James Hibberd

This article is full of it! Let me explain:

a.) How can you say that the second episode of Bionic was a "creative disaster" simply based on talkbacks on Ain't It Cool News? That is a totally subjective argument, and if one was to judge a series' merit simply by the comments on that site, then practically every show on the air would be a "creative disaster." To quantify the comments of a vocal minority in thsi way is a bit absurd.

b.) It's nice that Gossip Girl is the #1 show on iTunes, but as someone who monitors iTunes for work, I can tell you that the Top 100 listing on iTunes has not even been updated in days, and is therefore NOT an accurate reflection of what's been selling during this Fall premiere week! Furthermore, the Top 100 listing is by no means an accurate measurement tool - it is updated only sporadically, prone to errors, and is NOT anything more than a snapshot of a given moment. Also, this statement isn't even accurate, as Free downloads are not included on the Top 100 - only monetized episodes.

I'd expect some better reporting and less conjecture from TV Week in the future!

I can't believe that comments from stay-at-home losers from Aint'It Cool News are going to be taken seriously! Those who can't do, complain. What are you thinking TV Week? Shame on you. You should be more professional than the yokels on that website.

Anyhow, Bionic Woman is available to watch throughout NBC's other channels; Sci-Fi, Bravo, and online. You can practically watch the show at the in the morning in your underwear.

Much success to it. I liked it a lot and the 3 episodes looks great. Can't wait to see it.

Note: The ill-placed AintItCool link has been removed. The "industry buzzing" was from off-the-record conversations with people in the industry and was not supposed to be proven by fan reaction on the AintItCool boards. Sorry about that, was confusing.

Isn't the phrase "Bionic Woman remake" a metaphor for "creative failure"? Do we need confirmation from someone with credentials to make it official?

I don't care what this sh*t says, I like Bionic Woman. Creative failure my *ss

This is a terrible show. Major problems on the production end will be evident by the third episode. Complete garbage.

For $1,000,000 they could have had me.

The new show sucks.

Have people seen "Private Pratice"? The shows reeks with political correctness, doctors make house calls (right) and the star of the show, a doctor on duty, dresses like she is about to head out for a night on the town.

I was looking forward to being able to watch this series with my 10 and 12 year old kids, as my parents did with me when the original (and Six Million Dollar Man) were on.

The scene with a drunken Jaimie trying to have sex with a stranger in a public bathroom was completely irrelevant to the plot, and takes this show off the list of shows I can expose my kids to.

Idiots.

Bionic Woman is a great show and good entertainment value. Better than 90% of current television shows. It'll do well.

The Bionic Woman is gay. This guy saves her boring, mundane life. He gives her all of these amazing abilities and she gets pissed off at him for it. She should have been on her knees giving him a "hummer" to thank him.

No matter - after feeding us nothing but garbage for decades the network ratings for even the highest rated show are dismal, dismal dismal. 4.5? In the 70's that would have been a disaster, now it's considered a triumph!

As long as the pro-Democrat leftist biased networks put out the same awful one side over-sexed overly violent nonsense they have foisted on us for years the ratings will continue to plummet.

Viva talk radio and the alternative media!!!

How can it be "bionic" and a woman at the same time? Why would humans be interested in a cybernetic such as the "bionic woman" anyway?

True,

The sex in the bathroom scene was more geared for adults like me. Also, the daughter wins an arguement about how pot is good for you because it is natural.

Though, they make the show more enjoyable for me, I would rather my kids not be exposed to that. I only want my kids watching people shooting each other and ripping each others heads off.

I was highly anticipating the new Bionic Woman but was very disappointed. In the original, Jamie was a very "vulnerable" person who just happened to be bionic. She was always shy about using her abilities and because of that her missions were always unpredictable. This new Jamie (after a couple of sex scenes) automatically knows how to kick butt and turns into a fighting machine within the first hour. Young kids can't watch it (or should not watch it) and now that she has turned into RoboCop I don't want to watch it either. The effects are great and this could be a great weekly show to watch but is not. They should take a clue from Heroes. That is more to the original spirit of the Bionic Women.

