Looks as if The Bionic Woman will be making its Blu-Ray debut on 8/30/2022 according to TV Shows on DVD's forum...details below. (1 Viewer)

[ScottRE]

Well, since the crossover episodes from Six Million Dollar Man are also include the episode count is over 60.

At four episodes a disc, that could be 16 discs just for episodes. As a 70's era show, the episodes would usually be over 50 minutes. Then you have 3 reunion movies and bonus features. Eighteen discs isn't inconceivable.

EDIT: I literally merely rewrote your above post and didn't realize it until like 12 hours later. So never mind. Reading is Fundamental... Weird, for some reason your point about the reunions didn't register. Oy.

 

[brynmill]

I've never heard that Mission: Impossible was taped only filmed then edited-on-tape.

The 1988-89 certainly LOOKS like it was videotaped on the DVD release (and the UK TV broadcasts of it). It looked horrible visually.

 

[Wiseguy]

The 1988-89 certainly LOOKS like it was videotaped on the DVD release (and the UK TV broadcasts of it). It looked horrible visually.

Looks because it was edited on tape.

 

[DarkVader]

Well, for one thing she was a superior actor. She won an Emmy for best dramatic actress in a science fiction show. Nominated the year before as well. That’s hard to do especially in 1977 She was also the first woman to front an hour long dramatic series. She and her manager Ron Samuels negotiated the sweetest deal at the time getting her 35k an episode and pretty much took the Universal Tower for all the money they could get. And the writers knew how to write for her, Doomday is Tomorrow and Deadly Ringer are 2 of the most well constructed examples of episodic television from that era. Lindsey is extremely likable in the role and brought depth and humanity to any otherwise wooden genre.

Ron Samuels...that's a name I haven't heard in a long time. He was one lucky guy in the '70s: he managed Lindsay and was married to (and also managed) Lynda Carter.

I am very much looking forward to this and the 6 Mil Man set.

 

[Sega]

I will keep what I have. No need for the upgrade on this set for me.

 

[Sam Favate]

One thing that surprised me when I rewatched this series and SMDM on DVD about 10-12 years ago: I found I liked many of the BW episodes better.

 

[Sega]

Have you seen the price they have on it!
PASS. $127. No thanks.
When it gets to the $75.00 are so.
I will check into it. But $127.00 No thank you.
I will really keep what I have.

 

[brynmill]

Looks because it was edited on tape.

Why was it released on DVD like that (and given to broadcast tv channels)

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Why was it released on DVD like that (and given to broadcast tv channels)

Beats me, but I've seen problems like this before. On the MeTV 'oldies' channel, episodes of The Dick Van Dyke Show and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century often (to my eye) have the "shot on tape" look to them, but I know for a fact that both show were shot (and edited) on film. Also, on the AntennaTV oldies channel, a handful of the Johnny Carson reruns have the jerky "shot on film" look to them, but that's the flipside of the same coin: the show was shot (and edited) on NTSC videotape, but for whatever reason, took on the jerkiness of film for an episode or two on the reruns.

Probably a "frame-rate" problem, either with the recordings provided to the network(s), or a problem during playback at the networks themselves.

As for DVD releases, a similar thing happened to the Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In boxset from Time-Life: the show was shot on (and edited on) NTSC videotape, but the Time-Life DVDs either do not play at the correct frame rate or have been de-interlaced, because the fluid "live" look of video is missing on those DVDs, despite the fact that earlier DVDs issued by Rhino (and TV broadcasts on TrioTV) retained the original shot-on-tape look.

 

[Sam Favate]

Is there word on whether the audio problems on several episodes are fixed?

 

[Wiseguy]

Why was it released on DVD like that (and given to broadcast tv channels)

Because that's all that exists. Paramount would have to do a restore like The Next Generation and that's not likely to happen.

 

[FWAJMB]

The show has been in syndication (in HD!) for some time. A favorite as a child (I was born in 1970), the show has not aged well except for a small handful of standout episodes. The Bionic Woman has aged a bit better, but I was in love with Lindsay Wagner then and now.

 

[ScottRE]

As far as The Six Million Dollar Man, I felt the first two seasons are still great stuff. Then, in the third season, the show began to feed on its own popularity. There were too many gimmicks, celebrity guests and Big Foot. The fifth year, which I enjoyed, was just odd. And the series lost its sense of humor. But they did put Steve back in space a few times, which was rewarding. Every series is a product of its time. But man, episodes with Sonny Bono, Rodney Allen Rippy and Flip Wilson? Pass.

