Bionic Woman

According to TV Guide and to several sites, Katee Sackhoff was virtually a lock for a steady role on the mega-hit show CSI … until the producers changed their mind at the last minute.  What happened?  The official word was that Katee was just not right for the role, but one has to wonder if Bionic Woman tanked her chances.

Katee won rave reviews for her portrayal of Sarah Corvus, Jaime’s bionic nemesis on Bionic Woman.  But many people felt she overpowered her costars and stole the scenes simply by using her natural charisma. 

It is possible that her potential CSI costars worried she would overpower them on the procedural drama, especially since she has a proven ability to make even the most technical dialogue worth watching on Battlestar Galactica? 

There is a vast difference between Galactica and BW, of course, especially since the cast of BSG includes Academy Award nominees Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell.  Nothing against Will Yun Lee or Michelle Ryan, but EJO and MM are simply in a class of their own.  And nothing against William Peterson and Marg Helgenberger, but Katee’s charisma beats the pants off Jorja Fox any day.

We have no doubt that someone will soon realize the brilliance that is Katee, and cast her in something worthy of her talents.  In the meantime Katee-Sackhoff.org is reporting that she will be back on Jimmy Kimmel at the end of May.  If you are in the area and would like to try to get tickets, click here.

Michelle Ryan looked amazing in a skin-tight purple dress at the world premiere of the Sex and the City movie in London earlier this week. 

As always, the British press went mad for Michelle, and several UK newspapers featured her in photographs instead of Sarah Jessica Parker and the other stars of the film.  She won kudos from the British fashion watchers for the way the dress highlighted her famous curves.

The premiere was held at Leicester Square, a popular place to root a red carpet in London.  Other stars in attendance included film stars Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrell, Vivienne Westwood, Kristin Davis, and Cynthia Nixon, as well as Davina McCall, Kim Stewart, Kelly Rowland, Kirsty Gallacher, Mario Cantone, Martine McCutcheon, Alex Curran, and The Sugarbabes.

Will Yun Lee, who played Jae on Bionic Woman, recently hit the red carpet for the JC Penney Asian Excellence Awards at UCLA.  Will was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his work on the show, but he lost to Rex Lee of Entourage.  His companion for the evening was an unidentified blonde, and he wore his hair longer and shaggier than usual.

Other celebrities in attendance included Lindsay Price of Cashmere Mafia and Beverly Hills 90210, Steven Segal, Cheryl Burke and Karina Smirnoff from Dancing with the Stars, Bai Ling, Tia Carrer, Daisy Fuentes, Olympic Gold medalist and Dancing contestant Kristi Yamaguchi, Quentin Tarantino, and many others.

Will attended the 2007 Asian Excellence Awards as well, which were hosted by Grace Park from Battlestar Galactica and Daniel Dae Kim from Lost.

A new Battlestar Galactica clip was put up on Hulu this weekend, a video blog entry from David Eick and the crew of BSG related to David’s energies on Bionic Woman.  It is very interesting viewing, considering what we know happened after this video was made.

The clip was obviously shot during the heady, optimistic months of last Spring when Bionic Woman was NBC’s most anticipated pilot and the show the marketing folks said had the best chance of being a hit.  It features David referring to BSG as “Bionic Galactica” and members of the BSG crew talking about his absence on their set like petulant teenagers … and the message is clear, everyone expected Bionic Woman to take off faster than a screaming Cylon raider.

There’s Grace Park, who plays Boomer and Sharon “Athena” Agathorn, talking about how David was “disowned” by his BSG family.  There’s Jen Halley, who plays Seelix, talking about how she wants to raid Bionic Woman’s craft services area.  There’s Tahmoh Penikett, who plays Helo, and Allesendro Juliani, who plays Geata, talking about how the show feels David’s absence.  And Michael Hogan appears without his Tigh eye patch to give a crusty blessing … assuming David will cast him in his new show.

