ABSTRACT
The show's popularity rests on the significance of the Six Million Dollar Man as a heroic figure, a half-machine, half-man "person-thing" who transcends the stupid adventures in which he is involved. There is a mythic dimension to the Six Million Dollar Man which speaks to the needs of and sounds a responsive chord in the psyches of many of the people watching him. The most interesting point about Steve Austin is that he is part machine; he represents a fusion between living flesh and machine technology, and where one begins and the other ends is an enigma. That Austin is a strong male is of consequence; he represents an ego-ideal for millions of youngsters who were duped by the campy Batman and who do not have many powerful males on television to emulate outside of characters on the police force.
