New Wednesday Shows -- Bionic Woman and Life

First up is Bionic Woman, another "reimagining" of an old TV show, from the same guy, David Eick, who did the new Battlestar Galactica.  Last week's pilot was a bit disappointing, I have to say; the lead actress, Michelle Ryan, felt weak, Katie Sackoff as the first model bionic woman now turned evil was way over the top, and it just didn't seem to work very well.  The best things about the show were Miguel Ferrer (who, as someone pointed out on RPGnet, is in his second turn as the designer of bionic people, after Robocop) and...well, that's pretty much it.  I didn't have very high hopes.

This week's episode, however, showed some improvement.  We got to see more about the mysterious entity behind the bionic woman project, a plot that wasn't burdened much by the origin story of the pilot, and hints about the larger metaplot of the show.  Michelle Ryan seemed to be settling into her role a little, although I did not like how abrupt her character changes were, and the training montage was somewhat cliche.  I still think the supporting cast is the strongest part of the show, but I'm willing to give it a chance for now.  I do hope that they don't dwell too much on the Sarah Corvus (Katee Sackhoff) character, though.  She just rubs me the wrong way, though I admit she bothered me less in this episode.

Life, starring Damian Lewis, about a police officer convicted of killing his friend and his wife and released after 12 years when DNA evidence exonerates him, had a really interesting hook, and I admit I like cop shows, usually.  While the mysteries on the two shows so far haven't really had that big of a twist, the characters are very well acted and interesting.  Damian Lewis' Charlie Crews, who picked up Zen in prison and is amazed by simple pleasures like eating fruit, Adam Arkin's insider trader-cum-financial advisor, and Sarah Stahl (who I don't think I've seen in anything else) as his partner are all very good and manage to show a layered performance.  It's been nice seeing some other actors I like in bit roles -- the actor that played Bull in Band of Brothers was in the first episode as the victim's incarcerated father, the actor that played Leo from Veronica Mars was the murderer in this week's episode, and the actress who played Saffon on Firefly and Joan on Mad Men is Charlie's father's new fiance.

The conspiracy metaplot that they are showing in the background looks interesting and definitely complex, and I like how he has his "conspiracy wall" set up (it reminds me a lot of a less complicated version of the model from "Five Years Gone" in Heroes).  The scene in tonight's episode with him going to look at the house the crime took place in was very good.  However, the worry I have is that the longer the show goes on, the more of a problem this metaplot will be -- if he never solves the murder, it is going to become like Lost was become in the last two seasons, where you just seem to be going in circles.  I hope that they plan to wrap that mystery up in a season or two and do not drag it out.  That all said, Life appears to be a very strong show (both quality-wise and ratings-wise), and it will definitely be finding a place on my TiVo this season.