Knight Rider Is Out of Gas

[Temis the Vorta]

As much as I'd love to think this is pure rumor, I don't think the show has much of a chance at coming back. I already contributed to a letter writing campaign. Sad. They were finally getting it right and *poof*.

There is a film project being done by Larson, but that's been in development hell for years. Then again, they finally made "Watchmen" so who knows?

As for any future TV projects, I'd say what this show did was to give them a good template of what not to do in many respects. Hopefully any future TV projects will avoid the pitfalls that this show went crashing into.

Studio execs and producers always have been, and always will be, effing stupid. Look at the CW, a network that won't push great shows such as Supernatural and Reaper, instead concentrating on turds such as Gossip Girl.

CW is chasing the young female audience, so that decision makes good business sense. The only show on that network I watch is Reaper, so it's not good from my perspective, but I can see why they do it.

Knight Rider fell afoul of two trends in the TV biz: mindless braincandy for the masses is now getting really mindless, and even a show about a talking car is apparently too complicated and off-putting for that market. OTOH, the niche audience for sf/f is getting fussier, and Knight Rider just isn't smart enough to cater to them. It needed to be a lot smarter or a lot, lot dumber.

Plus, Knight Rider was being heavily supported by auto industry product placement, and I doubt anyone has money in the budget for those kinds of frills anymore.

 

[John Picard]

As much as I'd love to think this is pure rumor, I don't think the show has much of a chance at coming back. I already contributed to a letter writing campaign. Sad. They were finally getting it right and *poof*.

There is a film project being done by Larson, but that's been in development hell for years. Then again, they finally made "Watchmen" so who knows?

As for any future TV projects, I'd say what this show did was to give them a good template of what not to do in many respects. Hopefully any future TV projects will avoid the pitfalls that this show went crashing into.

Studio execs and producers always have been, and always will be, effing stupid. Look at the CW, a network that won't push great shows such as Supernatural and Reaper, instead concentrating on turds such as Gossip Girl.

CW is chasing the young female audience, so that decision makes good business sense. The only show on that network I watch is Reaper, so it's not good from my perspective, but I can see why they do it.

Knight Rider fell afoul of two trends in the TV biz: mindless braincandy for the masses is now getting really mindless, and even a show about a talking car is apparently too complicated and off-putting for that market. OTOH, the niche audience for sf/f is getting fussier, and Knight Rider just isn't smart enough to cater to them. It needed to be a lot smarter or a lot, lot dumber.

Plus, Knight Rider was being heavily supported by auto industry product placement, and I doubt anyone has money in the budget for those kinds of frills anymore.

I agree with the mindless braincandy (ie bikini shots all the time), but seriously, the show was getting much better. It was badly handled from the start and had they not strayed too far from the original movie, all would have gone well.

I disagree with you about going after the teen girl audience being a smart move. From what I understand, Supernatural consistently garners higher ratings than the dopey girly drama shows.

 

[Nick Ryder]

Well CW isn't 'solely' Teen Girl audiences, but I know a few women who watch Supernatural for 'the two cute guys' so...

Of course, this could be a 'threat' against the production team, maybe to either tighten things up OR... just promote the damned show better. There are still what? 5 episodes in the can they saved. So I'm thinking they'll use it as a wait and see kind of tactic. If it gets the right kind of buzz, people clamoring for its return, internet bbs and such offering ideas, that sort of thing, they could bring it back. If the season is already in the can, the Production team is already on hiatus. So someone could have taken being told to go home as 'being fired so I guess the show is done' but not done done. Y'know? Knight Rider isn't Star Trek where there's always a standing set or something and it never 'really' ended for something like what? 20 years!

I'm hopeful, but yeah I suppose it couldn't come back. Wasn't the 'greatest show of our time', but then again its a FIRST SEASON, first seasons 90% of the time kinda suck. Some cool episodes here and there, a few good concepts, but they're either all over the place, or they play it safe with stuff that doesn't blow people away, but still keeps them entertained.

If they did bring it back for Season 2 - maybe the bikinis and babes will be reduced and we'll kinda get back to something more 'normal'. Maybe once they actually have budget again, they can take KITT elsewhere, besides stuff on the western part of the US. Heck, a mobile SSC type thing could be a budget saver too, since they won't need such a large set to dress every week. The show COULD work, its just a matter of not only getting the word out there about it, but having a good quality episode for viewers to get sucked into when they find it. Which they have the potential to do, if they don't want to play it safe and just show women in bikinis.

Which isn't bad. Trust me. Its a good thing.

Especially Zoe. She can be in one every week. And roller skating.

 

[God Magnus]

Especially Zoe. She can be in one every week. And roller skating.

Baring her midriff...please.

Seriously, I'd love to see the show get another chance. It was just finding it's footing. Sadly, in today's world there is almost zero room for shows to get more than a season to prove themselves.

 

[nx1701g]

Well CW isn't 'solely' Teen Girl audiences, but I know a few women who watch Supernatural for 'the two cute guys' so....

True, but Dawn Ostroff has said several times that they're trying to focus more on the niche teen girl audience. Which is one of the reasons I'm so curious why it's rumored Terminator may move to CW if Fox cancels it.

 

[Captain Mike]

And just what do we get?..Jay Leno? And probably a helluva lot more of those regurgitive reality shows. I am pissed that NBC Exec's never had any balls.

