Reboots That Should've Never Been Made: "The Bionic Woman"

[JamesG]

A reboot of a spin-off (whew), NBC's wholly unnecessary "Bionic Woman" might have seemed easy to pull off, at least on paper. Just take the concept (superpowered cyborg lady) and update it with a new cast and a modern setting, right? Wrong.

Even a show about high-tech robo parts ("Better, faster, stronger!") needs a human heart, which is something the original series never forgot, packing each episode with the kind of light-hearted storylines Lindsay Wagner (as Jamie Sommers) excelled at.




Who could forget the pro wrestling episode that looked like a lost episode of GLOW, or the bionic dog, or that, uh, mind-controlling shampoo? Wagner's approachable heroine became a feminist icon (she won an Emmy for the role in 1977) with the kind of wickedly dry sense of humor usually reserved for male action heroes.

In one scene, after a cop asks what her arm is made of (as she bends a piece of metal) she answers "sugar and spice." Bam!




As a tennis pro (boy, did '70s sitcoms love tennis) and a sky-diving enthusiast, not to mention being The Six Million Dollar Man's girlfriend, Sommers was already pretty freaking cool before the deadly accident that turned her…bionic.

2007's new Jamie Sommers (played by Michelle Ryan) was also saved from a fatal accident by becoming bionic. But what does she choose to do with her new strength, speed, and super abilities? Follow the most boring career path ever, that's what, working for a covert anti-terrorist organization.

Set in a dark, violent world, the reboot lacked humor and left viewers cold. And without any bionic dogs, wrestling matches, or desert car races on the horizon, low ratings led to cancellation after just eight episodes.

https://ew.com/tv/tv-reboots-should-...ver-been-made/