 

[Desslar]

As far as The Six Million Dollar Man, I felt the first two seasons are still great stuff. Then, in the third season, the show began to feed on its own popularity. There were too many gimmicks, celebrity guests and Big Foot. The fifth year, which I enjoyed, was just odd. And the series lost its sense of humor. But they did put Steve back in space a few times, which was rewarding. Every series is a product of its time. But man, episodes with Sonny Bono, Rodney Allen Rippy and Flip Wilson? Pass.

But, doesn't casting Sonny Bono show a sense of humor? He was in AirplaneII!

 

[ScottRE]

But, doesn't casting Sonny Bono show a sense of humor? He was in AirplaneII!

Actually, he was pretty "funny" in his episode, but that wasn't the fifth season, which was the "dry" season. At that point, the show was being run by Allan Balter & Fred Freiberger, an interesting mix of creatives. In some ways, I appreciated the seriousness, it helped make the far out aspects of the series more grounded. But it wasn't as much fun either. Especially when they relied on two part episodes that year to goose the format and "The Return of Death Probe" (a barely interesting menace from year four) spent most of the time with shots of the new probe grinding on and on and on.....

 

[Desslar]

Actually, he was pretty "funny" in his episode, but that wasn't the fifth season, which was the "dry" season. At that point, the show was being run by Allan Balter & Fred Freiberger, an interesting mix of creatives. In some ways, I appreciated the seriousness, it helped make the far out aspects of the series more grounded. But it wasn't as much fun either. Especially when they relied on two part episodes that year to goose the format and "The Return of Death Probe" (a barely interesting menace from year four) spent most of the time with shots of the new probe grinding on and on and on.....

Yeah, I found even the original Death Probe episode to be quite tedious. The probe has zero screen presence.

 

[OneDayAfterAnother]

I just bought the blu-ray. Lemme tell ya, it looks GREAT! Remember back when the DVD was released in region 1 NTSC (I don't know, like 2010 or something like that? Many episodes had muffled audio.. It may have not been the entire episode, but parts of it...and in some cases it was so bad you could barely hear the dialog...and all releases since then that I'm aware of have used the SAME audio...I haven't checked all the episodes yet, but a couple I remember (still the same crap audio) Kill Oscar part 1 (first few min's extremely muffled) then pop, the rest of the episode is crystal clear. In 2005/06 time-frame, the bionic woman season 1 & 2 (minus bigfoot) was released on PAL in UK and Australia and the sound is crystal clear on all episodes...I can easily correct this making files into an MKV, taking the pal audio and use audacity to fix the pal speed and match the audio perfectly..

I remember reading Shout was going to make an effort to fix the audio issues....but when I already ran into one...I don't hold much hope when I check the rest of them..

Even the episodes that do not have noticeable audio issues, when I compare them with the PAL audio, the PAL audio is just so much louder and crisp sounding in comparison.

 

[bmasters9]

Even the episodes that do not have noticeable audio issues, when I compare them with the PAL audio, the PAL audio is just so much louder and crisp sounding in comparison.

Why would the foreign audio sound better than what we got in the Blu?

 

[ScottRE]

Why would the foreign audio sound better than what we got in the Blu?

The label (not Universal) which put it out overseas did work on it. Universal in the US didn't.

 

[OneDayAfterAnother]

I finally have gone through all the blu episodes. They really have fixed some.. but not all. Night Demon and Road to Nashville and Doomsday is tomorrow episodes are fixed. Deadly Ringer is fixed (although the PAL dvd's audio sound much better).. In fact, I have a strong suspicion they used the audio from these DVD's to do repairs...Once a thief is NOT fixed, nor is Kill Oscar part 1 (the first few min's).. Season 3's audio is mostly OK....I noticed a small section of the Pyramid episode is muffled, but only like a couple of min's starting around the 27 to 30 timeframe.... When I say fixed, I'm talking about dialog isn't muffled anymore.... once in a while you will hear clear dialog but muffled audio...

I fixed once a thief myself and kill oscar part 1... I couldn't fix anything in season 3 because in 2005/06 only Pal released the first 2 seasons in UK and AUS...Luckily, S3 is 99% fine.

It's so funny... when I fixed once a thief, I added the second commentary track and when switching back/forth between the tracks you can totally hear a major difference in the muffled sound factor in the parts where they briefly stop commenting as the commentary is using the muffled audio... Don't get me wrong... the audio in Once a thief is very watchable