History YMMV / TheSixMillionDollarMan

** On the original series, you can see pre-''Series/MyTwodads'' Greg Evigan as the rival of "The Bionic Boy"

* WTHCastingAgency: "To Catch the Eagle" tries pass off Peter Breck as the chief of a Native American tribe, and the equally Caucasian Kathleen Beller has his daughter.

* HilariousInHindsight: The presence of Creator/KimBasinger in the unsold backdoor pilot "The Ultimate Imposter", when you know her very next screen appearance was as one of the stars of the Creator/WalterHill-created BuddyCop series ''Dog And Cat''. So that pilot didn't sell one of its supporting cast did go own to star in her own [[ShortRunner shortlived]] series.

* AdaptationDisplacement- Most people have never even heard of the "Cyborg" novel, or the fact Caidin wrote three sequels, none of which had any connection with the TV series.

* NightmareFuel

* RecycledScript - not so much in ''Six Mil'' itself, but several scripts from this series were later remade for the first season ''The Bionic Woman'' due to the spinoff being commissioned on ''very'' short notice.
* RetroactiveRecognition

* ShockingMoments

* SpecialEffectFailure

** The '80s TV movies were not free of this: ''Bionic Showdown'' the animated streaks drawn to Kate (Creator/SandraBullock) while running to covey her superspeed aren't nearly as effective as the original series' use of slow-motion and sound effects.

** In "The Return of the Six-Million-Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman", Dr. Shepherd, who performed life-saving surgery on Steve's son Michael, was played by a young Creator/BryanCranston.
** Kate Mason, the second Bionic Woman in "Bionic Showdown", is played by future Oscar-winner Creator/SandraBullock.

* GenreTurningPoint: When this series and its SpinOff, ''Series/TheBionicWoman'', each became sustained hits, the SuperHero genre began to be taken much more seriously as UsefulNotes/PrimeTime TV material. That set the stage for Creator/ChristopherReeve to soar as ''Film/{{Superman}}'' to prove that notion true in feature films. It likely also helped open the door for ''Series/WonderWoman''.

* SpecialEffectFailure: In "Killer Wind," though they used wind machines to indicate an oncoming storm, they didn't cover up the conspicuously sunny and cloudless skies.

* NightmareFuel: Anytime a robot-disguised-as-a-human is unmasked.

* RetroactiveRecognition: In "The Return of the Six-Million-Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman", Dr. Shepherd, who performed life-saving surgery on Steve's son Michael, was played by a young Creator/BryanCranston.

* ShockingMoments: The crash footage in the opening credits is still disturbing after all these years, primarily because it was actual footage of a real crash in which a test pilot was catastrophically injured - but he never got the bionics.

** However ''after'' the transplants many episodes depict how damage to bionic limbs can be life-threatening to Steve and Jamie.

** Also in the title sequence with the footage from Austin's lift body plane's on board camera of his fateful crash seconds before impact is frightening to see obviously he is going to hit the ground ''hard''. And it isn't special effects; this is actual in-cockpit footage of a real crash. It must have been especially Nightmare Fuel-ish to test pilot Bruce Peterson, whose spectacular crash was featured in the opening credits. Imagine reliving that week after week. (Reportedly, Peterson was not a fan.)[[note: It probably didn't help that Peterson lost an eye in the crash, and never flew again, whereas his fictional counterpart had his eye replaced and not only continued to fly but remained in the space program. A defictionalized case of KickTheDog, albeit unintentional.]]

** Also in the title sequence with the footage from Austin's lift body plane's on board camera of his fateful crash seconds before impact is frightening to see obviously he is going to hit the ground ''hard''. And it isn't special effects; this is actual in-cockpit footage of a real crash. It must have been especially Nightmare Fuel-ish to test pilot Bruce Peterson, whose spectacular crash was featured in the opening credits. Imagine reliving that week after week. (Reportedly, Peterson was not a fan.)

* HolyShitQuotient: The crash footage in the opening credits is still disturbing after all these years, primarily because it was actual footage of a real crash in which a test pilot was catastrophically injured - but he never got the bionics.
** Also, anytime a robot-disguised-as-a-human is unmasked.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMoment: For fans, too many to count, though many point to the ending of the first hour-long episode "Population Zero", in which [[spoiler: Steve javelins a metal pole through a van]], as one of the first examples.
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The opening theme is an iconically awesome and very catchy song.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The opening theme is an iconically awesome EarWorm.