Bionic Woman (2007 TV series)
Bionic Woman is an American science fiction television drama that aired in 2007, which was created by David Eick, under NBC Universal Television Group, GEP Productions, and David Eick Productions. The series was a re-imagining of the original television series, "The Bionic Woman", created by Kenneth Johnson, which in turn was based upon the novel "Cyborg" by Martin Caidin and its TV adaptation "The Six Million Dollar Man", retaining its forebears' premise while taking on a more contemporary setting. David Eick also serves as executive producer alongside Laeta Kalogridis and Jason Smilovic. Production of the series was halted due to a strike by the Writers Guild of America causing only eight episodes to be aired. Following its failure to be included in the Fall 2008 schedule it was announced that the series was canceled as the result of low ratings.
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.