I've got to say that Bionic Woman was exactly what I expected and I don't know if I'll keep watching. It has that strong super hero / comic book feel to it that I don't really care for and the science fiction aspect gets relegated to the background. I am a bit miffed as to why they would use the same name for this Bionic Woman. Why call her Jamie Summers if the rest of the characters and storyline are different? The one thing it does have going for it is the darker tone. I won't give up yet, but it is on a short leash.
It reminded me more than a bit of Battlestar Galactica. In fact, so much that I thought maybe there is some overlap beyond a couple of cast members (Starbuck = Bionic nemesis Sara Corvis). Sure enough, Battlestar was done by the same production team. Battlestar was very good at first but has taken such a turn for the worse that I really don't care if another season ever shows up. It went from being a decent science fiction drama into show more about personal relationships more than else. Now titled "Ross & Rachel in Space" because of the on again off again relationship between Starbuck and Apollo.
Battlestar's biggest problem was that even though a huge majority of their fan base is male, they kept going further and further into BORING personal relationships instead of focusing on the main plot (finding Earth) and more interesting side plots. There were always about six different mini-romances going on with liberal sprinklings of children and family drama. Hello, this is the SCI-FI channel, not Lifetime. I can't back it up with hard facts but I'm guessing their ratings went way down during the last season.
The Bionic Woman could easily follow the same path. First and foremost, the lead character is female. I'm not saying female lead characters can't be interesting, it's just that I don't think this creative team can make them interesting. On top of that she has this younger sister she has to care for and look out for. Then there is the boyfriend, although I wouldn't be surprised to see him dispatched fairly early and eventually replaced by a new love. Finally, you have the original bionic chick (Starbuck) and her ex-boyfriend / executioner. There isn't even a strong sci-fi character to bring things back to the roots side like the Cylons, Baltar or Zarek from Battlestar.
OK, I know this all comes off a bit jaded. You can partially blame Battlestar for that attitude. Originally a show I avoided based on the remake premise, I came to like for the high production values and decent stories lines of the first season. Then, I was majorly letdown in Seasons 2 & 3 to the point of disgust.
Beyond tone, I think the Bionic Woman has a couple other things going for it. Relatively fresh faces are best for a series of this magnitude. In fact, I would have preferred they didn't go with Ferrara. Given ample opportunity they CAN make these characters more interesting. The time slot should give it ample viewership to keep in running long enough to develop possible storylines.
One last note. Although I was among those skeptical of recasting Starbuck as a female character, I don't think it did the show too much harm INITIALLY. Of course, over time, she was a key cog in turning the show into the mush it has become.
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