The Six Million Dollar Man
The Return of the Bionic Woman (1)
TV Flash files “The Return of the Bionic Woman (1)” as a desk essential hour — The Six Million Dollar Man (1974–1978) on ABC, season 3, episode 1, aired 1975-09-14, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S03E01: listed hour 36 of 101 in the The Six Million Dollar Man guide, first listed hour of season 3. It aired 1975-09-14 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Steve Austin, Fugitive” (S02E22). Next is “The Return of the Bionic Woman (2)” (S03E02).
Essential hour: “The Return of the Bionic Woman (1)”. The Return of the Bionic Woman (1) is the franchise door opening. Jaime Sommers waiting in the wings becomes a series argument: the cyborg template about to split in two.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Steve Austin's bionic legs are heavily damaged during a mission and while recuperating at Dr. Rudy Wells' hospital, he catches a glimpse of his fiancée, Jaime Sommers, still alive but recuperating. It turns out Well's assistant Michael Marchetti used experimental cryogenics to preserve Sommers and nurse her back to health. However, owing to some slight brain damage, Jaime no longer remembers anything about her past life.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Return of the Bionic Woman (1) sit in the The Six Million Dollar Man guide?
S03E01 is listed hour 36 of 101 — first listed hour of season 3, season 3 episode 1.
When did The Six Million Dollar Man S03E01 air?
The Return of the Bionic Woman (1) aired 1975-09-14 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Do I need the Cyborg novel first?
No. The ABC series is the pop version of Martin Caidin's book. The rebuild monologue and slow-mo action are the television language.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Lee Majors's Steve Austin gets rebuilt better, stronger, faster, and slow-motion sound design becomes a national language. Martin Caidin's Cyborg as ABC family-hour cyborg adventure, Oscar Goldman handing missions, Jaime Sommers waiting in the wings. Bionic franchise origin, merch included.
We can rebuild him — better, stronger, faster — and the rebuild monologue is still the series' real opening credit. Lee Majors's Steve Austin, a barely surviving astronaut turned bionic federal operative, slow-mo'd through ABC's The Six Million Dollar Man (1974–1978), from Martin Caidin's novel Cyborg, for five seasons and 101 hours. Kenneth Johnson's high-concept action made telescopic zoom vision and distinctive sound design a kids' gateway. Richard Anderson's Oscar Goldman handed OSI missions; Martin E.…
Filed against
- Lee Majors as Col. Steve Austin
Lee Majors’s Col. Steve Austin made The Six Million Dollar Man a national slow-motion language — 1970s catalog cyborg adventure, better-stronger-faster as a family-hour religion. The Bionic Woman and The Fall Guy kept the jawline in…
- Richard Anderson as Oscar Goldman
Richard Anderson’s Oscar Goldman handed the missions on The Six Million Dollar Man and kept the clipboard when The Bionic Woman stood alone — OSI as a two-show office, slow-mo as a national language. Lee Majors rebuilt; Lindsay Wagner…
- Martin E. Brooks as Dr. Rudy Wells
Martin E. Brooks’s Dr. Rudy Wells rebuilt the franchise from the lab bench — Steve Austin’s slow-mo origin on The Six Million Dollar Man, then Jaime Sommers’s stand-alone Bionic Woman hour. Oscar Goldman hands the missions; Wells hands…
- Lindsay Wagner as Jaime Sommers
Lindsay Wagner’s Jaime Sommers flipped The Six Million Dollar Man’s template into The Bionic Woman — tennis pro, federal agent, slow-mo franchise that stood alone in ratings and merch. Warmth, steel, family-hour cyborg adventure with its…