Hello Bionic Believers! Here are some encore articles from when this project was In The Works Thread...
The during the second season of THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN, writer Kenneth Johnson pitched the idea of creating a female counterpart to Steve Austin, a bride of Frankenstein sort of idea. This idea was greenlit and evolved in the classic two parter episode "The Bionic Woman" airing March 16 and 23, 1975.
When trying to cast this pivotal role, the producers became captivated with Universal contract player named Lindsay Wagner who was winning rave reviews for her performance in the recent ROCKFORD FILES pilot movie. But when first offered the role, Lindsay turned it down. It was only after the prompting of her younger sister who was a fan of the show, that she finally accepted the role that would make her a tv superstar. Needless to say, Lindsay Wagner stole every scene she was in and infused the character with a instant warmth and genuineness, and created an amazing chemistry with Lee Majors.
The story is very simple and straightforward, Steve returns to his home town of Ojai, California to buy a property and be closer to his family. While there, he is reunited with his childhood sweetheart Jaime Sommers, a world class tennis pro player. The two rekindle there romance and after a whirlwind courtship (in which Lee Majors sings one of the most horrible love songs ever recorded) Steve proposes and Jaime accepts. But then tragedy occurs, as Jaime is nearly killed in a sky diving accident. Steve bullies and begs Oscar to perform bionic surgery on Jaime, which he reluctantly agrees to on the condition Jaime would have to work for the OSI. Rudy performs the surgery and at first things seem okay as Jaime comes to terms with her new body. But it quickly becomes clear something is not right as Jaime becomes subject to spells of severe headaches and malfunctioning bionics. It is determined her body is rejecting her bionic implants. Another emergency surgery is performed, but it is too late, and Jaime dies on the operating table with Steve standing over her.
Needless to say, it was a powerful and emotional episode.
The interesting twist is, Jaime was not suppose to die at the end. Kenneth Johnson wanted to keep her alive, as he realized what an amazing character they had created and the story potential that existed. However, the biggest movie at the time was LOVE STORY, in which the main character dies, and one thing TV Execs love to do, is copy whatever is popular at the time. So against the protests of the writers and producers, the Network ordered the death of Jaime Sommers.
But then a couple of interesting things happened. One, the two parter Bionic Woman episodes were the highest rated in SMDM history and two, the network became bombarded with letters and phone calls to bring the character back!
So the Network then turned around and ordered the writers to resurrect Jaime Sommers and prepare her for a spin-off series.
So when we last saw our Bionic Heroine, she DEAD on the operating table.
Except, during the summer hiatus, ABC Executives stunned by the huge ratings of the Bionic Woman episode and the public demand for more, ordered the writers/producers of THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN to resurrect the character of Jaime Sommers and prepare her for her own Spin-Off series.
But the TV producers had a bigger problem than just trying to figure out a way to bring Jaime back to life, they had to convince actress Lindsay Wagner to return to the role. For during this time, Wagner's contract with Universal had expired and she was a free agent. It took some convincing, but Wagner agreed to return, but she was able to negotiate a very lucrative contract, making her one of the highest paid tv actresses of the time.
The third season of SMDM opened with the two parter "THE RETURN OF THE BIONIC WOMAN", airing on September 14 and 21, 1975. Steve discovers that though Jaime did appear to die, but Rudy Wells' assistant Dr. Marchetti kept her alive through cryogenics until he could complete the life saving operation. A side effect of the procedure, Jaime's memory is impaired, with no recollection of her romance with Steve!
So the stage is set for the spin-off series.... Steve still loves Jaime, but she can not remember their love for each other. In fact, everytime Jaime attempts to remember her past with Steve, she suffers from extremely painful migraines, that threaten to trigger another bionic rejection! To complicate matters even further, Dr. Marchetti is in love with Jaime too! Oh the heart ache and drama!!!!:lol:
Jaime makes several cameos through the third season of SMDM, and then her own series is launched in the two part "WELCOME HOME JAIME", with part one airing as a SMDM episode on January 11, 1976 and the conclusion airing as the series pilot THE BIONIC WOMAN on January 14, 1976. Jaime returns to Ojai, and moves into a loft above Steve's parents house (turns out Steve's parents helped raise Jaime after her own parent died -- hhmmmm..... does that make them sort of brother and sister?:-o LOL!) and is set up as a school teacher at the local air force base with Oscar calling on Jaime when needed for OSI missions.
Lindsay Wagner had a lot input into the scripts of BW, in particular of how her character was portrayed. One of the biggest rules she had was Jaime only used her bionics to react to a threat or defend herself or others. Jaime never initiated the violence.
The First Season, which was 13 episodes, is overall excellent. Wagner brings so much charm, warmth and reality to the role. It is easy to see why ever male guest star would fall in love with her character. And quite a few young boy viewers at home too!;-)
My personal favorites....
THE DEADLY MISSILES -- Steve guest stars and Jaime performs the same metal post javelin gag as Steve from "Population Zero".
BIONIC BEAUTY -- Jaime enters the Miss United States Pageant to find some international smugglers. Wait til you hear her sing "FEELINGS" as part of her talent portion.... LOL! I love the 1970s!!!
JAIME'S MOTHER -- this is a good dramatic episode, we learn Jaime's mother and father were spies (of course they were!!!:-D LOL!) and now a mysterious woman arrives claiming to be Jaime's long dead mother.
MIRROR IMAGE -- Lisa Galloway is surgically altered to look just like Jaime in order to steal some OSI documents. She is later captured, and Jaime must then go undercover as her own doppelganger to discover who is behind evil scheme.