Bionic Woman

The models of Deal or No Deal channeled their inner Bionic Women, performing their own version of Michelle Ryan and Katee Sackhoff’s famous rainy rooftop fight scene.  In a remarkable show of concentration, the models never slipped in their heels and never dropped the signature Deal or No Deal numbered cases.

The dialogue from the clip is word for word the dialogue from the Bionic Woman premiere, starting from Katee’s “Stop, Time Out” and going through the moment where Michelle completes the fight still standing.  While the models slap fight instead of hard punch, and they keep both feet on the ground instead of flying through the air on harnesses, it is still an entertaining spoof of the show.

It’s also a reminder of what the show could have been, as everything related to Bionic Woman tends to be.  Even with all of its flaws, the pilot still presented interested characters and a fascinating premise in the form of the frenemy relationship between Jaime Sommers and Sarah Corvus.

The two of them had the potential to embody the phrase “What does not kill you makes you stronger,” while the show could have explored some of the more intriguing and disturbing questions of our time.  The role of government subcontractors with blanket powers, the mystery of what is more powerful in the potential war between metaphysics or physics, the ongoing culture wars over what makes a “perfect woman” … Bionic Woman could have explored these questions, and many more.

But as I wrote the other day, that is what killed the show.  EVERYBODY saw the potential of Bionic Woman, but they all had a different idea of what the show should do to live up to their unique views and expectations.  And a show that tries to please everyone, like a person that tries to please everyone, is doomed to failure and will never please very many people at all.