LOS ANGELES — Her young fans thought it was a tragedy when ABC dropped "The Bionic Woman" a few months ago. But the star of the show, Lindsay Wagner, wasn't bothered a bit, "The producer said not to worry," said Lindsay, waving an airy hand. I wasn't. Besides, I was into
other things "
One other thing was a TV special, "Another Side of Me," with Lindsay as singer and dancer. She was filming that, she said, when the "Bionic" cancellation was announced. "Now if ABC had said 'Take back your special,' I'd have felt that was a personal affront," she said. As it was, she pointed out, ABC may not have wanted her as "The Bionic Woman" but their contract for a series of specials and other projects was firm.
Actually, NBC picked up the show within days of its being dropped by ABC. But the fact of its fall return hasn't quite penetrated young fans, who notice only that ABC isn't even doing reruns of the show. ABC is rerunning another senes it dropped, "Wonder Woman," that was pickedup by another network, CBS.
Why the difference' Why the cancellation in the first place? Lindsay Wagner isn't about to speculate on what happened. She spoke darkly of "political" machinations but then refused to amplify. She did think it strange that ABC's programming chief, Fred Silverman, said he ditched the two women — Bionic and Wonder — because "gimmick shows have no great staying power. In my opinion," he said, "the super-hero 'Bionic Woman,' 'Wonder Woman' cycle is coming to an end and when that happens, they die very quickly."
Silverman never has addressed the fact that ABC kept "The Six Million Dollar Man," another "super-hero" and "gimmick" show and one which has had troubles with its star, Lee Majors. Lindsay Wagner sees the change in networks as an advantage for "The Bionic Woman " For one thing, Steve Austin (Majors) will no longer be the man in Jaime Sommers life, "With Austin around, they were always afraid to get her involved with anyone else," said Lindsay. "That meant romantic stories were out and that cut off one facet of the series."
(Richard Anderson, as Oscar Goldman, boss of both the bionics, will continue to be ID both shows, a rare instance of an actor doing series for two networks at the same time).
But most important to Lindsay is that both she and Universal have had a chance to rest for a few months.
