agency (it's amazing how in the 60's and 70's there were so many government agencies fighting evil on the small screen). Jamie had had an airplane accident and she was rebuilt. She was given bionic legs, a bionic arm and a bionic ear (no doubt used for listening to gossip).

Like most shows of that era, The Bionic Woman was fun as Jamie Sommers fought all sorts of threats from Bigfoot to Fembots to aliens and also a few more down to earth threats as well. I really loved the theme tune and the action sequences to this show. The acting was great on the part of the three leads and the show had a mixture of stories from comedy episodes to dark episodes. Popping in from time to time was Steve Austin (not the WWF/WWE star but the Six Million Dollar Man played by Lee Majors).

All in all, a great show which is better than it has ever been given credit for.

Even now, from over 20 years distance from "the bionic woman" - she is still quite an example for women heroines in the entire Television history. She is beautiful, witty, brave and non-compromising - a lot thanks to Lindsay Wagner which performed her roll in such an elegant way. Jaime was one of the first women in television, to be shown as more then just another pretty face - at first, as a sidekick for the six million dollars man but soon enough, in behalf of herself. To bad the series didn't last longer - there was a lot of potential - the series combined both action and drama, and even humor now and then. Jaime always encountered intriguing and complex situations, and always handled them very well. All and all, I think that what made Jaime so special was the fact that bionic or not - she was human, very human and emotional but one of a strong character.

Even though I was a huge fan of "The Six Million Dollar Man", I was also a fan of this show. The main thing I liked about the series was that while Steve Austin was more or less a comic book character come to life, Jaimie Sommers was more of a real person. Jaimie had more of a private life and she still had time to enjoy that life. Also, you could see she was more vulnerable and was not afraid to show her softer side. You could also see that she had her self doubts about her job, which also made her a more endearing characacter. Also, this had some more comic elements to it and that's what helped to distinguish it from the show from which it was spun off from.

I had the treat of going to the set at Universal Studios and meeting Lindsay Wagner and seeing her in action while I was in college. I've got to admit the Hollywood Magic bubble was burst when she didn't jump over the 12 foot fence or actually push a car on her own. But none the less the show was always entertaining and a nice change in those days to see a woman who was beautiful and powerful, something us girls could look up to. My second treat was when my cousins and I ended up getting a little chilly and she told us we could go into her motor home to watch TV and warm up. At 9:00 pm she come running in and says " if you don't mind the show is on." She turns on Bionic Woman and sits down next to me. As I called it back then –"Way Cool"! Lindsay is a charming and sincere lady.

I absolutely adored this TV series, which unfortunately I've not been able to find in recent years on re runs. For me it was much more entertaining than its predecessor, The Six Million Dollar Man, possibly because being female, I identified more with its heroine. Also, I agree with another comment made that Steve Austin (Six Million Dollar Man) is more a comic book figure, while Jamie is a real multi dimensional person.

The series revolves around a lovely young lady, Jamie Sommers, who suffers severe injuries in an airplane crash and is then rebuilt with bionic legs, one arm, and an ear. This first female cyborg is then sent undercover on spy missions by the Office of Scientific Investigations (OSI), using a high school teacher front as her cover.

Lindsay Wagner is simply perfect here, charming and endearing as Jamie Sommers. Jamie's bionic colleague, Steve Austin (played by Lee Majors) occasionally joins her on missions. However, the other star I recall best from the series is Max, the wonderful bionic German Shepherd and her frequent companion.

Jamie uses her special bionic speed, strength, and hearing in each episode to hunt down assorted spies and mad scientists. The episodes feature lots of action adventure and surely one of the most appealing heroines in television history. Jamie is beautiful, intelligent, affable, and compassionate...vulnerable in a sense (despite her powers) but strong and resourceful. Her strength is not simply bionic but strength of character. She would make a wonderful role model for modern young female viewers. In the intervening decades, television has never come up with a female action adventure star to equal her.