Lee’s Major Problem

8 Feb, 2008

As originally posted by Bionic-Blog reader ryansxpress, Lee Majors - who played Steve Austin on “The Six Million Dollar Man” - has a major problem with the current version of Bionic Woman.

Digital Spy report him saying:

“It’s not as good as the one back then. It’s too dark, too sci-fi and too edgy for kids.

“Lindsay was warm and you felt more in tune with her. The new show has this little English actress and you couldn’t warm up to her as you did with Lindsay.”

Firstly, it’s not made for kids in the first place - this isn’t a bad thing. Whats more it’s not edgy enough if you ask me - David Eick promised the show would be gritty and edgy, so far it’s failed to deliver in that department..I want more edge, more depth, more drama.

Secondly, Michelle Ryan isn’t “little”..she’s in great shape, has a cracking body and could probably take him in a fight. Yet she is also sensual and does well to combine strength and beauty in her portrayal of Jaime Sommers. Yes, she’s English, but whats that got to do with anything? It’s not as if her accent comes through unintended.

Fair dues, some people find her portrayal of Jaime ‘cold’ and ‘disconnected’ - I personally don’t have a great problem with her Jaime portrayal, but it’s Lee’s right to hold that opinion. But come on, two out of his three critisms are weak arguments if you ask me.

Bionic Woman 2.0 hasn’t been bad because of Michelle Ryan or the shows ‘edgyness’..and I don’t really need to go into the real reasons for the shows under-performance so far..it’s littered throughout this blog!

Heaven help the person who remakes The Six Million Dollar Man - no doubt Lee Majors will have problems with that too ;-)

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Page 48 said in 2-8-2008 @ 18:59:40

It’s human nature for Lee and Lindsay to cling to the notion that they did it best back in the day. No one wants to admit that the work they accomplished 25-30 years ago, and which was incredibly popular at the time, was actually pretty dreadful TV by any current standards.

If LM thinks the new BW is edgy, he just simply hasn’t watched it. It has no edge at all, which is part of the problem.

MR is just fine as Jaime. Unsympathetic “fans” expecting her to make a silk purse out of NBC’s sow’s ear are dreaming and need to adjust to the reality that the problems with this series so far originate offscreen.

MrsAustin said in 2-10-2008 @ 04:03:39

Roco, I completely agree with everything you said in response to LM’s comments.
:( missing BW!!!

Col.Austin said in 2-11-2008 @ 14:55:47

And why wouldn’t Lee have problems with an SMDM remake, when all Hollywood’s proposed so far has been a comedy version starring Jim Carrey or Will Smith?=:-0

I agree “too sci-fi” and “too edgy” are the opposite of what BW is, and that’s part of its problem. However, I wasn’t a fan of the original, “softer” version either, and IMHO both SMDM and the original BW went south once they decided to be kids’ shows.

That said, there’s no denying BW is on life-support, and Lee’s post-mortem — if a tad premature — is as valid as anyone else’s.

michellefan said in 2-17-2008 @ 08:03:43

Back 25-30 years ago the notion of “Bionic techology” was Laught at….

bionicboybxl said in 3-6-2008 @ 17:37:38

The NEW bionic woman was cancelled by nbc…

Now you have the answear…
The remake is a bad remix of the original bionic woman, the movie s of charlie’s angels, buffy and charmed without soul…

The main character is … Yakk…

Hope the producer will not work for tv or cinema ever again

Very bad show…

Bionic Woman » Blog Archive » Bionic Woman Quicklinks for March 8, 2008 said in 3-8-2008 @ 18:38:18

[…] with the modern version of Bionic Woman, and Roco at Bionic Blog has a problem with that. Roco lashes out at Lee’s criticisms in the show and states that Michelle Ryan could take the alter ego of The Six Million Dollar Man in a […]

Chris said in 3-9-2008 @ 00:01:11

So basically you’re knocking Lee for noticing what millions of others have noticed: this ill-conceived, poorly executed show stinks. BTW, he referenced her nationality because he made these undeniably truthful comments on a British talk show.

Voice of reason said in 3-9-2008 @ 00:41:47

Chris is right about the English reference. Heck I’m English and I din’t take any offence. Lee would be too much of a gentleman to take on Michelle Ryan and I don’t think her taking on a 69 year old man would be good for her image, do you?

The original show was great so stop knocking it. I watched it then and re-runs today and I still enjoy it. Just because you don’t like it, doesn’t mean others don’t or that it was bad.

And Lee was not rude about the show, he simply expressed his opinion. He doesn’t have to defend the original show. It was iconic in its day and still is today. As to Bionic Woman 2 it will have to wait a long time to do as good.

I caught the Jonathon Ross UK interview with Michelle Ryan on Friday. She was nice enough. She was modest and made it very clear it was not a remake of the Bionic Woman. Whether it will take off over here is another matter.

So stop misinterpreting Lee alone. He stated an opinion after having watched the programme. After I have watched it next week, I’ll state one, too. Good, bad, or indifferent, I’ll let you know.

Chris said in 3-9-2008 @ 01:51:39

Lee’s remarks were on an ITV talk show. ITV is the network that paid millions for the rights to broadcast the new BW. The higher-ups there must have been furious when Lee panned the show, basically telling people not to watch.

Roco said in 3-10-2008 @ 15:32:21

bionicboybxl, NBC haven’t officially cancelled the show yet, although I agree that it looks likely. However my points were aimed at LM’s rather skewed idea that BW is “too edgey” and “too dark”, when it is none of these things. Of course LM is entitled to his opinion but for me it’s far from a credible opinion, in light of what he said.

Chris, I fear you’re missing my point - I’m well aware that BW has fallen short, however LM has attacked the show in light of it being “too edgey” and “too dark” and “not for kids”, when let’s face it, it is none of these things. LM obviously hasn’t even watched the show if he is seriously suggesting that BW is ‘too’ edgy etc. Either that or I find his vision of good sci-fi not in-line with my own because I prefer my sci-fi to have ‘edge’, to be ‘dark’ and to be ‘intelligent’.

Voice of Reason, I am not knocking the original show - I don’t believe I ever have. I’m disagreeing with LM’s comments, because I find his description of ‘too dark and edgy’ to be wide of the mark - if anything BW isn’t dark and edgy enough! I also found his comment about MR to be rather patronising to say the east - note his: “this little english actress” line. Patronising, much?

I can understand him wanting to protect the original series and shows from that time, but if LM was in charge of progression, there would be none..

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