Bionic Woman's Dead; Michelle Ryan Makes UK TV Comeback

Following the shockingly quick deterioration and ultimate collapse of NBC's revival of the classic "Bionic Woman" series, former "EastEnders" star Michelle Ryan is back in Britain filming a new 2-part movie for ITV1.

Ryan stars in the comedy titled "Mr. Eleven" based on a study indicating that a number of British women settle down with their 11th partner.

Ryan's character is obsessed with the idea and eventually marries her 11th lover, only to discover by way of a confession from an old flame that he is in fact her 10th.



Sean Maguire ("Meet the Spartans") and Adam Garcia ("Coyote Ugly") co-star in the movie playing her love interests.



According to IMDB.com Ryan appeared in over 400 episodes of the popular British soap "EastEnders" which has recently been plagued with low ratings and backlash against its frequent use of violence.

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"Bionic Woman" Cancelled

TV Guide reports that NBC has put the re-imagined version of the cult TV classic "The Bionic Woman" out of its misery.

The Michelle Ryan fronted series premiered to very promising ratings last fall, only to fizzle out within 2 months.

The original series starring Lindsay Wagner, which aired from 1976 to 1978, launched on ABC as a spin-off of "The Six Million Dollar Man."

Although the series became a top-5 show in its first season, its ratings quickly dropped the following year and the show moved to NBC for a third and final season.

The re-imagined 2007 version premiered on NBC on September 26 with 13.59 million viewers tuning in. The pilot also managed to beat "Private Practice" and come out on top among adults 18-49.

The final all-new episode on November 28 however scored a mere 5.99 million and the fourth place in the 18-49 demo.

Ryan's lack of charisma, guest star Isaiah Washington, a depressing pilot and behind the scenes changes have all been blamed for the show's failure.

Last week the network announced its freshman dramas "Life" and "Chuck" would not be coming back with new episodes this spring, but would be renewed for a 2nd season.

Monday night drama "Journeyman" was axed by the network before Christmas.

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"Bionic Woman," "Big Shots" to Get Canceled?

According to TV Guide, there won't be new episodes of NBC's reimagined 2007 version of the cult classic "Bionic Woman" and ABC's Thursday night CEO drama "Big Shots" this spring and they are also not expected to return for the 2008/2009 season.

Some freshman shows like ABC's "Pushing Daisies," CBS' "Moonlight" or NBC's "Life" which showed quite a bit of potential when they launched last fall are expected to return in the fall with a 13-episode order.

The networks are not ready to shell out big bucks to promote their brief returns in the spring, since neither one of them is a blazing ratings success. But they are also hardly a failure, and they will be given a chance next year to continue to build their momentum. Shows like "Bionic Woman" or "Big Shots" however are not expected to get that chance.

NBC's "Bionic Woman" managed to pull off the same trick that made ABC's "Commander In Chief" one of the greatest failures in recent TV history. It started off as one of the strongest new shows this season capturing over 14 million viewers, only to see a massive chunk of that audience quickly abandon the show. It took "Chief" an entire season to do that - "Bionic Woman" however bled to 6 million in only 2 months.

ABC's "Big Shots," on the other hand, got one of the most most valued pieces of TV real estate - the lucrative post-Grey's Anatomy spot on Thursday nights at 10. For over two months, the show kept losing over half of its gigantic 18+ million lead-in audience, averaging 8-9 million viewers. The most recent episodes of the critically-panned series went further down to 5-6 million.

Other freshman series not expected to make the cut for the 2008/2009 season are CBS' "Cane" and NBC's "Journeyman." But since only CBS' mega-flop "Viva Laughlin" has been officially canceled thus far, keep an eye on the network announcements. It may be highly unlikely, but perhaps one of these shows might get a last-minute benefit of the doubt.

Click HERE to see my earlier post on the average season ratings of all new shows launched in the 2007/2008 TV season.

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Bionic Catfight

Last week, Roadrunner reported that not only was Katee Sackhoff done with NBC's "Bionic Woman," but she was "skating a fine line toward being rather unprofessional [while making insulting comments about co-star Michelle Ryan]." Is NBC rookie series toast?

According to the blogger, although Sackhoff was going to have a meeting with the producers this week, she doesn't expect to return to the show if it resumes production which seems somewhat unlikely given the show's poor Nielsen performance.

Roadrunner also reports the cast and crew managed to film 11 episodes prior to closing down production earlier this month, and the last episode may serve as the series finale, if necessary.

