According to sources, Friday Night Lightsexecutive producer Jason Katims has agreed to lend a helping hand on the Peacock’s highly touted redo as a consultant. I’m told Katims will split his time between Bionic and FNL.

Well, i’m not sure what to make of that – FNL is a decent show, but it remains to be seen as to whether he can add value to the void that Morgan has left. Oh well, at least Eick wont be spread too thin, what with his ‘Battlestar Galatica’ work and all.

In other news – I’m currently building up to the big day (you know what the big day is right? Yup..Sept 26..Bionic Woman Premiere!) by covering some of the potential themes and aspects that may appear in the show. I’ve come across this interesting article on ‘Anthrasites’, as aspect of the show which may tell us more about these new Bionic Women and why they can do the things that they can. Check it out as there’s not much info on this in relation to it’s application in BW. I wonder whether the application of ‘Anthracites’ will cast a parallel to the use of drugs in sport to facilitate quick recovery times etc? Hmm..

We don’t have a short break planned yet. Although you always look for opportunities to give yourself time to catch up on scripts, even if there are surprises. On just about every show I have ever done we’ve taken a week that was unplanned and unbudgeted and you get the studio to pay for it. You sort of shut things down and go on hold just to catch up or adjust your navigation. I don’t that yet, but it wouldn’t surprise me if we did. It would be unusual if we did. As for Glen, things will change because he is a very specific personality with great leadership skills and a real clear vision of the show. To some extent some of that is going to undergo some adjustment. He is going to be missed. I think we all agreed that what he was helping to build toward the show to come was quite good and valuable. We will be using a great deal of it.

Comingsoon asked most of the questions I would’ve asked had I been doing the interview and one such question concerned the choices that Ryan’s character will be faced with – the tantalising theme of Woman Vs Machine..Sister vs Soldier. Interestingly, Ryan relates the battles that Jaimehas to face with her own journey as a young lady in today’s world, which I think is an honest insight to her as a person and will hopefully make for a great portrayal on screen (beware slight spoilers follow):

I think it is absolutely the human side… Yes, she has these super abilities, but at the core of it, there is a woman’s journey of self discovery and her right to empowerment. I feel like I am on that journey. I just felt an instant connection. I know this young character (Vivian), who also has sudden abilities, she comes along farther down the series and Jaime takes her under her wing immediately. She is very compassionate and she questions every step of the way when Jonas and Antonio say, ‘We are the good guys.’ She questions everything. I love that. She is just this very grounded multi-layered character and person. That’s why I felt, yeah, there is so much potential to play with her character, aside from the action sequences. The sci-fi element at the core of it is this human being who has got so much depth. That’s the woman I want to be like. I want to find my voice and I want my voice to be strong and confident. I feel playing Jaime is helping me get there.

It’s an exceptional interview which gives great insight into the mechanics and aesthetics of the show. I will no doubt come back to some of the issues it raised but for now you can read the entire interview here - it’s quite long, but well worth it.

Personally I’m not sure why this would need to be done – if Morgan’s gone then he’s gone. Surely Eick and Smilovic have a clear vision for the show – one which obviously out-weighted Morgan’s and led to his departure?

The only need for downtime is if they plan on bringing Morgan back into the fold – then there would need to be some patching up to do and perhaps some compromise.

Also, what does ‘early hiatus’ actually mean? Does it mean that they’d air the episodes they’ve already made whilst the powers that be get their stuff together..or does it mean that the ‘transmission’ of the show would be delayed..? Hmm.

If Bionic does (and it’s a BIG IF) go into early hiatus, then I wouldn’t worry too much. The show is already shooting it’s fifth episode and NBC have spent millions on advertising..it will be on our screens whatever happens. However I would like to stress that despite my positivity regarding the shows future, I want this show to be ‘great’ (it sure has the potential to be)..and so whatever needs to be done to make it great, so be it. Even if that means giving Morgan a call and offering him free Bionic parts in return for his return.

It’s been one heck of a summer – first Mae get’s axed, then Isaiah joins the party, then Sackhoff finally puts pen to paper, then she insults her fans – after Bionic storms the Comic Con and now Glen’s gone..whatever next? Wait, don’t answer that..

If I hear anything i’ll be sure post about it.

Also, i’ve added a new poll to the sidebar – feel free to give your thoughts on this latest issue by casting your vote.

What creative differences? That’s what I want to know. Should we, the fans, be concerned by his departure?

In a statement, NBC said:

“Glen Morgan has helped create a great template for ‘Bionic Woman’ but has decided to pursue other endeavors now,”

This isn’t exactly much to go on, it’s just the usual stuff people say when they part projects. The thing which worries me is that Glen Morgan gave the show alot of credibility due to his connections with ‘X-Files’ – his presence also gave me piece of mind that the project is in more than safe hands. Whilst it’s good that Eick and Smilovic are still in the hot-seat, i’m left wondering what the conflict was? What aspect of the show did they not see eye to eye on? Afterall, it must be a pretty big disagreement for Morgan to completely leave the show..especially at this stage.

Whilst I trust David Eick’s vision and undoubted enthusiasm for the show, I really do hope it is as ‘Bionic’ as the title suggests, otherwise we could run into problems. This is the sort of thing the show didn’t need..it hasn’t even been fitted with Bionic parts yet!

There is some irony in his departure, as it comes just days after an IGN Interview with Jason Smilovic, in which he commented on the teamwork between the 3 producers..which in retrospect perhaps hinted at Morgan’s departure. See what you think:

IGN TV: How is this division of labor between producers working?Smilovic: David Eick, Glen Morgan and myself are the three executive producers and we’re going to juggle LA and Vancouver and figure it out.IGN TV: Now that’s quite a team. It seems any one of you could run a show, and yet here you have the three of you.Smilovic: We’ve just been figuring it out as the work load develops and things come our way and we see who’s naturally good at handling each various element and we each go from there.

IGN TV: And Glen Morgan came on later?

Smilovic: After the pilot, yes.

IGN TV: Will he be directing a number of episodes?

Smilovic: Glen is not directing right now. We have to break stories and figure it out. We’ve just broken the first twelve and now we have to work on getting all of the scripts executed and work on the outlines. There’s breaking, re-breaking, finding tentpoles and arcs and things of that nature.

Anyway, I guess we have to look to the future, the show is still going on as planned and they’re currently shooting the 5th episode!

Bionic Woman Premieres on September 26, 9/8c on NBC. You can also view the Pilot earlier through Amazon Unbox and Bright House.

In other news, I have just updated the spoilers section with news of TWO more episode titles! Check it out (if you want to know). Credit to Alan P for the tip.