Last year I had a heck of a good time as a guest on the Facebook Live / Podcast The OSI Files, devoted to all things Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman. These two TV programs pioneered SF and superhero stories decades before it was practical. Both shows had a tremendous impact on little boy RJ, and I’m still an unabashed fan.
After my one-off appearance in December 2018, circumstances worked out a year later that I guest-starred three times in rapid succession in January and February 2020 (weellll…. rapid for me, though multi-shows-per-week host John S Drew may be having a good laugh at this comment). Now that those shows are out there, it’s time to recap and share all the Facebook Live links in a single easy-to-find blog post.
The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman were among my favorite shows as a kid. Certainly, they were the most successful SF /Superhero shows in an era when SF and superheroes had very little success on TV (I still remember so many favorite shows disappearing after a season, one after the other, but I digress). So I was excited in December of 2018 to appear on the Facebook Live / Podcast program The OSI Files with co-hosts John S. Drew and Jerry Lange. Not only could I let my Bionic nerd flag fly, but also discuss my first ever TV star crush Farrah Fawcett (because I was a boy and it was 1976, and it was kind of the law).
The OSI Files have continued to air new episodes roughly in order of the original run. So now we’re coming back to the next Farrah appearance, so I’ve been invited back to discuss The Golden Pharaoh on…*screech*
As a boy, I had *A* Farrah Poster on my wall (which is not *THE* Farrah poster, but that was okay)
A couple of months ago, I was thrilled to be invited to come on as a guest of The OSI Files, a popular Six Million Dollar Man podcast, to discuss Farrah Fawcett‘s second appearance on the program, an episode called “The Peeping Blonde”. I jumped at the chance. Not only was I a lifelong fan of the exploits of Steve Austin, but, like so many boys in the early 70s, Farrah had been my first crush.
Through the years, that crush shifted to recognizing a talent greatly unappreciated in her prime, a woman whose beauty would prove to be both her blessing and her curse. Then, much later and to this day, to stand amazed at her heroic decision to have her battle against the the colon cancer that would eventually take her life filmed and turned into a documentary.
As it happened, I was on a minor Farrah nostalgia kick when the invitation came, and had recently rewatched the first season of Charlie’s Angels and Saturn 3 on Amazon Prime.
Some holiday- and sickness-related issues caused the schedule to shuffle and re-shuffle, but last night, Friday, Dec 28, co-hosts John S. Drew and Jerry Lange sat down with me and we drilled down deep into the plot, themes, historical context and surprising timeliness of season 2, episode 11, “The Peeping Blonde.” John and Jerry were extremely gracious, and it was a fast and fun couple of hours. There’s nothing quite as enjoyable as geeking out with people who “get you.”
How did I do? Well, click the link below and see for yourself. I’ll continue to add audio and video links here as each go live, starting with the Facebook Live video.
Muggle warning: Prepare to enter deep waters of nostalgic nerdiness. What follows is a long, detailed examination of a single episode of a 40+ year old SF TV show. You have been warned. Clips and summaries are provided, but if you happen to own The Six Million Dollar Man Season Two Box Set, you might give it a spin first. Enjoy!
Last year I had a heck of a good time as a guest on the Facebook Live / Podcast The OSI Files, devoted to all things Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman. These two TV programs pioneered SF and superhero stories decades before it was practical. Both shows had a tremendous impact on little boy RJ, and I’m still an unabashed fan.