Bionic Woman has a few creative failures, and it's going to need a lot of work to get it up to par. I was really hyped on this show, but after watching the premiere, I knew it was going to drop in the ratings. They need to have better writers and directors and stop trying to speed up the pace of the show. It's a series not a two hour movie. This show can be saved.

I don't understand Tacia's comment about how a remake can't be as good (or better) than the original. I don't think the actors are that bad; they would probably do a better job if they had a better script. Ideally, the newer version would have better graphics and allow for more visually appealing television.

"Overall though I liked Paradise Lost much better than the pilot. The dialog was less forced (although still prevalent between Jamie and Ruth in the car) and kept Jamie’s personal life to a minimum. I’m excited to see how Bionic Woman continues to evolve in the coming weeks."

http://lamererun.com/category/bionic-woman/

WAIT! Don't cancel the show! We can rebuild it....make it better than it was...

Does Hollywood think that perhaps, just perhaps, they might consider straying from the current cliche female lead being portrayed as a classless, angst-ridden skank?

Or would that unfairly require the 24-year-old writers to actually demonstrate a modicum of creativity and intellect?

If it was called bionic man, I would have watched it. I am sick of the fictional BS related to modern shows. In the 70s bionic woman was ok as it was known to be BS. Sick of hearing all of the BS spoke as truth. Keep pushing BS and see ratings drop more. Modern TV overall is useless. Except for K-Ville, 24, Shield & Jericho. The rest s....

Pushing Daisies was a real disappointment. Won't be watching it again.

The first show was pretty good, the second one sucked. I agree about the bathroom scene it just turned her into a tramp.

I will watch one more, if it is like the second show I won't waste my time watching another one.

The second episode was problematic. Like many shows today, "Bionic Woman" tries to do too much in its alloted time slot. The poor editing only added to the confusion as the continuity was unclear. For example, Sommers starts her training at about the same time as the nerve gas attack; she's at the sight the day after the attack yet someone else mentions that Sommers has only been training for three days.

I think Katee Sackhoff should have been cast as Jamie Sommers.

Scotty, I think you missed the point of Jamie's attempt to lose herself in booze and sex. She's been in a traumatic accident, has lost body parts, is encountering the psychological difficulties of interfacing with her new body parts, she just found out that her boyfriend was spying on her, and her boyfriend is dead.

Biggest problem with this show is Michelle Ryan!
Why couldn't NBC have waited and given Galactica regular and this show's pilot guest star Katee Sackoff the lead role? She was the best thing about the pilot! Everything else, except Miguel Ferrer, sucked! ;(

If you wanna see Michelle Ryan in something better suited for her, catch the BBC mini-series Jekyll on DVD when it comes out. She was a great supporting actress on there.

She's not hot...try Bionic Women in Swimsuit version....real disappointment...the show sucks...

I can't believe the junk that they are trying to push on TV these days! All the CSI and ER spinnoffs are making me sick.

Yep, it pretty much sucked. No more for me.

To each his own, but I think the show is just plain awful. Its outrageously melodramatic, some of the "intense" dialogue is laugh out loud funny and even the sound effects are jr. high. The fighting scene last week between BW #1 and BW#2 was as campy as it can get!
I gave it two tries-120 minutes of my life I can't get back...

This show is bloody awful, and I really really wanted to like it. That second episode was terrible - so slapped together. Who were those criminals? Why did they want to gas various cities? Who are the clandestine people trying to stop them? Why did the Bionic Woman have such a hard time fighting that soldier? Why can't they get anyone to provide decent acting for the show? Why did the Bionic Woman have to get drunk?

Loved, Loved, Loved Pushing Daisies. It was quirky and original and beautiful to watch.

Right up my alley. I hope others like it too!

And Jim Dale is always a great narrator. :)

The truly bad thing about Bionic Woman failing, is that the unique show "Life" which follows it, is likely to lose viewers and get cancelled without a strong lead in.

It really sucks to get interested in a show and only get 4 or 5 episoded before it gets cancelled. (ie: last seasons' "Drive")

The Bionic Woman's first episode was very good. The second, not so good.

"Life" deserves to be in the 9pm slot.

In this week's episode Bionic Woman attempted to have sex in a public restroom. Timely, but incomprehensible if making her a heroine is necessary to the show's survival.

