TVSquad

Now maybe I'm mistaken, but wasn't the younger sister (already forgot her name) deaf in the trailer? I seem to remember them talking about that, and it apparently got canned. Anybody know why?

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You are right on the mark, Bob. Despite all the frantic "action", I felt oddly bored. And my gawd, but the whole thing was gloomy. First suggested improvement: give the entire cast a heavy dose of Zoloft or some other happy pill. Then give even more to the writers.

Ms Ryan was sadly dull, not just her character, but her sombre, one-note performance as well. And as for Mr. Ferrer's over-the-top rendering of the villain, he was so busy chewing up the scenery, I am amazed we could understand anything he said.

The more I think about this depressive debut, the more I miss the original series.

One pleasant note, though: we saw blessedly little of Mr. Washington.

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Yep, the earlier pilot had deaf sister, who was also a little chubby and goth punk. They got rid of her for the sexier looking kid sister here, and her computer hacking skills which will doubtlessly be used to help Jamie out of jam some day. I think they missed a great story line with the deaf sister, not to mention the fact they also changed the background of the parents. The earlier one I believe had both parents dead.

I have to say they kinda ripped off Birds of Prey in look. Jamie works at a bar, Helena works at a bar, the action occurs at night, brainy person helping the hero out etc. Of course when they share the same producer I guess those things happen.

Was it just me or during that shrink visit, were the dubbed voices out of synch with the characters?

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Damnit. I liked it . My wife and I both liked it and there are not a lot of action shows that we can say that about. I always swear I won't read critics because they all suck. They're well, too critical. But count me as "hooked" in your poll. Loved the fighting, the emotion, the show in general.

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I felt very much the same way about this episode of this show. Every normal person that gains super powers seems to jump off a roof at some point. Matrix, Spiderman, Heroes and here in Bionic Woman. I feel as if the major item at issue here is the evil Bionic Woman angle. I remember when I first heard about this show having Katee on it I wondered why they wouldn't consider her for the title role. She could work this around BSG for a while considering that show is in it's final year. (I mean she's working it out somehow right now considering she's a seemingly major plot point) Then unlike most people in the online communities I waited until it premiered to watch it, mostly so I wouldn't be too far ahead of my more analog friends. Anyway, so the whole time I felt as if the evil Bio.Wo. had a lot more going on. She had things to say, she has an established personality, and she appears to be a superhuman body dysmorphic bipolar sex addict with approval issues. That much info gleaned from an episode in which she only appears from the shadows for the most part. Also Jaime should have gotten housed in that rooftop fight. Even if Jaime has new technology and is faster stronger better than Sarah somehow(this was not established I'm just saying this is the only reasonable assertion I could make about this), the fact remains that Sarah has had time to master her abilities and she has more Bionic parts. So unless she really wanted a "jogging buddy" it should have been the villain beats up on new hero and saved by government agency cliche. The trailer for next week's episode looked good and I'll give it another week but unlike Reaper and Chuck which made it into my season pass manager during their pilot episodes this has unfortunately not passed muster. Here's hoping Jaime can become more interesting than Sarah, her sister, the agency guys, her boyfriend's father, the guy controlling Sarah and the head ops guy that was once involved with Sarah.

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People do ask for "a beer". Not all the time, but it does happen.

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I agree with what you said about this episode. Aside from the lame dialogue and the quick pacing and the uninteresting main lead (I think she's pretty, but so far that's the only reason I'd watch her) I would also add the weird editing of the episode. I don't just mean the different camera styles for difference scenes and when they choose to cut away and when they choose to hold on a person, I also wish to complain about the crazy music they used and how they used it way too much.

Remember that scene in the alley, when she's attacked by the guy with the knife? As she takes him down that same "I'm kicking ass" music plays and I wasn't into it at all. It would have been far more effective to simply show her taking him down and the only noises be the guy getting his ass handed to him. They did it during the rooftop fight scene too. One second good Bionic Woman's losing, and literally in the space of 10 seconds she recovers and the music starts up and she's kicking butt. Again, don't cue the crappy music.

I agree with Randall that Ms Ryan's performance was dull. She's so pretty, but she didn't sell the character to me. The line (paraphrasing here) "you keep sending one and I'll bury them one after another" sounded so forced and hollow. Starbuck (that's how I know her, sorry) kicked ass for the most part but sometimes those lame lines even hurt her (but that's not her fault).

