The NBC show “Bionic Woman” had one good thing going for it — Katee Sackhoff. But, that may be about to end, which could spell the end of BW.
At a recent Battlestar Galactica CON Sackhoff indicated that her days on the Bionic show as Sarah Corvus, a recurring character and nemesis of Jamie Sommers (Michelle Ryan), could soon be over. Both TVGuide and IGN have picked up on those statements by the actress and are reporting that she is done with the series.
Apparently Sackhoff had a meeting with one of the producers some time after the Thanksgiving holiday “but does not expect to return to the show even if it does resume production” following the current Writers Guild strike, according to IGN.
While no official reason is being given by Sackhoff for her supposed departure, some are speculating that there may be bad chemistry between her and lead star Michelle Ryan. If that is true, then whether Ryan will ever admit it or not, she just put herself out of a job, because everyone else on that show, especially Sackhoff, were the ones carrying it.
Tonight’s episode may well be the final one of the season. With slipping ratings and the possible departure of Katee, it’s not likely the “Bionic Woman” will be able to muster up enough strength to finish out season one, much less get picked up for a second.
Well, it was fun while it lasted.
Such a shame. This series had such potential behind it, but utterly failed to do anything really interesting outside of the Sarah Corvus character. What a pity.
Back at the end of October they skipped a week, then I spent a week on vacation, and completely lost interest in it.
So…*IF* personalities are clashing, then it means Michelle put *herself* out of a job? Why does the responsibility fall solely upon Michelle? The last time I saw two people butting heads…there were TWO people butting heads. Without knowing what’s going on, you *could* just as fairly say that Sackhoff is putting everybody out of a job since it’s doubtful that NBC will continue the show without her (though I don’t think the network ever planned to finish the season anyway, whether Sackhoff was there or not).
Responsibility always falls on the star of a show. If the star can’t carry the show first and foremost, then if it fails due to whatever reason, personality clashes, poor charisma, timing, whatever, it falls to the lead star. I like Michelle Ryan, however, she is not able to carry this show. She would be a great member of an ensemble cast, but is not lead actress material — at least not for this particular role.
The only case where this isn’t so is if the scripts are terrible, and in this case the scripts, while not the greatest, are certainly above average. The fault lies with Ryan…or as President Truman use to say – “The buck stops here!”
The concept and show had such potential, but it just drifts. And, it’s really hard to take the mercenary Burkett Group as the “good guys”. Sorry, but those of us paying attention to the goings on in the world don’t buy it. The show only touches on the potential dubious nature of the mercenaries, it could be so much darker…and better. Overall, really disappointed that Eick couldn’t do better than this.
Oh, forgot to mention, I think Michelle is excellent despite the scripts.
The scripts aren’t terrible, but they haven’t been enough to make them memorable either.
I still remember details in episodes of “Heroes” that I watched a year ago, details from episodes of “Firefly”, from “Babylon 5”, from “Jeremiah”, “Angel”, any number of excellent shows, some of which I haven’t seen in years. I can remember details from some of the less-than-stellar episodes of those series, but I have to really push to do so.
I am hard pressed to recall any standout moments in “Bionic Woman” episodes, and I’ve watched 5 of them over the past couple of weeks. And we know that Eick is capable of putting together better because BSG has had a lot of those moments, going back to “33”.
There are a lot of story-telling shifts that could put that spark into the series, but I also wonder if maybe there weren’t some boundaries put on the show… where Eick couldn’t venture because the parent company didn’t want to shift too far away from the old “Bionic Woman”.
Technically the story hasn’t changed… it’s not a reimagining so much as a repackaging. There isn’t a radical shift in concept underlying the show (at least not as far as I’ve watched), not like what they did in BSG with the Cylons and their goals.
Something like that is what I was hoping for, and I haven’t seen it yet.
Katee Sackhoff is so sexy! She is doing a great work in Bionic Woman.. It’s one of my favorite series now.
Have you seen her interview on TV Guide’s?
weshow.com/r/us/p/25755/interview_with_bionic_womans_katee_sackhoff
She is amazing! 😀