I was watching a few of the Christmas Specials on TV Land yesterday and they ranged from innocent (THE BRADY BUNCH) to the super dull (THREE’S COMPANY) but if there was one word that could accurately describe the totality of TV Land’s airings of these programs it would be “fragment.” The reason for this is because the sheer volume of television programs which offered Christmas specials could never be covered in one day. So, there will be a few that slip through the cracks. One of which was the Six Million Dollar Man Christmas Special A Bionic Christmas Carol. Yes, the producers of the Six Million Dollar Man tapped into that old standby: a remake of A Christmas Carol. (Even Sanford and Son pulled this one off, too) The Six Million Dollar Man remains a somewhat curious program in television history. It started out with decent ratings as a series of TV movies of the week. Then, it launched a weekly series that started to take off when the seriousness of the program was dropped in favor of weird storylines. The program proved very popular with kids and launched a toy and merchandise bonanza that made the program one of the most iconic series of the 1970’s. Yet, like Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, it fizzled in syndication because in the 1980’s the program’s Bigfoot and Death Probe episodes were considered “silly.” (The more serious Bionic Woman was far more popular and successful mainly because the writing was excellent) The program faded from syndication but a TV reunion movie in the late 1980’s (THE BIONIC SHOWDOWN) was a shocking hit leading to a few more TV movies ala THE INCREDIBLE HULK. The series did eventually return to the Sci-Fi Channel with much fanfare and success. In fact, a 24 hour Bionic Marathon featuring Lee Majors and Lindsey Wagner hosting episodes aired (I, sadly, missed this!). Of course, A Bionic Christmas Carol was part of the regular rotation. (You know a show is a hit show when it has its own Christmas Special) A brief clip of that special did pop up on YouTube and it is offered here for your viewing pleasure. One of these days I do have to revisit those cool Bigfoot and Death Probe episodes though… By the way....the clip is in German