Bionic Woman star, Michelle Ryan, has admitted that she has given up on cracking America after her show was cancelled.

The 24-year-old told The Sun: “I don’t want to do another TV series in the States. I like my freedom to jump between jobs and travel and I couldn’t do that if I stayed over there.”

She admitted that she had taken a risk trying to make it in the US, saying: “They make thousands of pilots and maybe ten get commissioned . . . and maybe three are hits. Read more & comment »

Michelle Ryan’s first US TV show, Bionic Woman has been cancelled. While NBC haven’t officially confirmed it yet the show’s David Eick has admitted that the show is dead.

Eick, who also executive produces Battlestar Galactica, told Sci Fi Wire: “I just felt that the process was so frustrating, and the conditions under which we were making that show never really came to fruition in such a way that I felt like we could make the show well. The actress (Michelle Ryan) we found was wonderful. Some of the writing was good.”

“We just didn’t ever bring it all together like we did with Battlestar,” he continued. “At a certain point, when it becomes that frustrating, I think you’re better off to say, ‘Let’s try again another time,’ and let it go.”

Former Eastenders actress, Michelle Ryan, and The Bionic Woman have given digital TV channel, ITV2, its biggest rating figures ever!

The remake of the iconic 1970s show was watched by a peak of 2.4 million viewers.

The digital channel’s previous best was 1.9 million viewers for Footballers’ Wives: Extra Time in 2005.

ITV2 Controller Zai Bennett said: “Bionic Woman is a fantastic show and we are very excited that an audience of over two million viewers, our best ever audience, tuned in for last night’s show.

Makes you wonder why US networks are about to axe the show?

So I made a bit of time in my hectic TV schedule last night, (I know, it’s such a hard life!) to catch the first episode of The Bionic Woman on ITV2.

I wasn’t holding out much hope for the show, after it was slated by US TV critics and is apparently about to be axed by TV network NBC.

However I fully admit to being pleasantly surprised. Firstly by Michelle Ryan’s acting skills, she wasn’t half as wooden as I expected her to be, secondly by her American accent which was actually believeable, and thirdly by the plot and storyline of the show.

I was not the only person to enjoy the show last night, ‘C’ over at C’s Journal said:

I sat down to watch it, fully expecting to hate it because it was going to be a sad, second rate remake of the ’70’s show and it really wasn’t. It was well made, but not so high budget that it loses its characters to all the visual effects.

While Jamie Newton thought:

All in all, I was impressed with the show. I had been expecting it to be just like Virgin One’s TV adaptations (see above), but it turns out its more like Supernatural. I’m looking forward to next week’s episode.

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I said on the forum earlier that I was watching Bionic Woman tonight with my cynical head on.

Turns out I had nothing to worry about. Within the first 15 minutes they impressed me with the casting of Miguel Ferrer, the actor who played Robocop’s yuppie creator back in 1987. It was such a nice touch, linking two stories about damaged humans becoming cyborgs.

I was dreading Michelle Ryan faking an American accent and being generally lame as Jaime Sommers. She exonerated herself perfectly though. OK, maybe some of the fight scenes were a bit girly, with arms flailing everywhere. I fully expect more professional punching going on in future episodes!

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Former Eastenders actress Michelle Ryan appeared on This Morning today to chat about her show Bionic Woman which launches on ITV2 tonight.

In one part she admitted to kicking a stunt man so hard that he went flying through the set!

Fern Brittain said:

“Well you hurt an actor didn’t you when you were shooting, they said, “Kick this guy.” and you said, “Well if I kick him, my legs are really strong.” and they said “Oh that doesn’t matter”

Michelle laughed and admitted:

” I know, this was a stunt guy, and they love that, they really like it when you throw them across the room, that’s what they enjoy and I said, “Look if I do that, I’m gonna send him through the set, and I was like my flying kicks are pretty good and they were like, “No it’s fine.” and he literally went through the set.”

Michelle Ryan (Mansfield Park, Jekyll, EastEnders) is the BIONIC WOMAN in David Eick’s remake of the iconic seventies series.

Struggling as a bartender and surrogate mom to her teenage sister, Jaime Sommers (Michelle Ryan) didn’t think life could get much harder. But when a devastating car accident leaves her at death’s door, Jaime’s only hope for survival is a cutting-edge, top-secret technology that comes at a hefty price.

With a whole new existence and a debt to re-pay, Jaime must figure out how to use her extraordinary abilities for good – while weighing the personal sacrifices she will have to make. Ultimately, it’s Jaime’s journey of self-discovery and inner strength that will help her embrace her new life as the Bionic Woman in this new action-drama series. Read more & comment »

The Bionic Woman is due to kick off on ITV2 this Tuesday night, and star of the show, Michelle Ryan, the girl we know as Zoe Slater, reckons she could probably kick butt on the streets if need be following her rigorous training routine for the role of Jaime Sommers the Bionic Woman.

“Certainly when I was training regularly I think I could handle in a situation,” she laughs. “You’d have to think hard not to let on the moves you were going to make though or it would be a bit obvious.”

Michelle needed to learn a new form of exercise to prepare for the role of the Bionic Woman.

“Krav Maga is an Israeli martial art discipline with lots of spinning, flying kicks and using elbows and knees. It’s about learning how to disarm someone if they had a gun pointing at your head. There’s lots of street fighting. It’s really hardcore stuff. Read more & comment »