By Kate O’Hare courtesy of tv.zap2it.com/

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) – According to “The Six Million Dollar Man” star Lee Majors, there’s a little synchronicity working in his guest appearance on the Wednesday, Dec. 17, episode of UPN’s “Jake 2.0,” called “Double Agent.”

It seems Majors’ wife was perusing Web sites using his name when she came across a message-board posting saying that Majors should appear on “Jake,” since both shows are about men who become secret agents after being physically enhanced through technology.

“I saw a little bit of one episode,” Majors says, “and said, ‘It is like “Six Million Dollar Man.”‘ I didn’t say ‘rip-off,’ because I didn’t know the people at the time. I thought it was borrowed.

“It was weird, but a month later, I went over and talked to the producers.” In the case of Majors’ Steve Austin, cybernetic implants and artificial limbs gave him super-strength and speed. In the case of “Jake 2.0,” Chris Gorham’s NSA tech Jake Foley was accidentally infected with molecule-sized robots, or “nanites,” that, in addition to physical powers, allow him to interface with technology.

In “Double Agent,” written by executive producers David Greenwalt and Silvio Horta, Lee plays Agent Fox, brought out of retirement to deal with a Cold War fanatic threatening to explode a “dirty bomb” in Washington, D.C.

“Originally I was to play Jake’s father,” the 64-year-old Majors says. “But now I’m playing a double agent, but we don’t know which side he’s working on. It’s very well-written for a television show. In most, you get it right at the beginning, but this does throw you a little bit.

“I had a ball doing the show, except for the 17-hour day, and most of it was outside in the freezing, drizzly rain [in Vancouver, Canada].”

“He was terrific in the episode,” Greenwalt says. “It was cold, but what a great guy he is. We want to bring him back. I’ve got to find something easier for him. They were down by the river at four in the morning. He’s a very fit fellow, but he’s not a spring chicken.

“You’ve got to see him. He looks fantastic, and the camera loves him. He is a star. I was looking at him, thinking, ‘I get it. I can see why this has worked for him for so long.’ He’s a very sweet, fun guy.”

Majors says he was asked to sign a lot of lunchboxes, puzzles “and LP albums with me as the ‘Six Million Dollar Santa Claus’ on it, things I didn’t even know were sold as merchandise.”

But Majors didn’t find the need to give acting tips to young Gorham.

“Chris is a great kid. He plays that part so well, because the guy is a borderline nerd, and yet he can still do the physical. If he can keep that naivete up, and that feeling that he’s fighting it all the way and doesn’t
know how to use these powers, it adds just a little bit of a comic touch to it. Otherwise it gets very boring and stiff.”

For that reason, Majors is glad to hear that Jim Carrey is starring in the movie version of “The Six Million Dollar Man,” planned for 2005.

“I think it’s brilliant,” he says. “I always wanted to do a Steve Austin farce myself, and if they tried to do it straight now, it would be rather boring and passe. With the ‘Matrix’ stuff now, it made ‘The Six Million
Dollar Man’ look like a laugh.

“I can’t wait to see it.”

NBC is also planning “Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Charlie’s Angels,” to air in 2004, with “Farscape” star Ben Browder playing Majors, the onetime husband of “Angel” Farrah Fawcett.

“I don’t remember reading this script,” Majors says, “but they called about my son to play me in this thing. We refused, because we didn’t want to give it credibility, because we didn’t know how bad it would be.

“If they tell the truth, I’ll come out all right. I’m not worried. There’s been worse written about me, and I never read it.”

As for Greenwalt’s desire for Majors to reprise his role on “Jake 2.0,” the actor says, “I will definitely do one next year, if they get picked up, but I would like to do one this year. I said, ‘Let’s do it in the spring, when
it’s sunny.'”