Once we heard that diva Christina Aguilera's planning a Bionic summer, our brainwaves immediately pinged pop culture's leading cybernetic lady, Jamie Sommers, The Bionic Woman. We weren't much taller than an R2 unit when Lindsay Wagner's Bionic Woman hit the ABC airwaves in January 1976, just months after Lynda Carter began twirling as Wonder Woman on the very same network. (Dabbler Dalliance: ABC commissioned eleven episodes of Wonder Woman for the second half of the 1976-77 season, broadcasting several of them to fill-in downtime for Wagner to recover from a real-life car crash!)
Despite Wonder Woman's comic book connection (and our total fascination with her wardrobe changes), Jamie Sommers' bionic exploits (and the obsessive-compulsive way she pulled her hair back to 'hear' things) were what rocked our kiddie cradle. Sure, Jamie was tricked out with enhanced hearing, bionic legs, and super-strong right arm - and the girl definitely kicked ass at tennis - but what we loved the most was her connection to our favorite, The Six Million Dollar Man.
As a Six Million Dollar spin-off, The Bionic Woman had strong legs of its own - literally. Both shows maintained a close connection, and their stars' robotic relations were never better than during their team-ups against Bionic Bigfoot. Even after Jamie's adventures were transplanted to NBC and she was forced to go it alone against the Fembots, her Bionic co-stars Richard Anderson (as Oscar Goldman) and Martin E. Brooks (as Dr. Rudy Wells) continued their parts on both series -- and by doing so, became the first actors to play the same roles in two concurrent television series airing on two different networks.
Alas, superhero TV hasn't seen that kind of 'Bionic Wonder' since, and the prime-time power couple that was The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman has yet to meet its modern day match. No matter how much we wish it otherwise, those much ballyhooed bionic days are as behind us as our tennis fantasy pitting Jamie Sommers against Martina Navratilova. But if we can't bring the blog to the bionics, we'll bring bionic straight to today's blog -- thanks to modern tech and pinch of that old dabble magic...
We get The Bionic Woman off to a good start with her very first episode ever, Welcome Home Jaime (Part 1). Here's the official synopsis: Coming to terms with her memory loss, Jaime decides to move to Ojai (!) to live with her step-parents and settle down. She takes an apartment at their ranch and also gets a job as a schoolteacher. During a car accident, she uses her bionic abilities to get her out of trouble, but someone is watching.
As completely enthralling as that isn't, ask yourself this question: might the 'someone' that's watching Jamie really be...a bionic Bigfoot??? We Can HOPE!!! We urge you to slide into a comfortable seat and find out with us. Heck, the only other 'someone' could be Mr Lee Majors, who just so happens to guest star as Col. Steve Austin aka The Six Million Dollar Man. Yup, the Six joins the bionic babe for her very first adventure - you know it don't get better than that. Unless there's a bionic Bigfoot, because that would be, like, even way better...
As completely enthralling as that isn't, ask yourself this question: might the 'someone' that's watching Jamie really be...a bionic Bigfoot??? We Can HOPE!!! We urge you to slide into a comfortable seat and find out with us. Heck, the only other 'someone' could be Mr Lee Majors, who just so happens to guest star as Col. Steve Austin aka The Six Million Dollar Man. Yup, the Six joins the bionic babe for her very first adventure - you know it don't get better than that. Unless there's a bionic Bigfoot, because that would be, like, even way better...
Feel the need to go for a longer run with The Bionic Woman? Find the rest of her entire Classic first season on Hulu.com - HERE.
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