NBC has scheduled episode #108 of "The Bionic Woman" titled "Do Not Disturb" for this Wednesday, November 28. The show has averaged about 10 million viewers, but the most recent episodes could not pull in more than 6.5 million viewers.

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"Bionic Woman" Shut Down; Actors Suspended

Hollywood press reports the Vancouver-based production of NBC's "Bionic Woman" was quietly shut down last Friday, a month before the original wrap date due to the writers' strike. Meanwhile, NBC Universal is one of the first studios to unleash the "Force Majeure" contract clause suspending actors from "The Bionic Woman," "The Office" and "30 Rock."

Under the clause the studios can chose the following 3 options in the event of a "greater force" like the writers' strike:

A) Keep the actors at full salary

B) Suspend them for up to 5 weeks at half-salary and then chose A or C

C) Terminate the actors' contracts completely

That means NBC may have to make a decision about the fate of "The Bionic Woman" within the next 5 weeks.

The show which premiered to over 14 million viewers in September pulled in 6.3 million viewers in its most recent airing on Wednesday.

Next week "The Bionic Woman" is preempted by a 2-hour "Deal or No Deal" and may return on November 28 with episode #108.

TV Guide reports roughly 9 episodes have been filmed prior to production shutdown.

Next week, the studios may begin to exercise the "Force Majeure" option on writers, as well. Some of the writers who finally got their big break and only had their projects in the pipeline may be terminated completely.

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TV Ratings: "Bionic" Collapse (11/7/07)

Country Music Awards lifted ABC to almost 16 million viewers on Wednesday night, on a par with the awards show's 2006 performance. Meanwhile, it appears nothing can save NBC's "Bionic Woman" which plummeted to an all-time low of 6.44 million viewers. The show has now lost more than half of its debut audience.

ABC:
Country Music Awards (15.93 million)

CBS:
Kid Nation (7.16 million)
Criminal Minds (14.54 million)
CSI: NY (12.87 million)

NBC:
Phenomenon (6.10 million)
The Bionic Woman (6.44 million)
Life (6.41 million)

FOX:
Back to You (6.38 million)
Till Death (6.48 million)
Kitchen Nightmares (6.37 million)

The CW:
America's Next Top Model (5.07 million)
Gossip Girl (2.51 million)

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Bionic Problems

"Cane" producer Jason Cahill has stepped over to NBC's "Bionic Woman" as the showrunner replacing "Friday Night Lights" exec Jason Katims who took over from original producers Glen Morgan and Michael Dinner who left the series in the summer. Meanwhile, as the re-imagined sci-fi drama loses its Nilesen luster, some fans would argue that Katee Sackhoff is stealing all thunder right under bland star Michelle Ryan's nose.

There was an attempt to make the series, originally conceived as dark and brooding, fun and sexy instead. But the drama has encountered creative problems and they appear to have reflected upon the ratings. Last week's episode averaged only 8.5 million viewers, 37% below its promising debut. Can NBC salvage what appeared to be their only freshman hit?

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TV Ratings: "The Bionic Woman" Hits Series-Low (10/17/07)

Another day, another series-low. After premiering on September 26 to about 13.5 million viewers and scoring a strong 5.5 rating in the 18-49 demo, NBC's re-imagined update of sci-fi TV classic "The Bionic Woman" hit series low last night with only 8.52 million viewers and a 3.3 rating in the demo. Meanwhile, crime still pays off for CBS.

ABC Wednesday went a bit down. "Pushing Daisies" fell below 10 million viewers but remained #1 in the key demo. "Private Practice" lost half a rating point among adults 18-49 (4.8 vs. 4.3). "Dirty Sexy Money" held steady.

FOX's rookie comedy "Back to You" went up 350,000, while its lead-out "Till Death" (surprisingly) managed to exceed those numbers. Meanwhile, recently renewed "Gossip Girl" as well as NBC's 10pm drama "Life" lost almost half a million viewers each.

ABC:
Pushing Daisies (9.75 million)
Private Practice (11.81 million)
Dirty Sexy Money (8.83 million)

CBS:
Kid Nation (7.41 million)
Criminal Minds (14.87 million)
CSI: NY (13.86 million)

NBC:
Deal or No Deal (12.29 million)
The Bionic Woman (8.52 million)
Life (7.66 million)

FOX:
Back to You (6.91 million)
Till Death (6.98 million)
Kitchen Nightmares (6.88 million)

The CW:
America's Next Top Model (4.97 million)
Gossip Girl (2.42 million)

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"Cane" & NBC Shows Get Script Ordrers

Script orders may not necessarily be full-season pick-ups yet, but they are definitely a step in the right direction. Suddenly there is hope for CBS' Florida-based sudser "Cane," The CW's freshman comedy "Aliens in America" and all four NBC dramas "Chuck," "Journeyman," "The Bionic Woman" and "Life."