But that was a year ago, and as we all know how the big hit did not happen.  The early detractors were right, Bionic Woman had major problems and the more the folks behind the scenes tried to fix them the worse the show became.  The show was hurt by many factors, not the least of which being the cocky lust for a hit that is seen so clearly in this Hulu clip.  It’s just another sad reminder of the bionic potential of this show, and how it was frittered away.

Entertainment Weekly has an four-page feature on blonde action heroine and former bionic babe Katee Sackhoff in this week’s issue, where the star talks about her roles on Bionic Woman and Battlestar Galactica as well as her plans for the future.

Among the more interesting revelations for Bionic Woman fans was Katee’s frustration about how watered down Sarah Corvus became as the show got more and more attention.

“She was sooooo much crazier than what ended up on the air,” said the actress.  “She kept being pulled back.  That’s the norm for network television, as far as I am concerned.”

It’s another insider comment about the stunted potential of what could have been a great show, and one that is especially intriguing considering the Sarah Corvus scenes that made it on the air were pretty crazy.  The Sarah we saw was needy, violent, homicidal, caring, self-destructive, palpably alive and yet slipping into psychosis while dying. 

What Sarah Corvus could have been, or would have been, if Sackhoff had been allowed to truly unleash her man-eating and scene-chewing glory will be a mystery for the ages.  As will the question of who she was with in the pilot, and what would have become of her complicated relationship with the elder Anthros played by Mark Sheppard.

The article also contained high praise for Katee from Bionic and Battlestar executive producer David Eick:  “You’ll see I tend to cast Katee in everything I possibly can … She’s a very special find.  Those actors who can combine the qualities of strength and vulnerability - they usually call those people movie stars.”

The magazine interview featured some gorgeous pictures of Katee looking fiercely lovely with flowing blonde extensions.  There are also videos of Katee from the shoot on the magazine’s web site for those who are interested.

The models of Deal or No Deal channeled their inner Bionic Women, performing their own version of Michelle Ryan and Katee Sackhoff’s famous rainy rooftop fight scene.  In a remarkable show of concentration, the models never slipped in their heels and never dropped the signature Deal or No Deal numbered cases.

The dialogue from the clip is word for word the dialogue from the Bionic Woman premiere, starting from Katee’s “Stop, Time Out” and going through the moment where Michelle completes the fight still standing.  While the models slap fight instead of hard punch, and they keep both feet on the ground instead of flying through the air on harnesses, it is still an entertaining spoof of the show.

It’s also a reminder of what the show could have been, as everything related to Bionic Woman tends to be.  Even with all of its flaws, the pilot still presented interested characters and a fascinating premise in the form of the frenemy relationship between Jaime Sommers and Sarah Corvus.

The two of them had the potential to embody the phrase “What does not kill you makes you stronger,” while the show could have explored some of the more intriguing and disturbing questions of our time.  The role of government subcontractors with blanket powers, the mystery of what is more powerful in the potential war between metaphysics or physics, the ongoing culture wars over what makes a “perfect woman” … Bionic Woman could have explored these questions, and many more.

But as I wrote the other day, that is what killed the show.  EVERYBODY saw the potential of Bionic Woman, but they all had a different idea of what the show should do to live up to their unique views and expectations.  And a show that tries to please everyone, like a person that tries to please everyone, is doomed to failure and will never please very many people at all.

The modern Jaime Sommers will not be back … not for a while anyway.  For all of her potential, for all of her strength, she could not survive the tough challenges of the modern television industry.

Much like in the show, what got the modern Jaime into the most trouble was listening to too many people.  The new Jaime did not know who she was, and was more than willing to listen to people tell her who she needed to be … for all her defiant slouching in the tunnels of the Burket Group, the modern Jaime was absorbing everyone’s expectations for what kind of Bionic Woman she should become. 

And that turned out to be the disease that finally killed the modern Bionic Woman, that desperate need to change to please everybody.  Because everybody thought they knew what she needed to do to succeed. 

