Jan 4, 2015
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John returns with another Critical Assignment as he is joined by
Jim Sherrard, Betsy Dodd (The Bionic Blonde), and Rod De Luca to
give our listeners a little preview of The
Bionic Woman before
John and Paul review the series. What should the two consider
when it comes to reviewing this show? What episodes, besides
the iconic ones, should the two look out for in terms of good or
bad? What memories are there when it comes to this series?
It's a little primer to get us all excited for the next phase
of Cyborgs:
A Bionic Podcast.
James Sherrard is
a first generation fan of The
Six Million Dollar Man and The
Bionic Woman. A
collector of all things Bionic as a child, his interest in the
shows was reignited when the first Bionic reunion movie was
produced in 1987. The
following year he met stars Lindsay Wagner and Richard Anderson for
the first time through Lindsay Wagner’s Official Fan
Club.
In 1998, James reworked the Bionic Woman episode guide booklet that
he had produced for the club into The Bionic Woman Files
website…the longest running Bionic Woman site on the
web!
Over the years, James has contributed his Bionic knowledge to
various books, articles, websites, and television
productions. He has also amassed an amazing collection of
Bionic memorabilia, from common toys to one-of-a-kind production
items. Most
recently, James has contributed to the 2010 DVD releases
of The
Bionic Woman Season One and The
Six Million Dollar Man: The Complete
Collection. James
resides in New York where he is employed by a non-profit
organization.
From Betsy
Dodd's
page:
Growing up in a one-TV household, I had 3 brothers who surrounded
me in age—who often teased me for being a “sissy”—and who usually
controlled the voting majority for which channel to watch. Back in
the 70s, our whirling TV dial was pretty much destroyed because we
fought over it so often. One night while the substitute pliers were
pointed to their choice of The Six Million Dollar Man(again),
suddenly there was OMG ...cue angelic chorus... Jaime Sommers, the
world’s first Bionic Woman. Yes!!! Score one for us sissies! I was
totally hooked. And the love story between Jaime and Steve was the
best. Ever. But then they killed her the following
week.
Why did I idolize Jaime Sommers so much? Just as the final
season was being released on DVD in the fall of 2011, I stumbled
onto some internet bionic fan forums and started posting these
offbeat episode reviews.
I’m not sure, but when some members encouraged me to go start my
own blog, I think it may have been the equivalent of being politely
shunned by the Bionic Amish community— puritans of the franchise.
(Really, I’m kidding. They’re all fun people and super nice. And
they even let me use electricity to sign onto the internet.) Once
about ten years ago, I belonged to an online fan “cult” that was
framed in a similar style of farcical humor about The X-Files, so
to me, this is all a completely normal approach to a television
drama.
These days, I am a freelance copywriter, graphic designer and video
editor living in Tennessee. No, I am not a blonde, but I am
threatening to become one soon if these little gray hairs don’t
stop surfacing. I must confess I also did not actually keep a diary
in the 70s, but wish now that I had, so I could remember the real
reason why I missed so many episodes of my favorite 70s show. For
now, I’m blaming my brothers. For
everything.