I think the comment about share was dead on. 4.5 is a success? That's beyond pathetic. Or it's just hilarious. Even with redefining success downward, the TV-movie-porn complex can't figure out how to appeal to most Americans. To think that we'd make their advertisers big bucks if only they'd make shows that appealed to us. Maybe someday they'll learn how to make money again, but until then, I guess they've learned how to celebrate dying slowly rather than dying quickly.

"Bionic Woman" is trying way too hard and cramming way too much stuff into each episode. The progression of Jamie Summers from aimless bartender to Blackwater-caliber killing machine took but 45 minutes (both episodes included). It would be nice if they slowed things down a bit, showed her to be a bit more vulnerable, and spent more time developing her character and her powers.

While I was a huge fan of both "Bionic Woman" and "Six Million Dollar Man" when I was growing up, this incarnation of Jamie Summers is not ranking as appointment viewing for me. I'll give it one more try next week, but after that, I'll just watch it online on NBC.com.

Also, I'm curious as to why Hibberd thinks the NYPost article on Washington exposed him as a "tool". Other than him talking about a possible spinoff show for his character ("BW" won't last long enough on the air for his character to be spunoff), I thought it was an okay piece. I mean, it's the freaking NY Post, man. Yeah, Isaiah made a huge, huge, huge mistake for his anti-gay comments at that awards show, and the he said/she said imbroglio that took place on the "Grey's" set is so over. He apologized, did his penance, and is trying to move forward. While the glaring red "H" on his forehead is basically his own doing, it's time we leave the guy alone and let him rise or fall on his own merits.

At least Bionic Woman was not a sitcom, a "reality" show, or a rerun. IMO the lead character was nuanced, and somewhat believable. The editing left something to be desired, but I will reserve judgment until a couple of more episodes.

House is my favorite. This year they have injected levity into the plot. It percolates, perambulates, and placates my jaded sensibilities.

I want my Veronica Mars

Certainly the most uninteresting topic to be bothered with in a long, long time...

If anyone is really spending time watching the boob tube with 'programming' like this, you must never reproduce. It goes against the laws of nature.

Hmm she had sex in a bathroom and is suffering from plummeting ratings...are we sure this isnt the Senator Craig Show?

I was so hyped to watch his show. Loved the original and the Six Million Dollar Man. Unfortunately, this show is absolutely terrible! I could write a better show in my sleep. Where do they find these so called "Hollywood" writers anyway? Is this town that bankrupt of ideas? Have they completely exhausted the talent pool? What the hell, man?

Bionic Woman is poorly made recycled trash. Too dark, too ugly and entirely too cliche. No surprise, they made the same stupid mistake with Night Stalker a few years ago. "Pushing Daisies" on the other hand, is my favorite new show in easily a dozen years. If they can keep the quality up, I have a new place to be every Wednesday night at 8...in front of my TV.

@ Q at $1 Million to My Name:
"Who were those criminals?"
Why, I'd wager a guess you'll get your answer (or at least parts of it) if you keep tuning in to BW next week.

"Why did they want to gas various cities?"
See my first answer. Also, I guess it plays straight into the general american psychosis regarding terrorism.

"Who are the clandestine people trying to stop them?"
You already know part of this. It's a private enterprise with the mission of saving "civilization as we know it". Otherwise, see my first answer.

"Why did the bionic woman have such a hard time fighting that soldier?"
Now you try to take down a battle-hardened soldier, three days out of training. However, as was explained: In the fight in episode 1, the original bionic woman (BW1) took her (BW2) through the "demo". BW1 knew BW2 could handle this. BW1 was just trying to get a handle on BW2, get to know her. Now, in the fight with the soldier, he didn't fight according to the "demo". So BW2 had to invent some moves, learn how to fight him. In fact, I let myself be impressed with how fast she adapted.

"Why can't they get anyone to provide decent acting for the show?"
My subjective opinion is that the acting is just fine. I love Katee as the dark avenger. And Michelle as the dark heroine was just perfect for me. She's hot and she's gorgeous, and in my eyes quite believable as a fighting machine. And I have no objections whatsoever towards the supporting cast. Isaiah Washington's appearance this week was a definitive plus in my book.

