"The Peeping Blonde" With Farrah Fawcett

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When the TV series The Six Million Dollar Man aired the episode titled “The Peeping Blonde” on December 20, 1974, it delivered a blend of intrigue, sci-fi action and media ethics wrapped into a compact hour of television. In this outing, Colonel Steve Austin, the bionic operative played by Lee Majors, finds himself under threat not from a typical weaponized enemy but from the camera lens of an ambitious reporter — Victoria Webster, portrayed by Farrah Fawcett.

Victoria works for a local television station and by chance, catches Steve in action, using his bionic powers while on-site at what begins as a rocket launch facility. The revelation of his extraordinary abilities changes the nature of his mission: rather than simply carrying out a task, he must now safeguard his secret identity and prevent hostile forces from exploiting his bionics. The story pivots away from a straightforward rescue or sabotage mission and instead becomes a cautionary tale about exposure, journalistic ambition and the risks inherent when super-technology meets the public eye.

Throughout the episode, the dynamic between Steve and Victoria offers more than surface-level drama. She is determined, unafraid to confront powerful agencies, and convinced that “the world is entitled to know” about his advanced technology. Meanwhile, Steve and his superior Oscar Goldman are forced into damage-control mode. Their conflict underscores a recurring theme in the series: the tension between duty (and secrecy) and transparency (and profit). The episode stands out because the “villain” is partly the very idea of a scoop in the wrong hands, rather than a masked saboteur.

The production value also captures the period well — the dune-buggy chases, the desert-launch-site aesthetic, the slow-motion bionic runs, and even the subtle blur effects when Steve is being chased. These visual flourishes elevate the hour beyond routine 1970s action fare; they remind the viewer of the show’s premise (super-human enhancements) while grounding it in the tangible geography of sand, rocks, and television lights. In one scene, Steve leaps a twelve-foot fence, an action that triggers the chain of events around the reporter’s footage and the subsequent foreign kidnapping threat.

For Farrah Fawcett’s guest return, Victoria Webster is not a passive character; she has agency, ambition, and her own agenda. She presses Steve and Oscar for answers, challenges the station’s executive when necessary, and even questions the underlying morality of keeping bionics under wraps while “hope for countless people” might lie in the openness of the technology. At the same time, she is vulnerable — caught between the news cycle, her boss’s interests, and the threat that Steve’s world poses. This mix of empowerment and exposure creates a memorable character moment in a show often more concerned with gadgets than journalists.

On re-watch, “The Peeping Blonde” offers more than nostalgia. It invites reflection on how media, power, and secrecy interrelate — even in a sci-fi context. The notion that technology built for protection could itself become the target of commerce, journalism or exploitation remains relevant. The episode also demonstrates the versatility of the series: rather than relying solely on explosions or villains, it uses interpersonal tension, surveillance, and the ethics of disclosure to build suspense.
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If you’re a fan of the series or of Fawcett’s early work, this episode is a solid sample of what made The Six Million Dollar Man more than just special effects. It balances action, moral ambiguity, and 1970s television charm nicely.