I do want to give the show another chance out of respect for Eick (BSG fan here) but I doubt things will get better. I have amount of free time and if things stay the way they are right now then I won't be watching this.

Oh! and although the new younger sister of bionic woman they chose is pretty and everything, I would have MUCH preferred Mae Whitman. That was like 40% of the reason I was interested in the show. She's such a great actress and they were going to have the younger sister be hard of hearing and I don't know why but that added much more weight to the emotional distance or problem or whatever between the two sisters. I think that was a mistake by the casting department .. we didn't need another pretty person (though Mae Whitman's pretty too!, but I guess 'classically' pretty is what I mean), and they should've kept Whitman and the character's auditory disability.

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Sorry it's 5:30am here and I noticed not only did I miss a few key words which make me sound like an idiot but I kept describing everyone as pretty. I'm not obsessed with that, I would bring it up because I feel that's the criteria they used to cast the show's protagonists. I swear I can write better comments but it is just too early in the morning.

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Completely agree. I'm glad I'm not the only one who wasn't impressed by this. I was a huge Buffy fan and even liked Dark Angel. This show has none of things that made those shows interesting. And the writing isn't even the same league as Buffy.

I was actually saddened by the fact that Katee Sackhoff is so far and away the most interesting character. I hope she lands another plum role somewhere once this show is canceled.

Of course, since I don't actually like the show I should probably expect it to last quite a while.

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More like bionic boredom.

(lengthy and articulate, I know, but that's how inspired I was by the show)

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Well I was hooked and I never saw a dull moment. I did miss almost the first thirty minutes, but I guess NBC did a good job making the show consistent to get everyone they can to watch it all the way through.

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Throughout the episode, I kept thinking to myself, "this is a good premise for the show, but my god, the writing is awful!"

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I watched and I'll watch again. Mostly because of Katee Sackhoff, I just love her. She is a tough cookie with brains. Not sure about the chick who plays Jamie Summers - she looks too young. Was the original BW that young? Oh, I like the psychologist chick, she was the only character not so stinkin' dreary to match the setting of the show. I'll keep watching. Anyone notice the Chief from BSG - I am sure you all did! I hope we get to see more characters from BSG in BW in small roles - they are like little surprises!

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Hey what was the name of the song they were playing when Jaime was doing roof jumping? I had that song in my head all day yesterday (pre-show) and don't know enough lyrics to google it.

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If Starbuck was the good bionic woman, I would be happier. But...well, I watched it twice, and still don't understand why there is an evil bionic woman.

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I was bored to death by the lead actress. Also, couldn't they give her a slightly better background than bartender? I'll give it a second chance, but not a third.

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The whole time watching I kept commenting "well, I guess since it's only an hour long premiere they have to cram everything in."
This first epi didn't "hook" me. But I'll give it another chance.
100% agree with your review Bob.

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This show is searching for a style and a theme methinks.

The writers and producers seemed uncertain in their direction and the good and bad people seem to morph back and forth during the pilot. BBW (Bad Bionic Woman) kills and injuries, but we have sympathy for her and the writers seemingly too. This is too confusing.

The show needs too settle down and build the characters.

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The producers of this show made one big, and no it wasn't casting Michelle Ryan (although that is questionable), it was the decision have Katee Sackhoff play the bionic villain. Don't get me wrong, I'm a Katee Sackhoff fan, but this series is called Bionic Woman, not Bionic Woman vs. More Interesting Evil Bionic Woman. It seems like more effort was put into developing Sarah than there was into re-creating Jamie Sommers for the 21st century, and that's a huge mistake.

This show has a lot of potential, a lot. If the writing improves, and I think NBC is bringing in new people to help with that, and the series starts concentrating on Jamie Sommers and less on Sarah Corvus then I think it will improve. I've checked out Ryan's previous work and she's a capable actress, but in order to fill this role the series needs to concentrate on her character. Sure, every hero needs a villainous counterpart, but the Corvus character should crop up a few times in the season, not episode after episode.

You know what else I miss? The bionic sound effects. No, I don't want to hear "wha-wha-wha-wha" every time Jamie hits the bad guy, but something more modern would have been nice.

This was not a great episode, but first episodes rarely are, so I'll be watching next week.

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You people are insane, Bionic Woman was AWESOME! I am so into this show.

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