The Bionic Woman is an American science fiction action-adventure television series created by Kenneth Johnson based on the 1972 novel Cyborg by Martin Caidin and starring Lindsay Wagner, that aired on ABC from January 14, 1976, to May 4, 1977, and later on NBC from September 10, 1977, to May 12, 1978. A spin-off from the 1970s Six Million Dollar Man television science fiction action series, The Bionic Woman is centered on the fictional Jaime Sommers, who takes on special high-risk government missions using her superhuman bionic powers.

Wagner starred as professional tennis player Jaime Sommers, who becomes critically injured during a skydiving accident. Jaime's life is saved by Oscar Goldman (Richard Anderson) and Dr. Rudy Wells (Alan Oppenheimer, Martin E. Brooks) with bionic surgical implants similar to those of The Six Million Dollar Man Steve Austin (Lee Majors). Through the use of cybernetic implants, known as bionics, Jaime is fitted with an amplified bionic right ear which allows her to hear at low volumes, at various frequencies, and over uncommonly long distances. She also has extraordinary strength in her bionic right arm and in both legs that enables her to jump great distances and run at speeds exceeding 60 miles per hour. She is then assigned to secret missions as an occasional agent of the Office of Scientific Intelligence, while teaching middle and high school students in her regular life.

The series proved highly popular worldwide, gaining solid ratings in the United States and particularly in the United Kingdom (where it became the only science fiction program to achieve the No. 1 position in the ratings during the 20th century). The series ran for three seasons, from 1976 to 1978, first on the ABC network and then the NBC network for its final season. Years after its cancellation, three spin-off television movies were produced between 1987 and 1994. Reruns of the show aired on Sci-Fi Channel from 1993 to 2001. A failed remake of the series was produced in 2007.

The character of Jaime Sommers first appears in a 1975 two-part episode of The Six Million Dollar Man titled "The Bionic Woman". In the first episode, Steve travels to his hometown of Ojai, California, to buy a ranch that is for sale and to visit his mother and stepfather, Helen and Jim Elgin. During his visit, he rekindles his relationship with high school sweetheart Jaime Sommers, now one of America's top 5 tennis players.

While she is on a skydiving date, Jaime's parachute malfunctions and she plummets to the ground, falling through tree branches, hitting the ground and suffering traumatic injuries to her head, legs, and right arm. Steve makes an emotional plea to his boss, Oscar Goldman, to save Jaime's life by making her bionic. When Oscar balks, Steve commits Jaime to becoming an operative of the Office of Scientific Intelligence (OSI). Goldman ultimately gives in and assigns Dr. Rudy Wells (played at this point in the series by Alan Oppenheimer) and the bionics team to rebuild her.

Jaime's body is reconstructed with parts similar to Steve's, but later Oscar jokes that hers cost less than Austin's six million dollars because her parts were "smaller" (despite the show's German name, Die Sieben Millionen Dollar Frau, or The Seven Million Dollar Woman). Like Austin, her right arm and both her legs are bionic, but instead of a bionic eye she has a bionic ear. Jaime's legs are capable of propelling her at speeds exceeding 60 miles per hour (having been clocked at more than 62 mph in "Doomsday Is Tomorrow" and outpacing a race car going 100 mph in "Winning Is Everything") and jumping to and from great heights. Her right arm is capable of bending steel or throwing objects great distances. Her right ear gives her amplified hearing such that she can detect most sounds regardless of volume or frequency. These bionic implants cannot be distinguished from natural body parts, except on occasions where they sustain damage and the mechanisms beneath the skin become exposed, as seen in Part 2 of the episode "Doomsday Is Tomorrow", when Jaime sustains damage to her right leg. Jaime discovers on vacation in the Bahamas that her artificial bionic skin cannot suntan with exposure to sunlight.

After Jaime recovers from her operation, Steve tries to break his agreement with Oscar that she will serve as an agent for OSI. Jaime agrees to undertake a mission for Oscar despite Steve's concerns. During the mission her bionics malfunction, and she experiences severe and crippling headaches. Dr. Wells determines that Jaime's body is rejecting her bionic implants and a massive cerebral clot is causing her headaches and malfunctions. Soon after, Jaime goes berserk and forces her way out of the hospital. Steve pursues and catches her, and she collapses in his arms. Soon after, Jaime dies on the operating table when her body shuts down.

The character was so popular that ABC asked the writers to find a way to bring her back. In the first episode of the next season, it is revealed that Jaime had not died after all, but Steve was not told. He soon discovers the truth when he is hospitalized after suffering severe damage to his bionic legs; he sees Jaime before slipping into a coma.