Friday Parade - The Bionic Woman

Those of us old enough to remember Steve Austin and Jamie Sommers as the super-heros of 1970's television should be excited to know that NBC has announced the return of The Bionic Woman to the fall line up.

Move over Lindsey Wagner, as newcomer Michelle Ryan will be talking on the role as the technology enhanced do-gooder. While Ms Wagner was attractive, she was not nearly as sexy as Wonder Woman's Linda Carter. Ms. Ryan looks like she will be spicing up the role! I feel very old, however, as the actress was born the same year I graduated high school.

I am not too proud to admit that I was a fan of The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman. Although I always was skeptical of the what would the ods be that if you had only one man on the planet (Col. Austin) with bionics (who was almost killed in a test plane crash), rebuilt by the government with mechanical legs, one arm and an eye....that his fiance would later have a skydiving accident and also be maimed to the point of requiring the same parts (albeit and ear, not an eye). That is just statistically one unlucky couple.

Nobody in their forties can forget the immortal words of Oscar Goldman; "Steve Austin, astronaut. A man barely alive. Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world's first bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man. Better than he was before. Better, stronger, faster!!!" (I admit I forget the opening lines of the Bionic Woman, but it was similar). They could run, jump, lift cars. It was all very cool. Now after too many seasons it got weird when they ended up with a bionic dog, but all shows must run their course. The two shows often overlapped, having many stars and story lines that appeared in both shows. It was "cross over episodic television" at its best! I worry about the success of the Bionic Woman without The Six Million Dollar Man. They were really a duo.

Finally, I am curious as to how inflation has impacted bionics over thirty years. The cost to rebuild Austin and Sommers was $6 million. In today's economy that is not nearly as much as it was in the late 1970s. Hmmmm, she had better be a badass crime fighter at what those legs will cost the US taxpayer!

Have A Great Day.

thom
http://www.thomsinger.com/