Bionic Woman

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.

I loved the idea of this remake and I think the actress is good enough to do it. But I am left feeling very disappointed.

It is almost like the writer had a list of cliché ideas next to him and ticked them off one by one. The whole 1st episode is infected with old ideas.

The one thing that really annoyed me was the mis-timed pace of it. One minute she is with her sis and the next she is having a pointless fight on a roof.

There was no time taken at all to develop her character and show the bionic transformation. This just seemed to be an inconvenience and got in the way of the first fight scene. It is almost like this programme is targeted for the Playstation Nation who are too impatient to sit down and watch a story build so it just whizzes past anything of substance.

Too fast, too cliché and nothing new here at all. Pity. I am struggling to recommend this.

Unless you took some hype for the show, the premiere was as good as you can get. Some of you make this sound worse then the "bionic dog" they had back in the old school. Oh but it's not. Watch it closely. Acting was good... to an extent. She was great but the babysitter job over the sister took a lot of time and might bring the drama to a halt, but the storyline itself shocked me. I was waiting for a disaster and now I want to see it run, well see her run.. AND thank god it's fast because if I heard that slow motion "speed and strength" sound fx I would of ripped my DVR from the wall. But overall, she is a beautiful actress with some nicely played attitude at the end which, if sticks, will guarantee a hit. I say give it a chance and it will be GREAT success. There is a lot of competition out there so they do need to slot it right. They can't run it during House, Hero's, Prison Break, or any other top drama (Don't forget Dexter!!!). Wow I waste a lot of time but helps me work at night since there is about 15 other shows too. But this one will make my list and time demands me to be a critic.

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

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.