As a result the modern Bionic Woman was a constantly changing mess.  People were always opening her up, rearranging her bionic parts, removing characters, adding plotlines, and then removing them again just as quickly.  If the machine is nothing without the woman, then the Woman needed some spine and some structure … but just like no one at the Berkut Group thought to give Jaime a good cell phone, no one recognized the obvious until it was too late to save her modern life. 

From the very first reviews of the pilot to things still being written today, the majority of people who saw the show thought they could make Bionic Woman better, faster, stronger than what they were seeing on screen.  

From NBC Entertainment President Ben Silverman to fans of the original series, from actual bionic scientists to television bloggers … pretty much every person who saw the show had the same thought as Bionic Woman scholar Herbie J. Pilato:   “David Eick needs to call me.”

“I mean, I know what went wrong,” Bionic star Katee Sackhoff said in a recent interview.  “Had they given me the show, I could have figured it out. I could have told them exactly what to do. But then everyone would have put their hands in, and the same thing would have happened … that’s just how it goes.”

By trying to please everyone, the Bionic Woman ended up pleasing no one at all.  By allowing everyone to mess with her, she gave away everything she was and became nothing.

A post on the NBC.com message boards reports that a scam artist is taking advantage of fans’ sorrow over Bionic Woman’s cancellation to scam money by pretending to be Michelle Ryan’s agent.

The man contacts fans through message boards and e-mail and claims Michelle has a bank account that she would like them to contribute to, which she will then use to donate to the charity of her choice.  The scam is obviously fake, and hopefully no unwitting fans fell for this ploy, especially since the man is asking for contributions of two thousand dollars and up.

As the poster reported:

“This a Man is a fake..michelle’s agent is a Woman (i think) and i ask this guy why is the account in his name shouldn’t it be in michelle’s name or the charity the she is supporting?..I didn’t hear back from him after that..so be warned..”

The poster later reported she had alerted Michelle’s real agent of the scam, and her legal team was looking into the issue.  Let’s hope the fan also included the accompanying electronic data, and some e-detectives are in the process of tracking down this tacky trickster.

It’s been a rough week for Michelle, as fans hopes for a Bionic rebirth were further dashed by David Eick’s openness about the show’s impending official cancellation. 

On the bright side, Bionic Woman continued to be a ratings sensation in her home country of the United Kingdom.  After setting records for ITV2 during its premiere, Bionic Woman continued to do well on the channel during its second week.  Also, the news of Heather Mills’ dramatic final divorce hearing, where she dumped water on the attorney of former husband Paul McCartney, gave the British tabloids another beauty to bash for awhile.

It has been a long journey for WatchingBionicWoman, and while the hours of labor I put into this blog are nothing compared to how hard the cast and crew worked on the show it was still a huge disappointment to read last week’s announcement from David Eick.  I will post my thoughts on the cancellation news soon, but in the interim be sure to check out the Top Ten Things That Hurt Bionic Woman list and check out the news as it arrives.

Molly Price’s new movie, The Life Before Her Eyes, will premiere April 18 in the United States.  Molly plays Uma Thurman’s mother in the film, which surrounds the secret life of Uma’s character as she comes to terms with her guilt about a violent incident in her past.  Evan Rachel Wood plays Uma’s character as a young girl and you can see a glimpse of Molly in the movie’s trailer, which is below.

Word is that David Eick is refreshingly candid on his DVD commentary during the first episode of Bionic Woman, stating the show was “the most difficult production ever.”

Katee Sackhoff hit the road during the writer’s strike, taking her Harley out for a spin around some wineries with her Battlestar Galactica costar Tricia Helfer (”Number Six”).

Miguel Ferrer is mentioned as a possible link in the new game “Six Degrees of David Duchovny,” which could be the new “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.”

Will Yun Lee apparently turned 37 this weekend … I never would have guessed he was a day over 30!  Happy Birthday Will, and may you land many great roles in the year to come.

Executive Producer David Eick broke ranks with NBC Universal last week, telling the press that Bionic Woman really is over even as the network has stood by its claim that no official decision has been made about the future of the series.

