In the mid ’70s, the beautiful Lindsay Wagner became a part of The Six Million Dollar Man’s universe.
In her first appearance, professional tennis player Jaime Sommers suffered a skydiving accident and was given bionic implants to save her life.
After receiving these implants, she became The Bionic Woman. The character would eventually get her own series and would appear alongside Steve Austin many times over the course of both shows.
Looking back, both The Bionic Woman and The Six Million Dollar Man perfectly capture what made TV in the ’70s special.
Lindsay Wagner brought both elegance and beauty to our television screens.
While the show was only on the air for three seasons, there are still huge legions of fans.
Aside from how visually appealing The Bionic Woman was, the show was also a great reflection of just how incredible and creative TV was in the ’70s. TV spin offs don’t seem to happen as frequently as they used to, and when they do occur, they’re terrible.
However, The Bionic Woman was a prime example of how studios could boost their relationship with viewers by creating a brand new show that already had viewers before it even aired.
Since it essentially just gave us more of what we loved in The Six Million Dollar Man, creating a spinoff was a safe investment from the network’s side of things as well.
The Bionic Woman and The Six Million Dollar man also utilized the potential of crossover episodes.
Tons of shows from this era had crossovers, but no one did it quite like these two shows.
Lindsay Wagner appeared on nine different episodes of The Six Million Dollar Man, and Lee Majors appeared in six episodes of The Bionic Woman. The overlap of the two shows is a big part of what made them great.
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The Bionic Woman and The Six Million Dollar Man felt intertwined.
It allowed fans to get immersed into the world that was being laid out by both shows.
Like The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman spawned its own line of toys.
Kenner produced a 12-inch doll of the character, with similar features to the Steve Austin version.
A metal lunchbox for children was available for both boys and girls.
Parker Brothers also developed a board game.
The partnership of the two shows also resulted in three made for TV movies.
The Return of the Six-Million-Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman (1987), brought the two characters back together long after their respective shows had been cancelled.
The second film, Bionic Showdown: The Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman, (1989) introduced Sandra Bullock as paraplegic Kate Mason who becomes a next-generation bionic woman and Sommers again helps train the neophyte cyborg.
In the final reunion film, Bionic Ever After? (1994), a computer virus corrupts Jaime’s bionic systems. Dr. Wells informs Steve that “she may never be bionic again,” but Steve’s main regard is he wants her alive above all else.
She undergoes a major upgrade, which not only increases the power of her bionics but gives her night vision. Finally, after many years, the bionic couple get married.
Television shows like The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman still have a large fanbase of viewers who remember what it was like to sit down and enjoy family entertainment.
