Retro TV Christmas: A Bionic "Carol"

"A Bionic Christmas Carol"

Back in the 1970s, many TV series would showcase a special holiday themed episode during the Christmas season. The Six Million Dollar Man followed the tradition with "A Bionic Christmas Carol," which originally aired on December 12, 1976, during the show's penultimate season. If you're looking for an old school Yuletide tale filled with familiar TV faces, look no further, than "A Bionic Christmas Carol." The episode, written by Wilton Schiller, is, of course, the bionic adventure series version of A Christmas Carol, the classic story by Charles Dickens. Years before Lee Majors had a cameo in Scrooged, his Steve Austin character plays Santa to a Scrooge-like figure portrayed by Ray Walston, of Damn Yankees and My Favorite Martian fame.

Walston plays Horton Budge, the owner of a company providing parts to the government for a Mars mission vehicle. When Steve Austin, the bionic man, is sent to investigate a series of accidents at the contractor, he becomes involved with the family of Bob Crandall, Budge's nephew, who's being badly mistreated by his uncle for a past misdeed. The miserly owner is also forcing the company's staff to work through the holiday, and to cut corners on the government project, resulting in faulty equipment. It's up to Steve Austin to help Crandall's family, teach Budge the error of his ways (with a little inspiration from Charles Dickens) and make sure the company fulfills its contract properly, delivering equipment that's up to spec.

"A Bionic Christmas Carol," is a fun, if unspectacular, entry in the series. It's pretty typical of holiday themed TV from the 1970s. What makes it truly enjoyable for fans of classic television is the number of familiar faces appearing in the episode. In addition to series regulars Lee Majors as Steve Austin and Richard Anderson as his OSI boss Oscar Goldman, the cast includes the aforementioned Ray Walston, as well as Dick Sargent (Bewitched), Quinn Cummings (Family), Adam Rich (Eight Is Enough), Antoinette Bower (a frequent TV guest star who was featured in shows like Star Trek and Mission: Impossible) and even a cameo by Ann Dusenberry, who appeared in series like McCloud, Magnum, P.I. and Murder, She Wrote.

"A Bionic Christmas Carol," directed by Gerald Mayer, is a light, entertaining episode of The Six Million Dollar Man. There are no spies, aliens, or robots on hand in this fourth season entry, but it does allow you to see Steve Austin play Santa opposite Mr. Hand from Fast Times At Ridgemont High, so how bad can it be? And watch for the scene in the toy store, where you can actually see the Steve Austin action figures on the shelves! The episode is available on the DVD and Blu-ray releases of the series. You might want to make this a holiday viewing double feature with "Judgement In Heaven" a 1965 holiday themed episode of Majors' previous TV series, the western The Big Valley.