Bionic Woman - Bionic Woman News & Articles #1: NBC revisits, reimagines 'Bionic Woman' for fall - Page 5

MaxxFisher · 09-28-2007, 01:17 PM

From TVGuide.com

Jordan Bridges (Conviction) is joining Bionic Woman to woo Jaime Sommers

Nad · 09-29-2007, 02:10 AM

Found this review at EW.com:

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Snap Judgment: 'Bionic Woman'
Sep 27, 2007, 09:36 AM | by Mark Luckie
Categories: Mini TV Watch

A few minutes into the premiere of Bionic Woman, I thought I was watching a late '90s WB drama. A pouty Jaime Sommers (Michelle Ryan, pictured) was arguing with her angst-ridden teenage sister Becca (Lucy Hale) while melodramatic music played in the background. But before I could go for some popcorn, an intense car crash forced me right back in my seat. Where I remained for pretty much the rest of the episode. (Will the series hold up to the standards set by the pilot? Check out Gillian Flynn's review of the series in the new issue of EW.)

As in those ubiquitous Volkswagen commercials, a menacing tractor trailer barrels out of the darkness into the car driven by Sommers' boyfriend, Dr. Will Anthros (Chris Bowers). Will escapes with a broken arm and a few bruises, but a bloodied, limbless Jaime soon lies on an operating table, unaware of her pending medical overhaul.

Jaime's right ear, right eye, one arm and two legs are given the bionic treatment, courtesy of the good folks at he ominous Wolf Creek Biotech Research Facility. The $50 million makeover allows her to run faster than a speeding car, hear conversations across the room and spot a sniper from hundreds of yards away.

A newly bionic Jamie Sommers tries to return to a normal life after the accident, but is confronted by Sarah Corvis, another patient of the research lab who was supposedly shot dead in the first few minutes of the show. Turns out Sarah is "the first Bionic woman" and Jaime's blonde counterpart. Whether the pair are friends or enemies remains to be seen, but two Bionic women means I am twice as excited! (Especially since Sarah is played by Battlestar Galactica's Katee Sackhoff.)

Bionic Woman definitely benefits from the advances in special effects technology since the 1970s, when a bionic overhaul cost just $6 million. I kept expecting that iconic sound effect that happened whenever old-school Jaime (Lindsay Wagner) did something bionic, but it was nowhere to be heard. I thought I heard it once during the show, but alas, it was a hovering helicopter.

Bionic Woman is infused with slick CSI-style editing, Crouching Tiger-like fight scenes, and a handful of Felicity-esque introspective moments. Ryan injects a smartass sensibility into Jamie Sommers and fills the Sydney Bristow strong woman role that Alias left vacant. But for an action series based on a superhuman woman there was a significantly disappointing amount of action. Note to producers: fewer incongruous sex scenes and more fights and chases, please.

Despite the relative lack of butt-kicking in the premiere, the rest of the season promises lots of running, jumping and fiery explosions as Jaime tries her bionic hand at saving the world. Will you tune in? What did you think of the pilot's mix of mystery, mayhem, and mushiness? And do you miss that n-n-n-n-n-n sound?

Source

satisfy the crave · 10-06-2007, 12:47 AM

How was the ratings?

Nad · 10-08-2007, 09:30 AM

Fast National ratings:

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After getting beaten by a pair of new shows last week, CBS' "Criminal Minds" led at 9 p.m. with a 9.4/15. ABC's "Private Practice," 8.3/13, and NBC's "Bionic Woman," 6.8/11, each fell off some from their premieres. FOX stayed in fourth with "Kitchen Nightmares," while The CW's "Gossip Girl," 1.8/3, grew slightly over last week's outing.

Source

KCsGirl · 10-08-2007, 10:27 PM

i don't knwo what that means.. is that good?

