Anatomy of a Failure: Why NBC's Bionic Woman Is Na-Na-Not Working

As one of the most-anticipated new shows of the season, NBC's Bionic Woman remake has become a symbol of the oddest TV season in recent memory. Never have so many mediocre shows crowded TV screens for so long, testing viewers' patience with a steady stream of substandard material.

Since its debut, according to Nielsen ratings figures corralled on TVByTheNumbers.com, Bionic Woman has lost 5-million viewers, plunging from a high of 13-million viewers at its debut to 8.3-million last week. Watching this show's slow disintegration -- like any good sci fi fanboy, I have been TiVo-ing every episode in a vain hope things would get better -- is like seeing a fish thrash out its last moments on a muddy beach. It's also a bitter parable for what ails most new TV shows this season -- even series such as ABC's Pushing Daisies, recently picked up for a full season.

Here's what I think ails NBC's marquee show:

It's the writing, stupid -- Producers have had a hard time balancing all the different story elements they put in play from the very first episode. There's Jaime's rivalry/sisterhood with the first bionic woman, played by Battlestar Galactica alum Katee Sackhoff; Jaime's friction with the super-secret organization which bankrolled her upgrades; implications that her romance with the doctor who built her bionics was calculated from the start; Jaime's conflict with her high school-age sister, who she cares for; Jaime's struggle to figure out how her new abilities work; and the menace posed by the father of the doctor who built Jaime, who seems to be a calculating bad guy trying to sell bionics to the highest bidder.

Stir in weekly adventures which may or many not have anything to do with any of these core plotlines, and you have way too many storylines bouncing around which can't possibly be serviced by a coherent script. Which explains why so few episodes are coherent, making viewers feel abandoned.

Gloomy visuals do not equal realism -- The Battlestar Galactica reboot which Bionic Woman David Eick helped lead works because producers have created a gritty world filled with ambiguity, brutality, pain and near-insurmountable obstacles -- which always make heroism and triumph stand out even more. But Bionic Woman doesn't reflect that same merciless realism -- how can a woman who is supposed to be taking care of a high schooler vanish for days with no real explanation, for example? Instead, the series counts on moody visuals and hip-looking actors to convey an new attitude. But there's no there, there. It's like The Matrix with cheesier fight scenes.

Too many powerful actors underused -- Producers haven't yet figured out how to juggle all the great acting talent they have shoehorned into the show, from Sackhoff and Crossing Jordan alum Miguel Ferrer to Third Watch's Molly Price, Thief's Will Yun Lee and, of course, fallen Grey's Anatomy star  Isaiah Washington. Washington, in particular, seems forced into the episodes, brought to the project in a casting coup from new NBC entertainment head Ben Silverman. But making a character which was supposed to be a minor note into a major theme has taken its toll, pushing Price's character in particular into the background.

Too much nonsense onscreen -- Cute as it was to see the British actress playing Sommers revert to her original accent for this week's episode, where BW was pretending to be an exchange student from Oxford, how does the character come up with a letter-perfect British accent when needed? And why doesn't anyone else on the show question it? Every episode is filled with these niggling questions: Why exactly does Jaime Sommers feel compelled to make nice with the first bionic woman, which killed her boyfriend? Why exactly is she working for a super secret company which may was observing her for years before the car accident which required her bionics? Each query is a tiny nibble from the show's believability, which makes watching episodes almost painful.

It's not the actors, stupid -- Much as some fans are trying to blame Brit import Michelle Ryan for the show's problems, that's a bum rap. She's a game actress, vaulting into indulgent fight scenes and non-sensical dialogue with equal gusto. But producers have failed her, like a pit crew which doesn't put a race car's tires on tight enough. Ryan is stuck in special effects scenes where she is clearly flailing at the end of a wire or working through clumsy fight choreography. In a post-Matrix, post-X-men world, lame-o special effects only adds to the feeling of watching a clunker hit the skids before viewers' eyes. 

   

Comments

[Jim]

Eric, you are spot on. This is a terrible season for TV viewers. I watched the first episode of "Bionic Woman" and, although the main character is pretty hot, the show lost my interest very quickly. The only show I watch regularly is "The Office" but even it seems to be running out of steam.

[former tampanian]

It's a problem that's plagued NBC for years now. They have good shows, but there are better ones on at the same time on the other networks. I enjoy BW, but my appointment viewing for Wednesday nights is "Criminal Minds" (can't wait for Joe's debut next week). Not being part of the Tivo nation, I'm thankful for the newest trend in internet re-broadcasting of the previous night's show. Hopefully, NBC can tweak the show (and maybe put it on Monday's after Heros) to keep the viewers watching.

[Ron]

This show doesn't work for one simple reason.

Lynda Carter = Jamie Sommers!!!

You can't top perfection.

[Eric Deggans]

That observation would be so much more powerful, Ron, if you got the actresses right.

Lynda Carter played Wonder Woman.

Lindsay Wagner was the Bionic Woman.

And frankly, she wasn't so memorable that I couldn't accept another one...

[tampafilmfan]

I'm bitterly disappointed in "Bionic Woman" although I still watch it -- well, sort of, while working on the computer -- just to see to what new depths the show can sink. (To me, the pilot episode still holds the record for worst episode so far.)

I'm one of the ones who doesn't care for Michelle Ryan in this show, so we'll have to agree to disagree on that point. I absolutely agree with everything you said about the writing on BW. It's like a game of Mad Libs gone terribly wrong...it seems that the writers' room has different containers marked "location," "emotion," "conflict," "technology issue," "new character," and so on. For every episode the writers reach into the containers, pull out a slip of paper, and insert whatever random, unrelated action or dialogue, etc. they drew from the container into the show.

Either that or 20 different people across the world were individually asked to write a five-minute scene and then the BW writers merged them into one document, which became the script without anyone ever reading the entire thing.

It's one of the most disjointed shows of recent memory. For me, anyway...I don't watch a lot of new fall TV shows anymore because I always seem to fall for the ones that get abruptly cancelled right in the middle of a cliffhanger storyline. Sigh. Thank goodness for TV shows on DVD.

[Ron]

Sorry, Eric. You're right, I confused the two. Unfortunately, as soon as I get Lynda Carter's image in my brain, I can no longer think straight.

Uh oh, it's happening again. Now I'll be useless at work all morning.

[Eric Deggans]

Say no more: When i replied to your comment, i had to do a google search to check the spelling of Lynda's name. I came across a picture and lost 15 minutes out of my day right there...

And you're right, today's Bionic Woman does not have that power...

[former tampanian]

ewww. save it til you get home at least, Eric...but wonder woman is dead hot, i'll give you that.

[Marie]

I agree with all of the above as to the reasons - and that is intentionally plural - this series doesn't work.

What amazes me, however, is that despite the crummy ratings across the board for the network, its still the individual series and their components that are blamed. In reality, it should be the folks that picked the series, prescribed how they should be written and run, and put them on air, that should be held accountable.

At what point does GE step in and start working on the cure?? Or are the rumors correct and instead of fixing the Network, they'll just sell it and its problems to someone who's either willing to settle for a 3rd or 4th place network, or to fix what's broken?

[Corin]

i actually like Bionic Woman...it keeps you guessing...yes there may be a lot of ideas bouncing around and she probably couldnt just leave her sister like that..but i think its a good show! too many good shows have been pushed to the side and taken off the air! like tarzan...a long time ago...not to get of track but the show kept me interested and wanting to see more...it had good cliff hangers..but right now im tired of hanging!