The Six Million Dollar Man
Dead Ringer
TV Flash files “Dead Ringer” as hour 98 of 101 in the TV Flash guide — The Six Million Dollar Man (1974–1978) on ABC, season 5, episode 18, aired 1978-02-13, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S05E18: listed hour 98 of 101 in the The Six Million Dollar Man guide, hour 18 of 21 in season 5. It aired 1978-02-13 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “The Madonna Caper” (S05E17). Next is “Date With Danger (1)” (S05E19).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Steve Austin is lead to believe through accidents and a psychologist (Margaret) that his spirit has left his body at a previous point in time when he died from the crash that lead to his bionics. Furthering this spiritual belief involves an office explosion, a seance, a spiritually possessed woman who tries to kill Steve with a fireplace poker, a car that drives itself and multiple ghost like appearances resembling Steve Austin. The plot thickens as Oscar informs Steve that two Russians are in town bent on capturing him, dead or alive, wanting the technology of his bionics. Soon Margaret vanishes in the woods when the ghost reappears and Steve runs to her rescue. All is revealed at a convergence at a cabin in the woods.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Dead Ringer sit in the The Six Million Dollar Man guide?
S05E18 is listed hour 98 of 101 — hour 18 of 21 in season 5, season 5 episode 18.
When did The Six Million Dollar Man S05E18 air?
Dead Ringer aired 1978-02-13 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…