Tune In, Turn On

There's a revelation about Chuck and Kelly's relationship that we won't spoil, but it's the most problematic aspect of the pilot. It's meant to pluck heartstrings, but it only weighs the show down. However, it does set up long-term possibilities for the plot, which could make the initial thud ultimately worth it. Will "Back to You" hasten a return to the days when taped-before-a-live-audience comedies ruled the airwaves? Probably not, but it isn't a bad start to jolting life into a dying format.

Bionic Woman
NBC, 9:00 ET, premieres Sept. 26
Everything old is new again. No, seriously, everything. Even the campiest of familiar characters is getting a fresh coat of paint, thus NBC's "Bionic Woman," revived sans "The," because articles are, like, so whatever. Also because in this version, Jaime Sommers (Michelle Ryan) isn't the only one of her kind. More on that later.

The new "Woman" is given a back story with some semblance of emotion and depth. Jaime is a college student who works nights at a bar, struggling to support herself and her wayward teenage sister Becca (Lucy Hale.) Jaime's bland professor, Will (Chris Bowers), is totally violating the university code of conduct by dating her. Their relationship is a source of solace and grounding for Jaime, as her moments with Will distract her from the weight of the responsibility she's carrying. So what better moment than on a placid, chatty drive with Will to have a semi T-bone the car, flipping it and wrapping it around a light pole. Will walks away with minor scratches. Jaime is rolled away on a stretcher.

Good thing for her Will is a surgeon in an off-book government operation developing advanced bionic technology for military applications. Determined not to lose the love of his life, Will rebuilds Jaime—better, stronger, faster and kind of pissed off that her body is now made up of weird synthetic cells. In addition to learning how to use her newly enhanced eye, arm, ear and legs, she has to do battle with Sarah Corvus (the mesmerizing Katee Sackhoff), the earlier Bionic Woman model who was presumed dead and has since gone rogue.

According to the plot, Jaime and Sarah are unequally matched because Sarah has spent more time honing the use of her bionic parts. Actually they're unequally matched because Ryan plays Jaime as a dull, wide-eyed naïf who seems as if she would blow right over even in her most ass-kicking moments. Sackhoff, meanwhile, gives Sarah silver-screen scale; she's quippy but no less menacing for it, as though she was plucked out of a blast of a summer action blockbuster and dropped into a TV show that would be mediocre if not for her.

Because Ryan's lead performance is so flavorless, all "Bionic Woman" does is make you wish the show was less about Jaime and more about Jaime's nemesis. More bad news: Sackhoff is pulling double-duty on "Battlestar Galactica," so her character won't be featured in every episode. But there's always hope: maybe Jaime's personality will be critically injured in a hang-gliding accident.