As rumors swirl that Michelle Ryan may be the latest apple of Owen Wilson's eye, her freshman show Bionic Woman remains in limbo thanks to plummeting ratings and the ongoing writers' strike.  Despite its uncertain future however, one of the show's mainstays claims she is prepared to stick it out in case the series does manage to hang on for dear life.

Unless the writers' guild walkout is resolved soon, chances are dim that Bionic Woman will carry on.  The show was among the earliest to shut down work after the strike commenced five weeks ago.

The edgier, if not darker, remake of Bionic Woman may wind up yet another casualty of the ongoing writers' strike.  If the standoff between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers isn't resolved expeditiously, there may not be enough material to take the freshman series past January 2008.

According to industry personnel, between five to six American television shows are likely to be out of written scripts in the next couple of months.

There may be romance in the offing for the modernized Jaime Sommers, aka, the Bionic Woman.  This, according to the young woman herself, who essays the role of the mechanically enhanced bartender on today's remake of the `70s cult classic.

Michelle Ryan, who plays the new Sommers on the Bionic Woman, told The National Ledger that her onscreen persona may soon get the chance to see a different, more pleasant kind of action than her usual fare of battling unscrupulous forces.

Today's version of Bionic Woman, as much as the original series back in the `70s, relies quite heavily on the impact of its lead actress.  In the first Bionic Woman, the series actually came about as a result of audience response to Lindsay Wagner's portrayal of Jamie Sommers in a handful of episodes of its parent show, The Six Million Dollar Man.

In the modern retelling of the series, Michelle Ryan has taken the cudgels from Wagner, playing Jaime Sommers as a mechanically enhanced bartender.  Aside from Ryan, another strong female presence on the show is Katee Sackhoff, best known as daredevil starship captain, Kara "Starbuck" Thrace on a remake of another `70s classic, Battlestar Galactica.

Entertainment Weekly does lists all the time, and one of their latest is entitled “22 Butt-Kicking Babes”.  The list counts down, in order, the top 22 bad ass women of all-time in film and television.  The point of these lists is to incite discussion, which I understand, but I think that any TV fan is going to have some major qualms with some of the women put on the list and some who were left off.  Chuck's Yvonne Strahovski just barely made the list, pulling in at number 22 for her portrayal of CIA agent Sarah Walker.  Michelle Ryan hit up the list at number 15 as NBC's new Bionic Woman.  Shouldn't those two be given, I don't know, a full season before we anoint them two of the most “butt-kicking” women of all-time?  Aren't they jumping the gun a little bit?

The new Bionic Woman is so into her character that she simply embraces the entire experience, including all the demanding stunt work.  For her part, the original Jamie Sommers isn't exactly impressed with the reincarnation of the role she originated.

Michelle Ryan, who plays the mechanically enhanced bartender on the remake of the `70s classic, spoke to New York Magazine about executing as much of her Bionic Woman's physical chops as she can.  Meanwhile, Lindsay Wagner, who embodied the original Bionic Woman three decades ago, told the Los Angeles Daily News how she feels about the modernization of her flagship show.

NBC announced some good news for its quad of new dramas today, ordering three more scripts each for Chuck, Bionic Woman, Journeyman and Life.  While this is certainly great news for each of these series, it does not necessarily mean each show will be picked up for the full season.  It is, however, typically seen as a precursor to a full-season order.  Chuck and Bionic Woman are not big surprises here: both have received solid ratings, especially in the key demos.  Journeyman and Life getting re-upped is a bit of a shock, considering the declining ratings both dramas have received.  But, if NBC has proved anything over the last few years, it's that if they are confident in a show's creative direction, they will practice extreme patience.  FOX, NBC is not.  In related news, CBS ordered four additional episodes of the Jimmy Smits-led drama Cane.  Also, the CW commissioned three more scripts for their semi-controversial comedy Aliens in America. 

Bionic Woman "Sisterhood" kicks off with Jae teaching Jamie that she is capable of changing the programming within her, with practice. Transition to lunch with Becca, interrupted with a call to intercept a nearby terrorist. Jamie sends Becca off with a credit card so she can confront Mr. Badguy. She knocks him out in his car to await backup. The life of a Bionic Woman is never dull.