The writers of all of these shows were asked to come up with three additional scripts, except for "Cane" where CBS ordered 4 scripts.

It is not unusual for networks to order additional scripts when they see a potential in a series.

Before they make the final decision whether to give a show a full season pick-up or not, they networks can see in which direction the show will be going creatively.

This year the networks are also eager to have scripts on hand due to the increasingly likely November 1 writer's strike.

Only one freshman network series has received a full season renewal thus far - The CW ordered additional 9 episodes of "Gossip Girl" on Tuesday.

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Top-5 New TV Shows This Season (TV Ratings)

Which 5 shows got the hottest ratings during the premiere week and, if all goes well, may escape the cancellation button and get full season renewal?

It is, of course, a tad too early to make assumptions about full season renewals. First of all, the networks are still waiting to hear the numbers for the delayed DVR viewing.

The penetration of DVRs in the US has increased from a little over 9% to almost 20% in only one year, so that may have a significant impact on the final ratings numbers.

Second, many of the freshman shows are known to decrease dramatically in their second week following the initial sampling of the pilot episode (as FOX's "K-Ville" and "Back To You" as well as The CW's "Gossip Girl," which all premiered a week early, can confirm).

But, just to get some idea of what the viewers wanted to watch the most during the first official week of the new TV season, here are the top-5:

1. The Bionic Woman (NBC): 5.5 rating
2. Private Practice (ABC): 5.1
3. Life (NBC): 4.1
4. The Big Bang Theory (CBS): 3.7
5. Chuck (NBC) and
Dirty Sexy Money (ABC): 3.6 each

The chart is based upon ratings in the 18-49 demo, the one which is normally the most important to advertisers.

In total viewers, "Private Practice" is the #1 new show with 14.41 million viewers, while "The Bionic Woman" scored 13.91 million (final Wednesday data).

Personally, I am somewhat appalled by the surprisingly strong results for the critically-panned (for good reason) NBC drama "Life." Then again, stranger things have happened on TV.

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Bionic Isaiah

Shamed "Grey's Anatomy" actor Isaiah Washington who shot himself in the foot at the Golden Globe Awards in January is, as you know, getting his second chance on NBC's "Bionic Woman" this fall. The network has now released stills from the October 3 episode "Birds" in which he makes his first appearance.



According to USA Today, Isaiah's character is called Antonio Pope and he will be one of Jamie's (EastEnders babe Michelle Ryan) advisers. Unlike Jae (Will Yun Lee), Antonio tries to persuade Jamie to give into the machine within, because her human side is what is weak. Washington is, for the time being, scheduled to appear in 5 episodes.

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"Bionic Woman" Gets Top Buzz

NBC's re-imagined version of the classic 1970s series "The Bionic Woman" and ABC's critically-blasted comedy "Cavemen" received the highest score in viewer buzz, awareness and intent to watch, according to a new study by TV Dailies.

Last year many had believed NBC's series about ordinary people with extraordinary powers entitled "Heroes" would flop, but the rookie drama quickly became one of last season's biggest success stories, and buzz-meters accurately predicted that.

This year, the spotlight is on the Michelle Ryan-fronted sci-fi drama "The Bionic Woman," ABC's silly comedy "Cavemen" and, get this - CBS' new reality series "Kid Nation" that took Jericho's spot on Wednesday nights.



ABC's quirky drama "Pushing Daisies" was fourth on the awareness list, followed by CBS drama "Cane," Fox reality show "Next Great American Band," Fox drama "K-Ville," NBC drama "Journeyman," and CBS sitcom, "The Big Bang Theory."

As many as 3 shows tied for the last place on the chart - CW dramedy "Reaper," CW drama "Gossip Girl," and NBC comedy "Chuck," keeping new ABC shows such as "Private Practice," "Dirty Sexy Money" and "Cashmere Mafia" off the list.

The buzz and the intent to watch lists are very similar with "Private Practice" appearing at the fifth place on the buzz chart and FOX's new reality show from Gordon Ramsay "Kitchen Nightmares" on the 4th place of the intent to watch list.



Many of these shows have been panned by the critics including ABC 's highly-positioned "Cavemen" which some industry analysts even expect to be the first fall show to get canceled.

