Just catching up on my reading and found a story from The Hollywood Reporter describing a “reboot” for Knight Rider interesting. They plan to go back to the 1980s style storylines (a man and his car, helping out regular people) rather than ‘terrorist of the week’. They also declined the options on three of the regular cast for the back nine episodes.
Such a change would make “Knight” a better fit into NBC’s newly rebranded crime drama Wednesday lineup alongside “Life” and “Law & Order.”
The revamped “Knight” will kick off with the two-part Episodes 10-11. NBC is planning a major push, including possibly airing Episode 10 on Sunday after an NFL football game in January, with the conclusion airing the following Wednesday.
Such a move would bring “Knight” back to Sunday night, where the two-hour movie/backdoor pilot drew big ratings in February.
The series it spawned has been struggling in the Wednesday 8 p.m. slot, dropping last week to a season-low 5.1 million viewers and a 1.6 rating/4 share in adults 18-49.
The retooling had been put in motion long before the full-season order for “Knight” three weeks ago. The UMS/Dutch Oven series is now filming Episode 15.
There are no immediate plans to add new regulars to the show, which will focus on the five remaining characters: Mike (Justin Bruening), Sarah (Deanna Russo), Billy (Paul Campbell), Zoe (Smith Cho) and KITT. The producers also are looking to do stunt guest castings. – Read the rest via THR.
The only retooling that would help Knight Rider is put THE HOFF back in the drivers seat and get rid of that awful car that looks like a reject from Fast and the Furious and get the real KITT back plus a hot sexy female mechanic. That or car crusher.
Dropping 3 regulars brings down the total cost of the show as well. The original KITT and THE HOFF are supposed to make an appearance this season.
I don’t believe NBC has any football games on Sunday in January. The regular season runs until Dec 28th. They have two Wild Card games on Saturday, January 3rd and then the Super Bowl and Pro Bowl are in February.
This is a pretty big switch they’re pulling down, under the guise of a mid-season reboot. Between this and firing people off Heroes, NBC has some major creative challenges to tackle. Makes FOX’s scheduling issues for TSCC and Dollhouse look minor in comparison. At least FOX is happy with those shows creatively, or in the case of Dollhouse able to work the issues out before the show airs. This reboot could be a catastrophe.
This reboot could be a catastrophe.
What, an even bigger one than the show already is?
This show is awful.
The cast members they let go represent the authority figures on the show.
One of the things that made the original Knight Rider so fun was that it borrowed the classic James Bond dynamic of the hero, the stuffy boss and the girl Friday. Bonnie/April went one further in that she was Q and Moneypenny rolled into one.
Instead of paying homage to Bond, this new show just rips it off shot-for-shot. Defibrilator in the car? The Submarine car driving onto the beach? Are they serious?
The emphasis on fighting terrorists wore thin really quick, and the show is almost too high-tech. The writing is so misguided. The end of one episode featured like a two-minute mission briefing on Michael’s next assignment. Like the writers really thought it out to make it sound realistic. Something about finding an Iranian spy in Philadelphia. It of course was not the next episode. Nor was it any episode. Just a throwaway line that could have made an interesting episode.
In keeping the worthless characters of Zoe and Billy, the network has played their hand. They want to continue the Melrose Place dynamic that has been so bad these first few episodes. The new Michael Knight seems like a frat boy looking for a party, and the romantic subplot with Sarah Graiman does not work at all. But maybe that’s because it’s drowning in the other unfocused hormonal subplots.
They should have kept Bruce Davison as the head guy. Didn’t in the movie he say he was going to restart the Foundation? What happened to that? Now its all quasi-governmental officials led by Alex Torres?
Davison should be the new Devon, using his contacts, etc. They can keep Sarah as the mechanic, but have to de-emphasize the romantic connection with Michael. It’s too contrived the way they keep finding ways for her to tag along.
Even with those changes, I doubt the show can work. The new Michael is a lightweight compared to the Hoff. Indications are they even screwed up the KARR storyline.
This show is sinking fast.
Alas, the only real reworking of the show that would work for me is to kill off their lead character. How they wound up with someone so lacking in charisma is beyond me.
The casting sunk this show. The demo they are apparently going for has to like the “hero.” This guy is hard to like or relate to. Ugh.