Bionic Woman

Bionic Woman’s premiere scored record ratings for ITV2 this week, as Michelle Ryan’s butt kicking babe helped the niche channel score the biggest audience of the channel’s history.  According to Variety, show gathered 2.2 million viewers, over six times the channel’s average (other sources are reporting numbers that are as high as 2.4 million viewers).

Bionic Woman started off strong in the United States as well, when over 13 million viewers tuned in for the premiere and made the show the most-watched new show of the fall in key demographics.  Then high turnover and last minute changes created shaky story lines and a lack of cohesion, and ratings suffered as the show stumbled around looking for a new direction.

Still, the huge increase in viewers for niche channel ITV2 is great news for Bionic Woman, as the British press has not been shy about reporting that BW has been canceled even when there is no official word from NBC.  For the show to pull the channel’s best audience in history, even as the full episode is available in various places on the Internet (such as hulu.com) is a huge accomplishment.

Bionic Woman beat the channel’s previous high, a showing of Footballer’s Wives: Extra Time in 2005 that was watched by 1.9 million viewers.  Footballer’s Wives was a swift-moving soap with scandalous storylines that generated a rabid following.  The show’s highest premiere before Bionic Woman was last year’s Diary of a Secret Call Girl which debuted 1.8 million viewers.  

ITV2 is a growing power in the U.K. television market, and a second home for many American shows looking to find an American audience.  The channel already shows popular U.S. niche fare such as Entourage and Supernatural, shows with small but strong audiences on their home channels that enjoy expanded audiences through the Internet and on DVD.

Bionic Woman, episode 1.07 “Trust Issues” originally aired in the United States on November 14, 2007 9 EST.  While it was one of the better episodes, it could have been better.   Unfortunately, the show’s good will is running out with viewers as fewer and fewer are tuning in each week. 

Michael Hinman at SyFy Portal reports:

The NBC remake which was supposed to lead the network’s fall schedule could be a casualty by the end of the year after Wednesday’s outing pulled in a 4.0 rating/7 share, according to Fast National ratings from Nielsen Media Research. It beat only “Gossip Girl” on The CW, and was pounded by “Criminal Minds” on CBS, “Private Practice” on ABC, and even “Kitchen Nightmares” on Fox.

…

Fast Nationals usually provide a snapshot of what Americans are watching by pulling numbers from the top urban markets that includes both live viewing and same-day timeshifted viewing. A rating point generally represents more than 1.1 million households while the share indicates the percentage of televisions turned on that was tuned to the specific program. These numbers typically shift when final ratings are issued.

We still need to see what the PVR numbers are for the show, which has been adding about 15% more viewers to the total, but even at that, the ratings for BW should be much better.  Which is to say, the show should be much better.  The viewers were initially there, but the poor writing and disjointed character development have left fans scratching their heads, and turning the channel.

Jaime Sommers is in trouble, or more specifically her ratings are. And I hate hate hate that this has become the talking point about Bionic Woman on all of these blogs! You can spin anything, and unfortunately the spin on BW’s ratings has been bad bad bad for weeks now … even when the ratings were higher than other shows that were getting “good ratings” articles. Now that the ratings really are really bad, all of the talk leading up to now will make it even harder for the show to recover.

Not saying that the show does not deserve to be slammed a bit. Or a lot. We all know it has issues, and even when it is good it is still uneven at times. But they have been through three show runners, and even when it is bad Bionic Woman is still a damn good time. Now that the show is finally getting stable, and the cast is perking up thanks to the addition of sexy Jordan Bridges, things are set up to get really good. I am looking forward to what happens next, and really hoping all of the doom & gloom hype is wrong and the show does not get canceled.

But I may be one of the few who has not given up hope … especially when it seems that some bloggers are almost rooting for the show to go off the air. Not to say folks are not entitled to their opinion, but give the show a chance folks. Television bloggers are a bit like cattle in a way, whichever way the stampede is going we usually go that way too … easier to stick with the herd. This week the herd is shouting doom and gloom, and it is depressing as hell.

But hopefully the herd will change direction. Thanks to Jim & Roco over on Bionic Blog for reminding me that Bionic Woman news tends to change as often as the weather. A couple weeks ago the spin was all about how show was on the rebound, remember? A new person was taking over and new episodes had been ordered, things were looking up, etc. With the writers strike everything is doom and gloom this week anyway … but additional Bionic Woman episodes were ordered a while back, so there is still time and hope for BW and its ratings, and related the spin, to turn around.

It’s no secret that I have been extremely disappointed with Bionic Woman.  The show has been mediocre at best and unfortunately, poor casting decisions, the inability to  keep an executive producer,and the unevenness of the characters have had a negative effect on the ratings.  Sadly, Bionic Woman is losing viewers faster than Isaiah Washington loses gay friends.  Via Syfyportal:

I really hope the current writer’s strike doesn’t cause more harm than BW has already inflicted on itself.  It would be a shame to see the demise of BW sooner than the 5 year shelf life the writers gave her by making the bionics only last that long.

Usually people think of David Eick’s other show, Battlestar Galactica, when they talk about timely topics on television. But Paul Krugman of the New York Times thinks Bionic Woman is also a reflection of modern times, based on his recent comments:

Bionic Blackwater

After a hard day’s teaching, a guy’s gotta flake out a little. So I watched Bionic Woman last night — and found myself thinking about, yes, privatization.

