SEASON THREE:
So a lot of drama occurred behind the scenes between the end of season 2 and the beginning season 3. ABC cancelled THE BIONIC WOMAN even though it was still pulling a 30 share in ratings. Why was it cancelled then? Lot of theories abound, but no hard facts. The president of ABC Fred Silverman reportedly did not like Lindsay Wagner (reasons are vague) and felt the show was slipping in the demographics. Interestingly, after Silverman cancelled BW, he became president of NBC and then cancelled BW a second time! Conspiracy theories anyone? LOL!
Also, much like Lee Majors, Lindsay Wagner was not anxious to return for another season, as single lead action series are extremely exhausting. In fact, the creative production teams of both series were feeling the strain of running two bionic shows at once and were not enthused for another season. Also, matters were further complicated when Kenneth Johnson was effectively fired from the show early in the 3rd season, due to continued conflicts with Lindsay Wagner. Without Johnson's steady guiding hand, the quality in the episodes quickly devolved into lame and unoriginal spy/aliens/monster fare.:sad:
The moving to another network effectively brought the Steve and Jaime crossover episodes to an end, which really hurt both series but there was no way ABC was going to allow their leading man appear on the competing network. In fact, it took some extensive back room dealings to just secure Richard Anderson and Martin Brooks for continued appearances on both shows.
With no Steve Austin, the writers/producers introduced a new love interest for Jaime, rugged OSI agent Chris Williams (played by actor Christopher Stone). Their relationship was much more intimate than anything ever seen between Steve and Jaime, and while the Williams character was definitely modeled as a Steve replacement, I remember as a kid
HATING HIM! Who was this bucko making moves on Steve's girl!!! LOL! :lol:
Unlike SMDM, BW actually got a bit of
"closing final episode" with
"ON THE RUN". Jaime, growing tired of endless OSI missions and feeling less and less human, decides to quit the spy business. But the OSI will not let her go quietly into the night and wants to put her in a spy retirement village (think the classic show The Prisoner). Jaime goes on the run, being pursued by various security agencies, and through her adventure finally comes to terms with her bionic identity and her future. While not meant as a series finale, it works nicely.
While there are not many, here my fave episodes from the final season....
THE BIONIC DOG -- the season three 2 part premiere (September 10, 1977) introduces us to Maximillion, the bionic german shepherd. This actually a very warm and touching story, and while aimed at a slightly younger audience, still holds up well and is very entertaining. This is also the only episode in the entire BW third season where Steve Austin is mentioned.
FEMBOTS IN LAS VEGAS -- another 2 parter... actually this episode is pretty bad... really, really bad.... but some nice bionic gags and... well.... actually that is about it.... okay, horrible episode, forget I mentioned it .... moving on....
ON THE RUN -- the final episode aired May 13, 1978 and yes, that is it, not much to recommend from the third season. Lots of goofy spy plots, and alien/UFO stories which are really bad--though a very young Helen Hunt appears in "Santuary Earth" as an alien princess.
...oh and the final episode features the only time Oscar says "I love you" to Jaime.
But yeah, the third season if pretty much forgettable and is a sad demise to a show that started out so strong and smart.
Next, I guess I will very briefly rant about the Bionic Woman remake from a couples years back.