Nad · 10-08-2007, 11:46 PM

Val, I never understand the ratings system either, so I'll just quote wikipedia

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Ratings / share and total viewers

Nielsen Television Ratings are reported by ranking the percentage for each show of all viewers watching television at a given time. As of September 2006, there are an estimated 115.2 million television households in the USA. A single national ratings point represents 1%, or 1,152,000 households for the 2006-07 season. Share is the percentage of television sets in use tuned to a specific program. These numbers are usually reported as (ratings points/share). For example, Nielsen may report a show as receiving a 9.2/15 during its broadcast, meaning 9.2%, or 10,598,400 households on average were tuned in at any given moment. Additionally, 15% of all televisions in use at the time were tuned into this program. Nielsen re-estimates the number of households each August for the upcoming television season.

Nielsen Media Research also provides statistics on estimated total number of viewers, and on specific demographics. Advertising rates are influenced not only by the total number of viewers, but also by particular demographics, such as age, sex, economic class, and area. Younger viewers are considered more attractive for many products, whereas in some cases older and wealthier audiences are desired, or female audiences are desired over males. Television ratings are not an exact science, but they are a powerful force in determining the programming in an industry where millions of dollars are at stake every day.

Source

Compared to the pilot the ratings dropped a bit, but BW is still doing ok IMO.

Alexander · 10-10-2007, 09:08 AM

Those are actually decent ratings. If it stays around those numbers, Bionic Woman will get a full season at the very least. The key for them is to eventually overtake Private Practice (which isn't very good...shonda, what were you thinking when you pulled Addy out of Seattle Grace!) The other important thing to remember is that NBC is looking to rebuild their schedule.

They have a lot of new shows and few established drama's returning, so they need Bionic Woman.

MaxxFisher · 10-10-2007, 03:35 PM

From Ain't It Cool News

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Who’s Running
BIONIC WOMAN??

I am – Hercules!!

Jason Katims is now the man in charge of the writers’ room at “Bionic Woman,” according to a knowledgeable source deep inside NBC Universal.

“As of right now, the show is being entirely run by Katims,” the insider tells Ain’t It Cool. “Make of that what you will.”

Big-deal writer-producers Glen Morgan, Laeta Kalogridis and Jason Smilovic are all apparently no longer actively involved with the show creatively.

Katims, who created the TV version of the sci-fi drama “Roswell,” is also currently showrunner of NBC’s “Friday Night Lights,” now in its second season. A Sept. 10 TV Guide story revealed that Katims had joined “Bionic” as a “consultant.”

David Eick, the producer who has long shepherded the new “Bionic,” is currently busy producing also the fourth season of SciFi’s “Battlestar Galactica” and the Lifetime miniseries “The Gathering,” which premieres Saturday. He maintains a supervisory role on “Bionic.”

Kalogridis (“Alexander,” “Battle Angel”), who wrote the original pilot script for the “Bionic” remake, has not been actively involved creatively with the series since the pilot, according to the insider, who also noted Kalogridis’ pilot was rewritten by an uncredited Jason Smilovic (“Karen Sisco,” “Kidnapped”).

NBC announced Sept. 6 that Morgan (“The X-Files,” “Willard,” the “Final Destination” series) had left “Bionic.” Insiders cited “creative differences.”

Smilovic apparently left “Bionic” last month, around the time Katims came aboard.

“Originally, Smilovic was supposed to showrun Bionic for a 12-week period, to help it get off the ground, with the possibility that he'd stay on longer if the show was doing well,” said the insider. “However, when people started getting fired and Jason Katims was brought on, Smilovic left after the 12-week period ended.”

Katims’ name did not appear in the credits of the first two “Bionic” episodes NBC aired, and it’s unclear with which episode Katims began steering the show’s scripting.

The day of the Sept. 26 “Bionic” premiere two weeks ago, Katee Sackhoff told KUFO radio hosts “Cort and Fatboy” that she was currently shooting her fifth episode of “Bionic.”

The third episode of “Bionic Woman” airs Wednesday 9 p.m. on NBC.

Nad · 10-11-2007, 04:46 AM

Thanks for that article Maxx.

Sounds like there's still a lot going on behind the scenes. I really hope it won't affect the show in a negative way

.