I’m pretty sure the original, 1970s Bionic Woman worked for a government agency. But this version works for a private contractor - she even gets assigned to protect the daughter of a tycoon who gives the company a lot of business. Yet this private company seems to be empowered to go around killing people. And nobody seems to consider this at all unusual, or legally dubious.

I guess TV writers just pick up on the Zeitgeist.

A lot of people are hollering doom and gloom about Bionic Woman’s ratings right now, but it is still one of the top twenty-five shows on television and the top new show on NBC. According to a list up on Televisionista.com, Bionic Woman’s ratings are better than The Office, My Name is Earl, Deal or No Deal, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Law & Order: SVU and a host of other television staples.

Roco at Bionic-Blog articulates many fans fantasies about the palpable sexual tension between Jaime Sommers and Sarah Corvus playing out on screen … perhaps as a ratings boosting kiss for sweeps week?

Remote Access describes what a lot of fans are feeling after the first month of Bionic Woman: they are not giving up yet, but they have not gotten addicted yet either. Ryan McGee agrees that it is too soon to give up, and continues to be optimistic abut the show’s future in spite of three out of four sub-par set up episodes.

Head over to Pink Raygun to check out their Battle of the Bionic Women, a series that pits the classic show against the modern version point by point.

And last but not least, Entertainment Weekly ranked Michelle Ryan’s Jaime Sommers number 12 on their list of 22 Butt Kicking Babes. Jaime’s in good company with spygirl Sarah Walker from Chuck, modern day thrill seekers Charlie’s Angels, River Tam from Firefly & Serenity, Trinity from The Matrix, and Sarah Connor from The Terminator. Interestingly enough, Katee Sackhoff’s Kara “Starbuck” Thrace from Battlestar Galactica apparently kicks more butt than Jaime because she makes the list at Number Four. Number One on the Butt Kicking Babes list is the ferocious Ellen Ripley, played by Sigourney Weaver in the Alien movies. You’d better get away from her, you bitches!

Bionic Woman, NBC, ratings, Blackwater, episode, Sarah Corvus, Jaime Sommers, Charlie’s Angels, River Tam, Firefly, Serenity, Chuck, Sarah Connor, Alien, Sigourney Weaver, Katee Sackhoff, Starbuck, Battlestar Galactica

Slate finds Katee Sackhoff to be the best villain on T.V.Roco at Bionic-blog likes what he sees.

Margie liked the episode but found it a little too fast paced.

Ryan found Katee Sackhoff the best part of the episode.

Bob Sassone at TVBuddy.com thinks too much happens in the first 15 minutes.

Gillian Flynn of Entertainment Weekly hated the contrived scene with the little girl almost as much as I did, but gives the episode a B.

Tim Goodman of SF Gate is lukewarm, but he’ll give it a couple of my episodes.

James Poniewozik over at Time.com wishes for a better show, but has faith Eick and Co. can turn it around.

G. Arnold at Blogcritics.org liked the high quality production value of the pilot and thinks it’s got potential.

Adam Buckman of the NYPost found the pilot cliched and so depressing he wanted to slash his wrists.

Mathew Gilbert of the Boston Globe found the pilot sleekly engaging.

Besides Adam Buckman of the NYPost, most critics liked the pilot, but do hope for some improvement. 

Jamie Sommers kicked Addison Montgomery Sheppard’s booty last night, as Bionic Woman beat Private Practice in the coveted advertising demographics and won the time slot according to overnight ratings reports.

Media people tabbed Bionic Woman as either a potential breakout or a potential bomb, but few probably expected it to do what it did last night. The NBC drama’s premiere outdrew the debut of ABC’s highly anticipated Grey’s Anatomy spinoff Private Practice and nearly boosted NBC to No. 1 on a night where it has long struggled.

Media Life Magazine states that this makes Bionic Woman the highest rated new show of the premiere season to date, and Variety points out Bionic Woman had the highest rated Wednesday premiere on NBC since the Josiah Bartlett entered The West Wing in 1999!

Many people had speculated about how the Bionic ratings showdown would play out, since Private Practice is a spin-off of ratings juggernaut Grey’s Anatomy. But not only did Bionic Woman win the hour, the show actually built its numbers during the superior second half while the doctor drama lost viewers. This momentum allowed the show to be a solid lead for Life, which also won its time slot (much to the surprise of media critics and advertising buyers). ABC still won the evening thanks to the reality superstar that is Dancing With the Stars, but Bionic Woman’s performance is a huge coup for the Peacock Network.

It can take as long as two weeks for the actual numbers to shake out, as it takes longer to gather ratings information from DVRs, TiVos, online viewings, and other sources. Bionic Woman has been available for viewing since September 10, so the actual number of people who have seen the pilot are much higher than the ratings indicate.

This is great, great news for Bionic Woman’s cast and crew, and especially for Bionic Woman fans! Just as Jamie stands strong in this photo, which was taken for the television preview in Entertainment Weekly, the show indicates strong “entertainment value” for its investors and that is great news for the longevity of Bionic Woman.

Bionic Woman, Private Practice, ratings, NBC, ABC, Grey’s Anatomy, Addison Montgomery Sheppard, Jamie Sommers, Life, Dancing With the Stars, West Wing

Bionic Woman tops the list of new shows that viewers intend to watch this fall, and is second on viewers’ radar in terms of buzz, according to TV Dailies.

TV Dailies is a market watch company that tracks pre-premiere metrics via online polling, and the news has generated even more buzz for BW. This is good news for early Bionic Woman fans, although any Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip fan will remind you that early buzz does not always equal big ratings.

Bionic Woman, TV Dailies, buzz, polling, Studio 60