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Isaiah Washington Goes Bionic

The scandalous firing of "Grey's Anatomy" star Isaiah Washington will have a repercussion we didn't see coming. That superpowered "Bionic Woman" Jamie (Michelle Ryan) may have to kick his ass.

NBC is expected to announce today that Washington will join its high-profile remake of the classic 1970s sci-fi drama for at least 5 episodes. Washington has allegedly also pitched an action drama to the network for its 2008-2009 season.

USA Today reports the actor will play an outsider with a mysterious agenda and may help Jamie or turn against her.


NBC had already been tied to Washington's name last month when rumor had it the actor, who had just finished his Anger Management Media Tour with a pre-taped appearance on Larry King (Not That) LIVE, would join its veteran drama "Law & Order."

So, let's see... Since he took over NBC, the new president Ben Silverman resurrected "The Apprentice" and hired Isaiah Washington. I wonder if canceling "Friday Night Lights" is next on his agenda. Is this really the man who helped create "Ugly Betty"?

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New NBC Shows: "The Bionic Woman"

The "re-imagined" update of the 1970s classic TV series from the creator of "Battlestar Galactica."

Struggling as a bartender and surrogate mom to her teenage sister, Jaime Sommers (Michelle Ryan, "EastEnders") didn't think life could get much harder.



But when a devastating car accident leaves her at death's door, Jaime's only hope for survival is a cutting-edge, top-secret technology that comes at a hefty price.

With a whole new existence and a debt to re-pay, Jaime must figure out how to use her extraordinary abilities for good, while weighing the personal sacrifices she will have to make.




Ultimately, it's Jaime's journey of self-discovery and inner strength that will help her embrace her new life as the Bionic Woman.

Bottom line: This show would do wonders on cable. Can it carry the night on broadcast TV, though?

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Hot NBC Pilots

Picking the right pilots and putting them into the right place on the schedule is essential to success of every broadcast network, but this year it is hardly as crucial for any of the big four as it is for NBC which has recently dropped to all-time lows.

The General Electric-owned network which once ruled the airwaves with their Nielsen-smashing line-up of hit shows including Must-See TV Thursdays has hit rock bottom and is desperate for a hit.

Although the management seemed confident with their slate of high quality dramas last fall and kept saying they were "one hit away" from being back in business, all of their freshman series bombed including the midseason entries.

The network's sole success story is of course Monday night genre drama "Heroes" which stood out as the highest rated new show on all networks last fall. Recently, however, the drama has lost almost one third of that audience.

So what NBC pilots are getting most of the buzz this spring and may help the Peacock network reverse its fortunes?

One of the pilots which insiders believe is a 'slam dunk' is of course "Lipstick Jungle," NBC's entry into the prime-time soap opera business.

The drama is based on the best-selling book by Candace Bushnell ("Sex and the City") and follows three high-powered friends as they weather the ups and downs of lives lived at the top of their game.

As NBC says, these women are not looking for Mr. Big. They ARE Mr. Big. Leading the cast is of course the lovely Brooke Shields, with Kim Raver ("24") and Lindsay Price ("90210") playing her best friends.



The network's "re-imagined" remake of the classic hit "The Bionic Woman" starring sexy British actress Michelle Ryan (pictured above) as Jaime Sommers is one of the dramas being considered to fill the Mondays at 10 p.m. post-"Heroes" slot next season.


Also hot on the NBC radar is "Journeyman" starring Kevin McKidd as a man traveling into the past with a purpose – impacting people's lives for the better – and sometimes the worse and trying to reconnect with his ex-fiancée whom he lost in a mysterious plane crash.



"Chuck" from "The O.C." creator Josh Schwartz is a pilot about your average computer-whiz-next-door (Zachary Levi) whose old friend, a CIA agent, sends him an encoded email embedding world's greatest spy secrets into his brain.

Chuck becomes the government's most powerful weapon, with international terrorist plots, sexy spies and cold pizza – all just a click away.

Detective series "Winters" starring former Bond-girl Famke Jannsen; as well as comedies "Lipshitz Saves the World" about a super-hero 17-year old starring Leslie Nielsen, Jenny McCarthy and Dr. Ruth; "Business Class" about a relentless salesman starring Mark Valley; and "The I.T. Crowd" about a couple of computer nerds may also get a shot.

NBC will be the first network to reveal its new schedule on Monday, May 14 at 3:00 p.m. EST at the Radio City Music Hall in New York.

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