 

[Trekker4747]

Plus, Knight Rider was being heavily supported by auto industry product placement, and I doubt anyone has money in the budget for those kinds of frills anymore.

Being supported by Ford. Which is doing well, thank you. Seeing that they asked for no handouts.

 

[Brent]

^ Still, nothing beats the transformations in Viper's first season. See.

Oh man, I remember that show, I watched it!

 

[davejames]

And just what do we get?..Jay Leno? And probably a helluva lot more of those regurgitive reality shows. I am pissed that NBC Exec's never had any balls.

Yeah that's the most annoying thing. It would be fine if they were planning to put some smarter and better shows on their schedule instead next season.

But bringing back the creatively bankrupt Heroes and putting Leno on at 10 every night just shows they have no intention of doing that. Since they're probably going to cancel Chuck too, it looks like the only thing I'll be watching on NBC now is The Office and 30 Rock.

 

[Agent Richard07]

Can they move this show to the Sci Fi Channel?

 

[RobertScorpio]

It did get better, but honestly I knew it had no hope in today's land of TV. Networks don't give a show any chance unless it is an instant hit.

I think the mini showed a lot of promise, but I never did like the transformers KITT. The constant shoving down our throats of Ford was also pretty bad, felt like I was watching a commercial, TOS never did that.

It failed because of bad writing...pure and simple...and too far fetched....The mini was okay...but I found the show very simplistic in a era where fans demand more intelligent writing..

Rob

 

[Captain Mike]

It did get better, but honestly I knew it had no hope in today's land of TV. Networks don't give a show any chance unless it is an instant hit.

I think the mini showed a lot of promise, but I never did like the transformers KITT. The constant shoving down our throats of Ford was also pretty bad, felt like I was watching a commercial, TOS never did that.

It failed because of bad writing...pure and simple...and too far fetched....The mini was okay...but I found the show very simplistic in a era where fans demand more intelligent writing..

Rob

And that is the problem with most of all of us. Some stop watching because they don't like the writing or it's not what they expected or want. I mean hell it's supposed to be about letting yourself go and expecting the unexpected, to believe in the unreality of the show. I say, if that is what you don't want then write and produce your own...

 

[Captain Craig]

I tuned this out around episode 6/7, new shows have about that long to prove it to me.

Thanks for the memories...

Sadly this was what the show was mostly about, but at least they did it well. This is a great still!

 

[Nick Ryder]

And I love Mike's expression - like 'Oh God, thank you! If I'm gonna fry in this car... at least I've seen heaven again!"

Dude was such a gawker though, I mean I recall in that same episode, he's zooming in on a woman in a bikini and staring at her breasts all the while Sarah's asking for directions over the comm.

 

[Trekker4747]

And I love Mike's expression - like 'Oh God, thank you! If I'm gonna fry in this car... at least I've seen heaven again!"

Dude was such a gawker though, I mean I recall in that same episode, he's zooming in on a woman in a bikini and staring at her breasts all the while Sarah's asking for directions over the comm.

Can't blame him.

Look at the abs on her!

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Not the first time I've heard this show was cancelled, never know...

 

[Guy Gardener]

on the Soup the other night... They had a fun facts tab before the ad break. "Things the do not Exist." Leprechauns. El Chubrecabre. Knight Rider Finale Parties.

They are so mean.

 

[Nick Ryder]

Yeah because BOTH shows would have had 'nothing' endings. TOS ended with a stupid Halloween party. At least this sort of had a set up for future stories, even if they don't order another 'season' and just order mini-serieses or a direct to dvd or something.

But why don't they just move this to Sci-Fi channel? Or TBS or USA or something? I mean NBC having it is cool, but this could have worked on another station. I want to see this show actually have a CHANCE to get better and classic. And after watching most of the season on Hulu its not nearly as bad as I remembered when I saw it first run, sure it's not as good as the latter half of the season, but its alright. I think it works better as a Friday night/Saturday night 'action' kind of show. A bit more fun than a more 'serious' timeslot could be. There are so few shows that just have FUN anymore. Everyone wants these 'deep, serious, introspective' shows yet what about shows that end up with the good guys winning ,the bad guys getting carted off and a good feeling. So what if there's babes in bikinis and skimpy outfits? At least with KR it's sort of expected of a show set in California.

But what really hurt it.. NO HOFF in the first season after the movie. They needed him to pop up at least once. And find out what happened to the original KITT. We saw parts of A K2000 looking car in the workshop, but what happened to KI2T's AI? I'd love to see a scene with MK Sr. show up in a new Ford... hey gotta give Ford their wank, and have even a clipped version of Willam Daniel's voice as the AI. (I know the man's dead, but there has to have been enough dialogue he's spoken over the years they could piece together for one episode.) or find another actor that sounds SORT of like the original voice, and just pass it off as...

"When my original shell was deemed obsolete and my original vocal processor was damaged in battle, Dr. Graiman rebuilt me into a new shell and systems. I was given to Micheal when he retired from active FLAG duty. That is why Dr. Graiman started work on the next generation supercar. Which included KARR... and you KITT."

Be a nice pass the torch episode and would show Junior and Senior kicking ass together.

 

[nx1701g]

Willam Daniel's voice as the AI. (I know the man's dead, but there has to have been enough dialogue he's spoken over the years they could piece together for one episode.)

I just wanted to say that William Daniel's is alive, though retired.

 

[Trekker4747]

I just wanted to say that William Daniel's is alive, though retired.

I was going to say. "Wha... what?! "