Lindsay Wagner, who won an Emmy in the late 70s for her portrayal of Jamie Sommers in "the Bionic Woman," told Hollywood Joe Thursday night that she has seen the new NBC version starring Michelle Ryan and wasn't crazy about it.
"It's very different," she said at a Television Academy event. "It's very much like what the shows are today, kind of dark and broody and violent - what people seem to be getting off on these days. So, it's not at all what we were doing. We were doing a show for kids intentionally and making it fun and make it in such a way that adults could enjoy it too with their children. [The new show] is just a very different intention so I find it crazy that people try to compare it and 'This is better or that is better.' It's not the same thing at all. It's like, hello?"
I pipe in and say that the new bionic woman never tore a phone book in half in front of her class.
Says Wagner: "She doesn't have a class, she works at a bar (laughs)."
Wagner is seen (right) in scenes from "The Bionic Woman," a role she originated on "Six Million Dollar Man" in 1975 and played for three seasons on her own show. She reprised the role in television movies in 1987, 1989 and 1994.
Wagner is mostly visible these days in mattress commercials ("Well, I gotta put my kids through college") but she still occasionally acts, most recently in the 2006 films "Four Extraordinary Women" and "The Surfer King." She's appeared in approximately 50 television movies including some of my faves "The Incredible Journey of Dr. Meg Laurel," the TV remake of "I Want to Live" and the terrific "Callie and Son" which featured Michelle Pfeiffer in one of her earliest roles.
Wagner used to make far more films but has scaled back in recent times to focus on other things. But she's still open to a good role: "It would just have to be something that was so meaningful to me. I haven't quit acting."