Senior Buddy TV Writer, Jon Lachonis, asks whether ‘Bionic Woman’ has replaced substance for style, with the casting change of Lucy Hale (Hacker Sister) replacing Mae Whitman (Deaf sister), as Jaime’s sister.

Bionic Woman producers have moved quickly to dispel any notion that they are trading interesting character motivation for a potential Hayden Panettiere. Producer Jason Smilovic explains the original character’s deafness as simply a device to legitimatize Jamie Sommers’ ability to speak to monkeys. “…the chimpanzees were going to Dr. Anthros (Chris Bowers), who was using them for experimentation. He would come down to get the chimpanzees and they sort of fell in love during that time. We were looking for an organic way for her to be talking to the chimpanzees in sign language.”

So, get the idea out of your mind that Jamie’s deaf sister would have symbolized the unfairness of the bionic technology being used for warfare, all the while providing the new Bionic Woman with a secret self-loathing that would play out at the very sight of her sister’s struggles to fit into the world