“Bionic” Update

Written by: Michael Hickerson (SoSF Staff Journalist)

As we mentioned earlier, “The Bionic Woman” has lost veteran executive producer, Glen Morgan, according to a report in Variety. The long-time producer and writer for “The X-Files” left the program last week, “effective immediately” according to NBC. However, for now, producer David Eick will step in and peform the day-to-day running of the fledgling NBC series. Joining Eick in the day-to-day running of the show with executive producer Jason Smilovic.

NBC issued a statement thanking Morgan for his work on the show and saying they were looking forward to the show’s debut later this month. The series is currently working on filming its fifth episode.

With the departure of Morgan, rumors have sprung up that the show’s production might be delayed or suspended for a re-tooling. However, at this time, there is no official confirmation of this and NBC and Eick have denied this is happening.

In an interview with SciFi Wire, Eick said that no break is imminent, though he added that most shows take a week to regroup at some point. Even if the show takes an early break in the production schedule, fans need not send up the red flags just yet. Other shows have re-tooled mid-stream and still gone on to be critical and commerical hits. The Variety article pointed out the case of the hit series “Grey’s Anatomy” having done this and sustained itself commerically and creatively.

Eick went on to say that these kind of things cropping up in any tv show aren’t unusual.

“One of the things I learned very early in my career when I was running a television company for Sam Raimi was that in the genre, so to speak—and there’s horror, science fiction, fantasy and superhero—there are so many permutations of what you’re doing and, moreover, what you’re not doing, and people bring their own perspective to that,” Eick told SciFi Wire.

“Some people come in thinking, ‘Well, if it’s got someone with super strength, it must mean it has to be really kind of funny and kooky,’ and other people come in and said, ‘Well, we’ve got someone with a tortured soul who’s had this thing perpetrated on her, then it’s got to be very dark and twisted,” he added. “‘ Other people might say, ‘Well, it should be very female and soft.'”

“Bionic Woman” has had some big, behind-the-scenes news this summer, including the addition of Isaiah Washington to a five-episode guest-stint, signing Katie Sackoff to a full-time recurring role status and the re-casting of title character Jamie Sommer’s younger sister from the pilot. (In the initial pilot the sister is deaf, but this has been changed).

Whatever the case, fans will get a chance to see and judge “The Bionic Woman” for themselves when it debuts on Wednesday, September 29th at 9PM EST. Or if you can’t wait to see it, you may be able to watch it as part of your On Demand service via your cable or satellite provider. “Bionic” is one of several NBC shows that are being made available starting today for preview On Demand.

Or fans can also find the show as a free download on Amazon’s UnBox service, beginning today.

However, while getting a free sneak-preview is great, we can’t encourage the fans enough that if you like what you see, make sure to watch the show when it airs on NBC later this month. The show is in a tough time slot, going up against big guns and this promising series needs all the fans it can get if it’s going to get a full-season run to deliver on its promise.