“I just felt that the process was so frustrating, and the conditions under which we were making that show never really came to fruition in such a way that I felt like we could make the show well. The actress [Michelle Ryan] we found was wonderful. Some of the writing was good.

“We just didn’t ever bring it all together like we did with Battlestar,” he continued. “At a certain point, when it becomes that frustrating, I think you’re better off to say, ‘Let’s try again another time,’ and let it go.”

SciFi Wire got the scoop at last week’s SciFi Channel upfronts, where Eick was promoting Battlestar Galactica and the upcoming prequel series Caprica. 

The Toronto Star had some additional commentary from show star Katee Sackhoff, who played Jaime Sommers’ frenemy Sarah Corvus:

“It’s no one’s fault,” Sackhoff told the paper. “The hype was so big before the show came out, and they were so scared that it would fail, that everyone had an opinion. There were too many cooks in the kitchen, and they didn’t know what they were cooking.

“I mean, I know what went wrong. Had they given me the show, I could have figured it out. I could have told them exactly what to do. But then everyone would have put their hands in, and the same thing would have happened. You can’t blame anyone. That’s just how it goes.”

Katee Sackhoff channeled her Kara “Starbuck” Thrace persona last night on The Late Show with David Letterman.  This is a photo of Katee outside the Ed Sullivan Theater, where she and nine other Battlestar Galactica cast members shot a BSG-themed Top Ten List. 

The next night Katee partied at the SciFi Channel upfronts party, promoting the fourth season of Battlestar Galactica and enjoying what may be the show’s last upfront party.  Check out the photo below.

Will Yun Lee’s short film The Seed will be showing tomorrow evening at the Boston Underground Film Festival.  For more information on this endeavor, and to watch the preview for the film, check out the previous post.

While the British press continues to be hostile towards Michelle Ryan, some bloggers in her home country have echoed the feeling in the States that Bionic Woman still has tremendous potential for success.  Take this post excerpt, for example:

“Bionic Woman 2007 has the potential to be an engrossing, action-packed romp – and having a political subtext really shouldn’t be an obstacle to that. Let’s just hope the big suits in the States reckon there is life in the show. With a few nips and tucks, it could be amazing.”

Speaking of “could be amazing,” this blog post inspired me to think about what Bionic Woman would have been like on another (less meddling) network.  NBC proved it could make scifi exciting again when Heroes took television by mutant storm in 2006, proved it could make anything boring in 2007 … I wonder what the network will do in 2008?

Will Yun Lee shifts from playing Jaime Sommers’ trainer on Bionic Woman to playing a disturbed man in the film The Seed:

“SUNG (Will Yun Lee) is a homeless veteran losing his mind on the banks of the L.A. River. Pursued by unseen forces, fighting unseen foes, Sung is ostensibly ‘just another lunatic.’ But as his invisible war continues, under bridges and in tunnels, we are taken deeper and deeper into Sung’s nightmare and mind.

“Into a nightmare of conspiracy, cloaking and the government’s unseen war. Sung struggles to fight through what is visible to him, yet invisible to the world around him. Ordinarily, someone like this is perceived as “crazy.” Beyond what we can see, beyond what we don’t want to, lies…THE SEED.”

The Seed is the film directorial debut of Joe Hahn, the turntablist/disc jockey for the popular band, Linkin Park.  Hahn has extensive experience directing music videos, but The Seed is his first short film. 

The Seed was shot in four days, and features Will in full fight scene mode.  The shoot was almost two years ago, but since it was a side project and not the director’s first love it has taken awhile for the film to be released. 

The film originally premiered at the Pusan International Film Festival last fall, and will be available on ITunes on March 24, 2008.  According to Rolling Stone, Hahn had always planned for The Seed to have an online release.

More information about the short film can be found on the band’s web site, or on the movie’s MySpace page.  You can also check out the second of three available “making of” clips below.

The first season of Bionic Woman is available on DVD today in the United States, just as the show is revving up in Michelle Ryan’s home market of the United Kingdom.

