NBC ‘Bionic Woman’ Video Clips Filled with Familiar Faces and Promise
The Previews Are Out and They Look Good
Call it a girl thing, but of all the (hopefully) fantastic new sci-fi style dramas in NBC’s recently unveiled Fall 2007-2008 schedule, the one I’m most eagerly anticipating is the so-called reimagination of the 1970s action series The Bionic Woman. Well, the Peacock Network’s upfront presentation was barely over in New York yesterday before it began posting clips from the forthcoming new series all over the Internet. Two for the Bionic Woman are particularly interesting.
In the sixty-second video made available by NBC both at YouTube and the official Bionic Woman Web site—which contains a wealth of preliminary and essential information, by the way—we get an up-close look at the improved Jaime (Jaime, not Jamie, mind you) Sommers as she wakes up in the hospital following a horrific car accident and learns about her new bionic limbs and supercool abilities.
Take a look here or jump to the site.
The roughly two-minute second video, also available at YouTube, is more of a montage of several critical scenes. The first and most important one, in my opinion, features Jaime as she battles with the likewise bionic character Sarah Corvus, played by Battlestar Galactica‘s Starbuck, Katee Sackhoff (there’s still no word on how she’s going to handle starring duties in two physically demanding sci-fi series).
Take a look here or jump to the site.
Other clips posted on the dedicated Web site at NBC.com display a roster of decent actors that any avid television fan will recognize almost instantly, including Miguel Ferrer of the ending medical-crime drama Crossing Jordan, Molly Price (Yay!) of the former cops and firefighters and paramedics drama Third Watch, Will Yun Lee of the old supernatural series Witchblade, Mae Whitman of FX’s award-winning but short-lived Andre Braugher crime drama Thief, and Chris Bowers of Denis Leary’s sizzling Rescue Me. British actor Mark Sheppard of 24 and Battlestar Galactica is also in the cast.
The star of the series, 23-year-old British actress Michelle Ryan of the legendary soap EastEnders, is likely unfamiliar to most of the American public. And I must admit, after looking only at the horrendous photo of her that NBC has perched atop the main Web page for the series, I thought she looked nondescript and woefully miscast. Thankfully, however, the actual video clips do her much better justice, and my initial concerns have been allayed a bit. Still, I remain slightly concerned about the overly youthful approach to this “reimagination,” especially since I would have preferred an actress in her early to mid thirties who could better project the maturity that Lindsay Wagner brought to the original show.
All things considered, though, my impression after viewing the clips and reading the Web site and related news articles is that if this series fails miserably, like too many of the new offerings from the most recent year, NBC executives will have nobody to blame but themselves for messing things up but good.
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
Tagline: All she wanted was a normal life.
Official Synopsis:
Struggling as a bartender and surrogate mom to her teen-aged sister, Jaime Sommers didn’t think life could get much harder. But when a devastating car accident leaves her at death’s door, Jaime’s only hope of survival is through a cutting-edge, top-secret technology that comes at a hefty price.
With a whole new existence and a debt to repay, Jaime must figure out how to use her extraordinary abilities for good, while weighing the personal sacrifices she will have to make. Ultimately, it’s Jaime’s journey of self-discovery and inner strength that will help her embrace her new life as…The Bionic Woman.
Related News: NBC’s 2007-2008 Primetime Schedule Heavy on Sci-Fi | Sci-Fi Casting Coup: ‘Battlestar Galactica’ Vet Katee Sackhoff Joins ‘The Bionic Woman’
Bionic Woman/Michelle Ryan photo courtesy of NBC
