Line #16 Trivia/TheSixMillionDollarMan


1	* ActingForTwo:[[spoiler: Gary Lockwood as an assassin and his twin brother who works with him on his jobs to give him a cast-iron alibi in "Eyewitness To Murder". Not to mention Richard Anderson plays Oscar and a robot double in "The Return Of The Robot Maker"; in "Double Trouble" [[CastTheExpert Flip Wilson as a comedian and an African leader, the comedian]] becomes an UnwittingPawn in the villain of the week's scheme]]
2	* TheCastShowoff: For reasons known only to the producers, the decision was made to allow Lee Majors to sing not one, but two original songs (one built loosely around the melody of the SMDM theme) in the original "Bionic Woman" two-parter.
3	* CreatorCameo: Creator/MartinCaidin appears in the two-parter "Deadly Countdown" as G.H. Beck.
4	* DevelopmentHell:
5	** In 1993, Will Meguniot (then on a break between seasons of ''WesternAnimation/{{Exosquad}}'') helped [[https://dragonflyent.blogspot.com/2013/06/i-posted-video-of-some-character.html make sketches for a proposed animated series]] called ''Bionic Squad'', where Steve Austin would lead a new team, which then was captured by aliens called "Rapacians", who then would've subjected them to unwilling transformations in their secret moon base, giving them superhuman abilities. The show never made it past the pitch (''WesternAnimation/MonsterForce'' ended up airing alongside ''Exosquad'''s second season; ironically, Meugniot had worked on ''WesternAnimation/BionicSix'' a few years before, which MCA/Universal had distributed).
6	** There were plans for a film adaptation since 1995 when Creator/KevinSmith developed a screenplay. In December 2001, it was announced that Creator/{{Universal}} had pacted with Creator/DimensionFilms on the project after Bob Weinstein saw its potential as a franchise. In October 2002, Trevor Sands was hired to write a new screenplay, titled ''The Six Billion Dollar Man'', but Dimension scrapped it when Creator/JimCarrey pitched a comedic take on the material for him to star in, with Scot Armstrong as writer and Creator/ToddPhillips as director/co-writer. Filming was expected to begin in 2004. In a July 2006 interview at Comic Con, Richard Anderson (who played Oscar Goldman in the series) stated that he was involved with producing a movie of the series, but the rights were at the time in litigation between Miramax and Universal.
7	** On November 6, 2014, it was announced that a feature film, tentatively titled ''The Six Billion Dollar Man'', would go into production, with Peter Berg as director and Creator/MarkWahlberg starring. Filming was to begin in early 2015, for a theatrical release the following year. On November 2, 2015 it was reported that Berg had left the film and had been replaced by Damian Szifron, who would also write the script. Filming was to begin in September 2016 with a December 22, 2017 release date. In December 2017, The Weinstein Company sold the rights to Creator/WarnerBros. As of January 2018, they hoped to start filming the movie in mid 2018. In April of that year, a mid 2019 release date was set. The film was moved to June 5, 2020 until ''Film/WonderWoman1984'' took over the release date and in April 2019, Travis Knight and Bill Dubuque replaced Szifron as director and writer.
8	* DirectedByCastMember: Lee Majors directed "One Of Our Running Backs Is Missing."
9	* FakeRussian: Irina Leonova is played by British actress Creator/JaneMerrow. Not to mention Creator/DavidMcCallum as Alexi Kaslov and and Creator/BrittEkland as Katrina Volana.
10	* FakeAmerican: Creator/PamelaFranklin as Susan Abbott. and Music/RickSpringfield as Niles.
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12	* HeAlsoDid: ''Series/TwinPeaks'' co-creator Mark Frost got his first writing credit on the episode "The Return Of The Robot Maker".
13	* RealLifeRelative: Creator/FarrahFawcett was married to series star Creator/LeeMajors at the time of her four appearances ([[YouLookFamiliar as 3 different characters]]) prior to her StarMakingRole on ''Series/CharliesAngels''.
14	* ReferencedBy: [[Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin A certain beer-swilling badass wrestler]] (born Steven James Anderson) named himself after Steve Austin.
15	* NoStuntDouble: Creator/LeeMajors claimed that he did 90% of his own stunts.
16	* TheOtherDarrin: No less than three actors play Dr. Rudy Wells during the series, with Creator/MartinBalsam playing the role in the original pilot TV movie, Creator/AlanOppenheimer in the other two pre-series movies and then the first two regular seasons, and Martin E. Brooks for the remainder. However, after Brooks had joined the series, Oppenheimer was brought back to play Rudy for a single Season 3 episode, "The Bionic Criminal". The reason for this is that it was a sequel to an earlier episode that the need to include flashbacks required that Oppenheimer be brought back for consistency. Balsam also reprised the role in order to provide narration for the reedited syndicated version of the original TV movie (shown as a two-part episode called "The Moon And The Desert".
17	* ReferencedBy:
18	** When Quicksilver is talking to his mother in ''Film/XMenApocalypse'', his T-shirt has a cartoon print of ''The Six Million Dollar Man''.
19	** Nick at Nite's marathon ''The Bob, Bob Newhart, Newhart Marathon'' presented 60-second parodies of Bob Newhart starring in various shows. One of these was ''The Six Million Dollar Bob''.
20	** Magazine/{{MAD}} printed a parody of the show. The opening paragraph leading into the title talked of what a rip-off Steve Austin was to the US taxpayers, concluding with "Just wait 'till you see what we got for ''The Six Million Dollars, Man!''
21	** ''Radio/GoodnessGraciousMe'' gave us the Six Million Rupee Man, about rebuilding an injured rickshaw test pilot. "We have the technology -- we don't have the ideal exchange rate."
22	** ''WesternAnimation/UncleCrocsBlock'' had the Six Dollar and Ninety-Five Cent Man.
23	** ''Series/TheElectricCompany1971'' featured a recurring "Six Dollar and Thirty-Nine Cent Man" sketch, with a shot-for-shot parody of the opening credits (from Steve Awesome being involved in a skateboarding accident, to rebuilding him to be "Better. Stronger. More fun at parties"). As a bonus, it was narrated by a young Creator/MorganFreeman! Notable also for being a contemporary parody of the series.
24	** An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' featured Brock going on a camping trip and running into Col Steve Sommers, complete with red jumpsuit and Bigfoot.
25	--> '''Steve Sommers''': "The Government rebuilt me..made me bigger, stronger, faster. Spent Six million dollars to put me back together...and you know what? They put me to work! They expected me to pay it back! DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG IT TAKES TO PAY BACK SIX MILLION DOLLARS ON A GOVERNMENT SALARY?!?!?"
26	** For a time in the 1990s, [[Music/NineInchNails Trent Reznor]] would make hotel reservations using the alias "Steve Austin" after the show, which he was a fan of growing up.
27	* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Creator/LeeMajors almost didn't return for the final season due to a contract dispute. Among those considered to replace him were Creator/HarrisonFord (whom the producers felt was unsuitable as an action hero) and Creator/CaitlynJenner.
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29	!!Misc. trivia

Context Trivia / TheSixMillionDollarMan