ETA:
Fast national ratings for last nights episode:

Quote:

CBS took the lead at 9 p.m. with "Criminal Minds," the night's most-watched show at 9.2/14. "Private Practice" drew an 8.2/13 for ABC, on par with its performance last week. "Bionic Woman" scored a 6.4/10 for NBC. FOX's "Kitchen Nightmares" delivered a 4.2/7, while The CW trailed with "Gossip Girl."

Source

Alexander · 10-11-2007, 08:34 PM

Good ratings, and I hope they continue

zap2it had a really good feature/positive review/preview for Bionic Woman yesterday and it's gone today (I wanted to post it here but no luck).

Their review for the episode last night...

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'Bionic Woman': Sisterhood of the traveling bionics
By Ryan McGee
October 10, 08:02 PM

I think I've been a bit too hard on Bionic Woman. It's not that this week's episode made me think, "By Jove, I've been looking at this show completely incorrectly! This is genius on par with 'Hamlet', 'Metamorphosis', and the later film work of Corbin Bernsen!" But I do think I brought a Battlestar Galactica mentality to this show, which wasn't quite fair. Had a Battlestar producer, had some Battlestar actors, and even had the Battlestar modern remake in its favor.

But Bionic is its own, very flawed beast, and while it's insanely far from perfect, there are some honest-to-goodness cool things amidst a currently mediocre show. I feel almost as if we're peeking in on a weekly workshop production of Bionic Woman, almost as if NBC is showing us an ever-evolving product and asking us for feedback. It's a show in transition, and I never root against a show trying to find its feet. Well, unless of course if that show involves Freddie Prinze Jr., in which case I bust out my magic markers and get to picket sign making.

In this week's episode, "Sisterhood," Sarah Corvis once again took center stage, with her relationship to the Berkut Group, the Anthros family, and Jaime herself coming into slightly clearer focus. Turns out that being Bionic Woman 1.0 has its drawbacks, what with the initial bionics causing her nervous system to go on the fritz unless a member of the Anthros family supplies her with a drug fix.. Watching Sarah go through withdrawal, and then shoot up, then shake like a leaf, then shoot up again, I thought two things:

This better not end up like Trainspotting, with a bionic baby crawling on the ceiling.
This is why I never buy the first generation of any electronic device.
Anthony Andros, founder of the Burket Group, father to the possibly duplicitous Will (more on that soon), has convinced Sarah that Jaime's bionics are the key to curing her fatal condition. The title "Sisterhood" centers around three such relationships: between Jaime and her younger sister Becca, Sarah and her younger sister (who died in a crash seemingly simulated when Sarah crashed into Will and Jaime), and Sarah and Jaime, connected through their unique biologic/electronic composition.

Sarah has been working for Anthony from the beginning (albeit through an intermediary until now), which begs the question: why did Anthony want his own son dead? Did his son ultimately sell him out? Will himself is no longer above reproach, even though he was so deadly dull in the pilot episode that they decided to write him off the show with the world's first lethal shoulder wound. Between the secret files Jaime found last week, and Sarah's assertion this week that Jaime was groomed for years as the heir apparent to the faulty first model, and you have an Anthros clan whose yearly family picnic you'd do well to avoid.

The "grooming" aspect is one I find interesting, and well worth exploring in the show. (I prefer this to "I'm going to tell Hillary Clinton you're violating my human rights, Mr. Miguel Ferrer!" or whatever stupid line they made Michelle Ryan utter tonight.) I find all this grooming especially interesting due to Becca's bit of dialogue about their great grandmother, who had a genetic disorder that nearly killed her around Jaime's age. I wonder if this particular genetic disorder is what started the work of the Berkut Group in the first place? Perhaps Sarah was just in the wrong time at the right place, with the Anthros family unable to risk the first procedure on the woman who could truly make their bionic work flourish.

But what does it mean to "make their bionic work flourish"? I'm wondering now about Antonio Pope, aka, Dr. McHomophobe-y, and his responsibility for just how Sarah turned out. When first we saw her in the pilot, she was essentially feral. And tonight, we had him encouraging Jaime to unleash her inner "animal." With Papa Anthros out of the picture, don't assume there aren't those still in the Berkut Group following his orders. Keep a close eye on him.

