Saying Hello, And Goodbye
Lindsay Wagner brought the character Jaime Sommers to life on March 16th, 1975 in a two-part episode of the television series ‘The Six Million Dollar Man’. In an effort to combat sinking ratings and entice a female audience, Six Mil’s production team chose a temporary love interest as a plot-line. In the two-part episode entitled ‘The Bionic Woman’, Col. Steve Austin returns to his home town of Ojai, California where he is reunited with his high school sweetheart now tennis pro, Jaime Sommers. The rekindled romance is brought to hiatus when Jaime’s body is ravaged by a sky diving accident. After Steve pleads with the head of the Office of Scientific Intelligence, Oscar Goldman (played by Richard Anderson), Oscar agrees to make Jaime the worlds second bionic human, replacing both legs, her right arm, and her right ear, with groundbreaking bio-electronic prosthetics. In the end, Jaime’s body rejects the bionic replacements, and we are left with Steve saying goodbye to Jaime, dead on the operating table.
A Series Demanded, A Missing Actress
No one could have anticipated the public reaction to the death of Jaime Sommers. Letters came pouring into ABC in tsunami fashion expressing outrage. One letter, from a children’s hospital, explained the necessary trauma counseling the children were receiving as a result of Jaime's demise. It was easy to see that something had to be done, and the decision was reached that Jaime Sommers must somehow be resurrected. New-age cryogenic freeing kept Jaime safe while surgeons worked to repair and revive her, and Jaime was to be brought back to life in a second two part episode, ‘The Return of The Bionic Woman’. Universal Television would have to face one other hurdle however, Lindsay Wagner was gone. Portraying The Bionic Woman in the first two part episode was Lindsay’s last role while with Universal Television as a contract player. In fact, Wagner only did the show as a gift to her younger sister Randi, who was an avid fan of The Six Million Dollar Man. Other actresses were considered, but it was Lindsay Wagner that ABS executives wanted, and after landmark and record breaking contract negotiations, finally got.
Directional Choices & Television Firsts
Throughout its technical two and a half seasons, much of the storyline and script outcome was a direct result of Lindsay’s negotiations to portray The Bionic Woman. Jaime Sommers would not carry a gun, bionics were to be used for defensive measures against people only, and each episode needed to tell a story that people could learn from. But even the best intentions take their toll when starring in a series that shoots 7 days a week, and in the end Lindsay Wagner new it was time to move on. The final episode, ‘On the Run’, mirrors through Jaime Sommers Lindsay’s feelings at the time.
The Bionic Woman made television history by being the first show to actively participate with its parent show in crossover episodes on a regular basis. Along with this, Richard Anderson as Oscar Goldman, and Martin E. Brooks as Dr. Rudy Wells, became the first two actors to play the same character on two different TV shows full time, and in the end, on two different networks as well.
In 1994, in the third installment of the Bionic Reunion movies, ‘Bionic Ever After’, fans of both shows finally got their wish when Steve Austin and Jaime Sommers were wed. Fans continue to cherish both bionic superheroes, and new generations are finding great joy in discovering The Bionic Woman and The Six Million Dollar Man for the first time through the 2012 DVD releases.