"Why did the Bionic Woman have to get drunk?"
Now what kind of question is that. First, lets assume you don't have any problems with drinking alcohol. With that in mind, what would be a likely reaction to the following events be:
1. Nearly dying in a car crash
2. Having body parts replaced with mechanical parts
3. Being hunted by a wild woman who first shoots your boyfriend, then tries to beat you senseless
4. Your boyfriend dies
5. You find out your boyfriend has kept a secret file on you from two years before you met

I think a most natural reaction, at least among those non-objective towards alcohol, would be to get senselessly drunk. And drunk people do stupid things. Like trying to have sex in a public bathroom.

And thank the powers that be, they aren't casting the heroine as the new superwoman who never does a single ethical or moral mistake, who always know where the moral high ground is and takes it. Who knows just how to handle a teenage little sister suddenly smoking pot at college. Who knows just the right thing to say at the right moment.

I'm just glad they cast the bionic woman as a human being. I for one am really looking forward to the third episode of Bionic Woman.

Re: B. Samuel Davis: great point! A 4.5 rating? That's laughable. In the early 90s top shows garnered above ten ratings just to be the top twenty.

One scene in Bionic Woman wa enough to make me pull the plug...in the middle of being in a life and death chase with automatic weapons and people shooting at her, Jaime's phone rings...it's her sister bitching about something stupid and the writers actually had Jaime engage her in an equally stupid conversation! For over half a minute! In real life it would have been cut her off and hunker down...what crap. That told me a major problem right away---is anybody reading the scripts?

We haven't been brainwashed by Ain't it Cool News. We've been spoiled by Buffy, Angel, Gilmore Girls, the first season of Lost and now Heroes. We've actually gotten comfortable with witty dialogue, complex characters and an engaging plotline. I loved the original BW (yes, I had a teenage crush on Lindsey Wagner) and was all ready for a smart update. But this one isn't smart. Forgettable characters, stilted dialogue; no spark, no substance, and no style. Sorry - This Bionic Woman has no power.

Actually most shows drop a bit from their premiere week, as such...the Bionic Woman's drop was not a sizable...so you claims that the show plummeted are unfounded.

Although the show's plot is strangely truncated and is lacking in humor, there is a quality to the program, although I wish the program was shot as a sequel to the original with Michelle Ryan playing the trainee of Jamie Sommers as played by Lindsey Wagner. That would have delivered both fans of the original series looking for nostalgia as well, it would have delivered new and younger viewers. This is a ploblem that NBC/Universal has created with its reimagined series like the new Battlestar Galactica and Bionic Woman.

Sequel series would be the right direction to go for as opposed to reimagings. When fans of the original series are denied the linkage between the old and the new...they can't sit down and share their positive and happy memories of the original series with their kids, nephews, nieces, and or grand kids...hence they just don't watch, nor do they steer their loved ones to the original shows. They just throw their hands up in the air and give up. Well, that's what I did with the new Galactica. However...I'm attempting to give the Bionic Woman a chance...due to Michelle Ryan being a real stand out in the lead role.

That said...the show's ratings are doing as expected for a second week bow...and I am certain NBC is very pleased!!!

Most of you guys are touching on the truth...but not quite hitting the mark.

The Bionic Woman episode 1 sucked. It was undredeemable. And that is why thenext week many people chose not to see the as horrible episode 2.

The core audience are going to be those who enjoyed the ORIGINAL show. These people are going to be 40+ like me...whom prime time advertisers are not interested in attracting.

So who are they gonna attract? Hmmmmm?

The ORIGINAL Bionic Woman was fun. It was not trying to be deep or provide some kind of message (very often). She fought bad guys. As a kid I understood who the good guys were and who the bad guys were.

Sorry you "shades of gray" people. Absolutes work in story telling.

The show was something I enjoyed watching with my mom and dad.

Jamie Sommers was a good person caught up in an extraordinary situation and now faced with the responsibility of helping the government fight bad guys, commies and Big Foot (who turned out to be pretty cool).

This new Jamie Sommers is someone I would not invite into my house. She is not someone I could enjoy watching with my kids. She has no redeemable character that I can see.

Is she human? Certainly. But she is not a hero.

Enough of the emotionally scarred and all-too-vulnerable heroes. Give me Steve Austin and Matt Dillon and B.A. Barracas and Jim Rockford and the paramedics from Emergency!...and yes...Give me the original Jamie Sommers!