I think of these things, you see, because it's a lot more fun to dwell on elements such as this rather than dwell on things such as "Why in the name of Wayne Gretsky was the bratty Canadian subplot in this show?" and "Why do they insist on taking Jonas and turning him into a less drug-addled, less British version of Ozzy Osbourne?" I swear, every three minutes someone was pointing out how crotchety, how old-fashioned, how pathetically LAME Miguel Ferrer is, with him meekly replying something akin to shaking his head and muttering, "You kids and your rock and roll music!" This is completely unacceptable. I want him to say, "I'm Miguel Ferrer, damnit, and I demand respect!" Because he does, by golly.

But the Jaime/Sarah dynamic in this episode was enough for me to overcome these shortcomings, albeit barely. They are no Buffy and Faith, these two, but they don't have to be, either. They probably can't be something more than that iconic pair, but they can be something different. Sarah showing Jaime how to essentially hack herself, thus turning off the optical camera, was a small but effective gesture that bonded two women who never asked to have their bodies used against their will. It bodes well for the future and their (hopefully) complicated relationship.

Did you think this week's episode marked an improvement or more of the same? What's Anthros' true end game? And would you rather get $50 million in bionics or $170 in jeans?

KCsGirl · 10-11-2007, 09:25 PM

that's great news that BW is getting such good ratings so far!

Nad · 10-12-2007, 11:56 AM

Alex, thanks for that review. Some interesting points in there. Can't say I agree with everything, but I can answer the question at the end.

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Did you think this week's episode marked an improvement or more of the same?

Definitely an improvement

Found another one today:

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Maybe I'm the only person to feel this way — I can accept that — but boy, did I like Bionic Woman last night. Yes, yes, yes, the show is not without problems, most notably that Katee Sackhoff's Sarah Corvus character (bionic woman 1.0) is a more interesting character than Michelle Ryan's Jaime Sommers (bionic woman 2.0). Hopefully the producers will pick up on that fact and sign Sackhoff as a series regular (right now it's just a multi-episode arc). Battlestar Galactica, Sackhoff's current full time gig is ending after this season, so she may have an opening in her schedule. Fingers crossed people, fingers crossed.

The dynamic between the two women is really what's at the heart of the show. Corvus is evil, but not wholly evil, Sommers is good, but reluctantly so. Can she be swayed? Will Corvus be able to convince Sommers to help her solve her bionic issues?

I have no desire to see this storyline wrapped up, simply because I can't imagine that whomever Sommers squares off against next would have remotely as interesting a dynamic as the 1.0/2.0 face-off. Unless, of course, Sommers's younger sister goes evil, but I just don't think that will happen, at least not in a bionic fashion.

I wonder one other thing though. Last night, as you may recall, Corvus taught Sommers how to turn some of her bionic abilities on and off (how to "hack" herself). This results in a nose bleed. Is Sommers doing some other form of massive damage to herself every time she hacks her own brain? Does hacking herself help turn Sommers into what Corvus has become? I'm thinking maybe.

Source

Alexander · 10-12-2007, 08:02 PM

Nad, yes but this is the key feedback I have been reading online about the episode...

But the Jaime/Sarah dynamic in this episode was enough for me to overcome these shortcomings, albeit barely. They are no Buffy and Faith, these two, but they don't have to be, either. They probably can't be something more than that iconic pair, but they can be something different. Sarah showing Jaime how to essentially hack herself, thus turning off the optical camera, was a small but effective gesture that bonded two women who never asked to have their bodies used against their will. It bodes well for the future and their (hopefully) complicated relationship.

Which is why I am very curious to find out where the show goes after episode 5, which is where Katee's arc ends. She has not shot any additional episodes as of right now.

Nad · 10-13-2007, 02:29 AM

Yeah, that's why I'm a bit worried, I hope they come up with something as good as the Jamie/Sarah storyline.

Alexander · 10-13-2007, 08:51 AM

Do you think maybe at that point they bring Will back somehow to fill in the void and give Jamie that "key relationship" with someone on the show?


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