Bionic Plague

The Six Million Dollar Man has been so fruitful during its first three years on ABC that it is replacing All In The Family as the busiest spin-off nursery. The Bionic Woman came first, after lovely Lindsay Wagner made some guest appearances on the parent show. Wagner bounded into the ABC schedule with her own program to share the Top Ten ratings.

This season Bionic Man Lee Majors will once again try to expand the bionic population. On a two-hour special to be shown Nov. 7, he will provide solace for a 16-year-old boy named Andy who will take a hardy plunge at the ratings. If Andy, whose legs were crippled in a rockslide, can draw strong ratings that night against NBC's special showing of Gone With the Wind, he may be muscled into ABC's winter schedule with his own show. Outfitted with bionic legs, Andy can kick a football 100 yds. and climb a 3,000-ft. sheer cliff.

But an adolescent wonderboy can be klutzy. Taking a driving lesson, Andy hits the brakes of his pickup and drives his foot through the floorboard. He buys a pair of shoes and when he wiggles his toes the seams pop. Daddy Majors clearly has another rival on his hands.

Make that two more rivals. Every boy needs a dog, and a bionic boy needs a bionic dog. Producer Lee Siegel is mulling that one. Says he: "I would not rule out a bionic dog having his own show one day."

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