Bionic Woman (2007 TV series)
Since the rights to the novel "Cyborg" by Martin Caidin were held by other parties, the new series excluded any overt elements from it (although it did not prevent the writers from giving Jaime elements of bionics from the original novel, such as a bionic eye). This was the same for the character Steve Austin from the "Six Million Dollar Man", of which the original "The Bionic Woman" was a spin-off. Neither Kenneth Johnson nor Martin Caidin received screen credit on the new series, where they did in the original "Bionic Woman". Johnson has confirmed on his website that he had no involvement with the new "Bionic Woman" series. Lindsay Wagner, the original Bionic Woman, also played no part in the new series. Wagner said, "On a technical level, it was very good, but I don't think they understood the show. It was steeped in that old-school thinking. It was like a lot of things today, angry and dark."
Michelle Ryan
In February 2007, it was announced that she had been cast as the lead in the new drama "Bionic Woman". The series began airing in the United States on the broadcast network NBC in September 2007. Ryan affected an American accent for the role of Jaime Sommers, except in the episode "The Education of Jaime Sommers" in which her character goes undercover as an English transfer student at a university; for this episode, she spoke in an Oxfordshire accent instead of her natural London accent. She has had professional dance training and attributed it to helping her with the physically demanding stunts required for the show. She also learned Krav Maga and sign language for the part (the latter because, as originally conceived, Ryan's character was to have had a hearing impaired sister, but this story element was abandoned). Ryan stated the show's cancellation came about because it kept changing direction, and stated it led to her being less ambitious about her career. "I'm more go-with-the-flow now", she said.