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5.8/10
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A reimagining of the popular 1970s TV series about a female athlete who is given bionic strength.A reimagining of the popular 1970s TV series about a female athlete who is given bionic strength.A reimagining of the popular 1970s TV series about a female athlete who is given bionic strength.
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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...
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...
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 think this "re-make" can be summed up in one observation: the premier episode was just an hour. Therefore, it was just another episode. Problem is, you can't lay the foundation for what is obviously supposed to be a blockbuster series in just one hour. Much less a re-make that is marketed to draw in everybody over the age of 40 who watched the original "Bionic Woman" and "The Six Million Dollar Man."
As a member of that demographic, I was left very much wanting. The premier was basically a "wham, bam, thank you, m'am" undertaking. It was like the producers were going down a checklist:
Introduce Jamie Sommers - check. Have her dating Rudy Wells - HUH?!? Show her catastrophic accident - check. Give her her bionics - check. Show her shocked reaction - check. Show her anger at what happened to her - check. Make her an OSI agent - check. Run closing credits - check.
Heck, they probably had ten minutes left over when they finished the list, which would explain the obligatory (for this day & age) bedroom scene. And that's indicative of how much the new writers care about the original show.
If they want to attract and hold those of us who were fans of the original as kids, why not acknowledge that history? Give this Bionic Woman a different name, have her learn that bionics have been around for over thirty years, and that Steve Austin and Jamie Sommers were the patriarch and matriarch of the cyborg community. Make it "Bionic Woman: The Next Generation". That would dovetail a lot better with Katie Sackhoff's character of "Bionic Woman Gone Bad".
Be bold. Be creative. Give hardcore BW fans something to sink their teeth into.
But no. All we have is, as another commenter coined, a "cookie-cutter" hybrid of other "super woman" genres of recent vintage. Basically, "BWINO" - Bionic Woman In Name Only.
I'll probably give it a chance for a while - if I remember it's on.
As a member of that demographic, I was left very much wanting. The premier was basically a "wham, bam, thank you, m'am" undertaking. It was like the producers were going down a checklist:
Introduce Jamie Sommers - check. Have her dating Rudy Wells - HUH?!? Show her catastrophic accident - check. Give her her bionics - check. Show her shocked reaction - check. Show her anger at what happened to her - check. Make her an OSI agent - check. Run closing credits - check.
Heck, they probably had ten minutes left over when they finished the list, which would explain the obligatory (for this day & age) bedroom scene. And that's indicative of how much the new writers care about the original show.
If they want to attract and hold those of us who were fans of the original as kids, why not acknowledge that history? Give this Bionic Woman a different name, have her learn that bionics have been around for over thirty years, and that Steve Austin and Jamie Sommers were the patriarch and matriarch of the cyborg community. Make it "Bionic Woman: The Next Generation". That would dovetail a lot better with Katie Sackhoff's character of "Bionic Woman Gone Bad".
Be bold. Be creative. Give hardcore BW fans something to sink their teeth into.
But no. All we have is, as another commenter coined, a "cookie-cutter" hybrid of other "super woman" genres of recent vintage. Basically, "BWINO" - Bionic Woman In Name Only.
I'll probably give it a chance for a while - if I remember it's on.
Did you know
- TriviaThe series was discontinued after 8 episodes due to a massive drop in ratings.
- ConnectionsFeatured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Worst TV Reboots of ALL TIME (2017)
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