I can only hope that we will again be seeing reruns of the original series in steady rotation on TV Land.

after the

Being older, let me remind everyone, that historically a show did not "have to be" a success in it's first two weeks. Let's look at some of the other remake/copy cats. The CSI franchise is a good example. The premis is the same on all three but each has a distinct look and feel based both on location and the actor/charaters involved. Gil Grissom would never take off to brazil to hunt some one down. But then Haratio wouldn't have the hots for a dominatrix. Or a total sexless drip like SARA for that matter. And Gary Sinese just flat a.. says NY. If you actually go back and look at the original Bionic Woman our memory of it probably over rates how good it really was. Either the new one will develop the character and give us something to "like" about her or they will listen to a focus group and try to please everyone and end up satifying no one and have the plug pulled with no resolution. Criminal Minds was hard to watch lat night because we knew Manny was going and how the chemistry will change was scary but after watching it ... it may be just as good. Look at what Ziva added to NCIS. Mature shows have at least a chance to "develop". New shows sink or swim just to damn quick for us to even know. Pushing Daisies at least had the guts to attempt something different. I think it will be you either love it or hate thing. The acting was top notch and the look was totally different reminded me of "Pleasantville" I will come back to see if they have more than a one note song to play. And as long as "Lost" remains it will definately not be the "wierdest" show on the tube. One of todays problems remains that Showtime and HBO have such really good shows that the split between cable and broadcast is so big it is hard to compare. Californication being a perfect example. The hype and even the name said "T&A" trash who knew that the acting and storyline would be even better than the sex... As someone has noted at least with BW and Pushing D. we don't have another stupid reality and or game show or a 20/20 which is done better on MSNBC and Court Tv every night.

"...pro-Democrat leftist biased networks..."

Thats the silliest line I've ever heard on the internet. Look up the board of directors and the top executives of all the major networks (also the major share holders), they are all card carrying republicans.

All the 'ratings' measurements are bogus now.
The current measurements are meaningless with Tivo, rebroadcasts, and internet broadcasts.

New metrics will need to arrive if
TV is to compete with upcoming internet broadcasts like Sanctuary.

I watched the pilot for Bionic Woman and thought it was a poor show. I watched the second episode and it confirmed my opinion. But I did stick around and watch the second episode of Life. It was so good I went to NBC.com to watch the first episode, which was even better! I know what I'll be DVR'ing, and it won't be Bionic Woman.

The Bionic Woman?
She's hot!
I'd hit it!!!

This show is history. All you losers out there watching it for the sex scenes need to just buy a Playboy. That way at least you'll still have it in 6 months which is about 3 months longer than this retread will last.

I too am in my 40's & grew up watching the original show. I had very high hopes for this incarnation & so far all I can say is "it sucks". It's not fun to watch, the plot so far is horrible, the writing atrocious, etc. I give it 1 more week & if the show does not improve it I will not give it a 4th try. Not to mention that now days if a show doesn't succeed right off the bat the networks seem more than happy to pull the plug. If by the 4th week the show hasn't improved I don't think there will even be a 5th episode.

Frank Pope, since you mentioned NCIS, which along with House are my 2 can't miss shows, just exactly what the heck was up with this weeks NCIS plot??? I still understand why the women was killed, nor the marine. I don't think the writers or director had a clue either. Usually the show is very well written but this weeks was a stinker.

I knew in the first 5 minutes this show was a complete flop. The immature brat woman is an anti-male bitch. Her problem is not a broken body from an accident, her issues are all mental. She suffers from several mental and emotional disorders including bipolar, narcissistic personality disorder, emotional level of a 14 year old, etc. Not to mention she's a fat faced fat assed hog.

Caveated? I stopped reading at that point.

I agree that the plot involving the bionic woman getting drunk and looking for anonymous sex while at the same time supposedly watching out for her little sister is too much. It would never have shown up in the 6 Million Dollar man. Seems if you lack writing skills and depend too much on special effects you're doomed. I'm not saying there’s not a place for that sort of writing, but the Bionic Woman? Are the writers so far removed from the concept of the original show that they don't know the audience?