The DVD set includes all of the show’s episodes as well as a limited number of special features, including commentary from executive producer David Eick and a feature on real life bionics. There is also a stunt feature, which devoted fans have probably already seen on various promotional shows last fall, and some profiles of the actors.

The feature that everyone really wants seems to be absent. Imagine if this DVD set included the unaired second episode “Birds” and some information about why the original plots (and characters) were abandoned after the show’s premiere.

A television DVD set that dared to admit that “mistakes were made” and discuss them honestly is a rare sight on the modern media landscape, and even people who never watched the show are curious about what happened to Bionic Woman. What happened to Sarah Corvus, and her plea to Jaime to save her life? What happened to the plans of Jaime were stolen while she was in South America? Where did Anthony Anthros go? A DVD set that talked honestly about these Bionic mysteries would be a must-buy.

The list price for the DVD package is $29.99, but Amazon and other retail outlets have it on sale for $19.99 during the early days of the release. Katee Sackhoff fans can purchase season one of Bionic Woman and season three of Battlestar Galactica for a combined price of $58.98, a deal that includes free shipping.

Not sure how we missed this last fall, but Attack of the Show did a Bionic Woman parody featuring Olivia Munn called Lesbionic Woman. 

In the Munn version of the NBC drama, Jaime Sommers is a well groomed hottie who looks more like a debutante than a bartender.  Jaime gets hit by a car instead of a truck driven by a psycho, and and the giant scream reveal scene that was featured so prominently in the United States promos shows Jaime discovering she is now wearing combat boots and flannel. 

The Lesbionic Woman attacks a man with a rainbow flag, knees another one in the groin, and talks on the phone with an ear peice to her headquarters just like Michelle Ryan’s Jaime chatted with Kevin Rankin’s Nathan. 

All of this leads up to the video’s, um, climax, where Jaime stops a group of terrorists by stunning their blonde leader with an open mouth kiss.  It’s no coincidence that the blond leader looks a bit like Katee Sackhoff’s Sarah Corvus, and the gun wielding terrorists behind her look a bit like the nondescript, gun-heavy men in black who appeared in almost every episode of the show. 

In the final scene Olivia Munn’s Jaime discovers that her car alarm has hidden vibrator-esque benefits — a perk that Michelle Ryan’s Jaime definitely would have appreciated.  Overall it’s pretty funny, and the Attack of the Show clip even gets a thumbs up from the ladies over at LesbianGamers.com.

In stark contrast MadTV did a Lesbionic Woman skit as well, where Jaime’s character gets a mullet and joins a softball team. This version is not even remotely funny, grabbing on all of the negative stereotypes it can stuff into its thankfully short time and lacking the fun of the Attack of the Show sketch.  Still, if you like the idea of Jaime in a mullet rolling around on the grass with a Katee Sackhoff impersonator with frightening red lips, feel free to check it out.

Someone was kind enough to put the U.K. promos for Bionic Woman up on YouTube, and they are a treat. 

Combining some of the best moments of the first few episodes, the above promo features lots of butt-kicking by Michelle Ryan’s Jaime Sommers.  There are a few good one liners, an earnest plea from Miguel Ferrer’s Jonas Bledsoe and that is it … no Sarah Corvus, no Jae, no Becca.  And the promo is better for it.

The promo below is for the premiere, and watching it makes it clear why Bionic Woman pulled in ITV2’s biggest audience to date.  With lots of action sequences interspersed between scenes of Michelle with her hair blowing attractively yet menacingly in the wind, the promo did a better job than the show of explaining the intriguing concept of a woman forced to become a war machine against her will. 

Even better, this version of a premiere promo cut out the long and horrid scream that was featured so prominently in the United States’ teasers.  It’s a promo that really is better, faster, and stronger … and more suited for a show that was meant to be a fast paced look at the moral dilemmas associated with Jaime’s unique opportunity/horrific situation.

The promos make me long for what the show could have been, before the network meddled too much and the show went through three show runners in its first third of its first season.  Ah, Bionic Woman … we never got to see how strong you could become.