I know, you’re skeptical. You’re thinking, “It’s the freaking Bionic Woman! How good can it be?” It can be very good, my friend. It’s a dark re-invention of the franchise, and – like “Battlestar: Galactica,” it’s a re-invention so dramatic that, if my hazy memory of the original series serves me well, the only thing that’s made the transition from old series to new is the name of the lead character: Jamie Sommers, played by British actress Michelle Ryan. (Ryan also appears in BBC America’s new series, “Jekyll,” as it happens.)
Of course, this begs the question, “Why bother to re-make the series at all? Why not just create a brand new series that’s about a woman who gets bionic parts?” Accusations of the producers just trying to cash in on the vague recollections of children of the ’70s have been flying, but they swear that’s not the case. Then again, though, they don’t really do much to dispel the concept, either.
I’m sure the panel saw it coming that the reporters would eventually start throwing questions at them about Isaiah Washington’s upcoming stint on the show; if so, they weren’t disappointed. First, however, they had to get past the concerns that there was some ominous reason for Katee Sackhoff’s absence from the panel, possibly connected to the fact that doesn’t actually have a deal set yet. Smilovic calmed them down pretty quickly on that front, though, by stating matter-of-factly that “Katee is on the show. I’m not going to go into the specific natures of the deals. She’s on the show, and she’s not here today because of a scheduling conflict; that’s the only reason she’s not here today.”
The second half of the conference, however, was almost entirely dedicated to queries about Washington’s appearance and how much re-writing of the role – which existed before it was ever pitched to him – was required to fit him into it (the only change is that the character was originally sketched out to be around for an indefinite period of time; now, he has a definitive exit) and if casting Washington is an insult to the gay community. (Said producer Jason Smilovic, “Absolutely not. We embrace the gay community, we are hoping that they are going to watch the show, and we are in no way making any judgments or statements or assignations about what was said or what was done.”)
Is Isaiah Washington really worth all this discussion? I think the situation is abundantly clear: the guy’s great in front of the camera, but, when he’s off-camera, he’s got a nasty case of foot-in-mouth disease. So just get him to shut the hell up and stick to acting.
Anyway, Washington or no Washington, “Bionic Woman” looks awesome to me. It’s dark, it’s action-packed, and it has Miguel Ferrer in it. (Albert Rosenfeld rules!)
My only concern is that it was revealed that Jamie’s sister is being completely retooled from what we saw in the pilot; once, she was deaf, but now she’s not. She’s also now got a background in computer hacking. On the whole, I think the deaf angle was far more interesting. Plus, count on a lot of really annoyed deaf people wanting to know why the character was changed…