And yes, Pushing Daisies was different, cute and will be fun while it lasts, which might not be long.

It's just TV ....... get a life......

Pushing Up Daisies sucked. Not at all what I expected and pretty sick, living with the dead girl and all.

Pushing Dasies sucked, it seemed like some drugged out wacko wrote the script and though it was clever. Thats what happens when you let stoners write TV shows.

I would have done the bionic woman in that bathroom, but then again i do anything that looks female of any alien species

Alien Babes turn me on

Two things:
1 Remakes are usually made "better" but forget or reject the original feel, spirt and heart that made the first so good
2 Doing the MTV black man/white woman romantic bend is still a turn off (literally) for most people, especially since the media has made it into a fad.

The bathroom scene was insane! One more week and I can almost guarantee it will be the last time I watch. There was very little to like about the show. You don't have to be a mystic to predict this show's future.

Why do we keep being bludgeoned with woman super heroes who kick men's flabby butts.

Stupid TV.

Tom
http://www.dare2believe.con

Farscape, Battlestar Galactica, Ninja Warrior, 70s show

Nothing else is remotely worth watching.

Look, it's a bird, it's a plane, it's crap. The Bionic Woman remake is simply worthless. Bionic ho nemesies, characters so predictable you can set your watch by them, dialog so chopped it reminds you of pig latin. Bad guys that walk around a murdered city like gangs looking for more people to whack, then suddenly, their fearless leader breaks out in meaningless conversation instead of shooting the Bio Ho and her merry band of followers on the spot like any properly trained commando help would have done. Now that I think of it it seems the writers couldn;t come up with a plot so they smoke some dope and though.. hmmm what could we do in epsiode 2.. hmmm.. Bionic er... Bio yeah yeah thats it... hmm Ho's yeah. Let's put some Ho's and some Biological gas together. Yeah thats the ticket! Utterly worthless writing.

Seems to me like NBC is trying to put together a lineup that totally sucks in order to make their numbers for heroes to contrast better. Look Mr. advertiser- Hereos attracts 40 times more viewers than other similiar shows such as the Bionic Woman. Either that or someone is in fact smoking dope and playing with anagrams to form the weekly plot. LOL BioHo :)

I certainly noticed the heavy influence of the reimagined "Battlestar Galactica," and not just for casting Katie Sackhoff. I never expected perfection but I like it well enough; indeed, it shares some of the same balance between good and not so good elements as the new BSG.

Anyway, I hope NBC will keep it on long enough to bring us the reimagined Fembots :)

Bionic Woman has some potential. I agree with many about episode two being pieced together, and with their attempt to do too much in their alloted time. The bad guys were one minute evil stealthy geniuses, then bumbling fools the next. 20 trucks of gas? But no lookouts to prevent the good guys from walking right up? Do better or you will fail.

I kind of like "Life", but I like it as much or more when it's "House" - because at the end of the day, that's what it is.

The kid show on sucks and is fake. The stories coming out before the show started were obvious fake plants for publicity. Enough with this kind of junk too.

"Deal or no Deal" figured out that they had better find a way to give out more money occasionally. I am not sure adding million dollar slots until the jackpot is won is the best thing. Maybe if they could have some preliminary contest to eliminate the lower amounts, but who knows. I like Howie, and the girls are beautiful.

In all, the best adult stuff is now showing up on cable (HBO is loaded, and Rescue Me is awesome on FX). The networks are starting to become passe

the second episode of BW had some of the worst writing for television i've witnessed in recent years. case in point:

"This whole saving the world thing. I think I'd like to give it a try." -- Jamie Sommers, 2007

gag me with a freakin' spoon.

NBC made a HUGE mistake by not reinventing the series with The Six M/Billion Dollar Man first, then introducing The Bionic Woman. TBW might work on the syndicated WB network, but not NBC. To capture the attention of kids and heroes viewers, you need a strong male character.

Bionic Woman has many problems:

1. The villainess is more dynamic and exciting than the lead actress. That's not a good sign. Lindsay Wagner projected charisma, and she no baby fat like this young woman.

2. I'm sick of the whole amoral, grim-&-gritty thing. Why is the government always harsh and corrupt? Why is the color palette always gray, white, black, and blue? The whole show look