Was anyone clamoring for a new Knight Rider series? I surely wasn't. After catching five promo clips of the premiere on the Internet, I expected the new Knight Rider to be a horrific disaster. More on my reaction later. Right now, let's talk about the New Knight Rider, the new driver, and the new K.I.T.T.
The story begins at at the home of Charles Graiman (Bruce Davidson), a brilliant inventor who has something of value in his home. Four men with a dubious agenda pay him a visit, and leave him for dead. Before they can get what they've come for, though, a car speeds off into the night from Graiman's home. These bad guys are looking for "Prometheus," whatever that may be.
The only one who is alive who may hold the key to this Prometheus and Charles Graiman's work is his estranged daughter, Sarah (Deanna Russo). Sarah, it turns out, just happens to know our protaganist, Mike Traceur (Justin Bruening). Mike Traceur is a fun-loving bachelor who has no problem getting women, but he does have his own set of problems. Mike owes some leg-breaking thugs a lot of cash, and his friend will be killed if the money isn't paid in full.
In between the set-up to K.I.T.T. and Mike finally meeting, we're introduced to another character, an FBI agent named Carrie Rivai (Sydney Tamiia Portier). She also happens to be a lesbian, which is refreshing to see, although I do have my suspicions that a lesbian angle was employed more for titillation than for the sake of diversity. Carrie also happens to know Charles Greyman. These three people (and K.I.T.T.) intersect when the plot takes a couple of twists. It's up to Mike and K.I.T.T. to save the day, giving birth to a new Knight Rider.
The Knight Rider two-hour movie is like most made for television movies. By that, I mean that it's extremely mediocre and basically worthless. The writing is vanilla, the acting from the male and female leads is also poor, and there is nothing new that can be taken from what will be a new show on NBC. I do like the car, though.
A smart car like K.I.T.T. is getting closer to becoming a reality than it was in the 1980s. It has GPS, it has a brain that can Google and compile information, much like your home PC can. What it can also do is change its outward appearance, much like the Viper TV show from 1994, which was itself a take on the original Knight Rider; it's sort of like first cousins getting married.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Chen Lee
The new Knight rider went beyond suck, it is a complete waste of my time for two hours, that is two hours of my time that i will never get back. I feel like taking a hammer to my head just to ease the pain of watching my childhood TV show destoryed by a bunch no talent actors and a horribly written script...
Black river private security firm as the bad guys, can't they get any more original? some one please shoot me.!!
2 - Don Chappell Jr
First, Vichus smith...I have yet to see the show from begin to end ...your comments have given me the added interest in watching it. You as well as many others seem to have a problem with the wrong things. This IS a REmake of an old show. Yes the show was a little rough - IF you compair it to todays shows. I may eat crow, becuase I haven't seen the new show yet. BUT, I will watch it with and open mind. As far as the show plot.... I would hope that it is like the old show. I would not what to see M Knights son as a Alaskan fisherman or KITT as a school bus. You follow me? I personally am sick of the so called reality shows and others like "Earl". I understand your need to review and your oppion. You my say things like; "I would never watch this again" but this is America and I have the right to my oppion too. I pearsonally would like to see more shows like on the History and Discovery channels. I know that this will never happen in a dumbed down world of sheeple. (See "Earl" for I.Q. lose)
And - Chen Lee .... use a BIG hammer. You should have woken up and turned the channel. You must like "Earl".
3 - Chris Beaumont
Hey Chen, how exactly was your childhood tv show destroyed? Last I checked, it still existed, safe and sound.
4 - El Bicho
Chen, what childhood TV show are you talking about because Knight Rider sucked in the '80s? Does it really take a lot of "talent" to put on a mustache and play your evil twin.
5 - Voodoo
It was better than I expected. I hope the series is approved. All the haters out there, just shut your hole, you don't have to watch it!!! hahahaha
6 - Jet in Columbus
Very good article, and I agree completely. When KR first came out, I loved it so much just for the camp and that Pontiac. So much so that I I actually bought an early VCR so I could record and save every episode. Later I bought all the VHSs and then the DVDs.
Considering that you didn't even meet the main character in any kind of depth until after half the show was over, and the abysmal first half was devoted to her whining in the passenger seat the whole time, I spent that first hours yelling shut-up damn it and get to some kind of story.
Hasselhof looked like a badly preserved funeral home cadaver.
To be fair I watched the whole thing all the way through to "Give it a Chance". I won't be watching the series.
The point of KRI was to drool for the black TRANS AM that could leap over trains and semis in a single bound. According to several websites the Mustang KITT doesn't even turbo-boost! They didn't even keep the watch communicator/scanner.
What's worse is that kids who saw this before seeing the original will think the mustang is better... groan
7 - mike storm
this movie was ok but to pick things up they are going to have to bring michael and the old kitt in some times and the show will have to move faster like the old show did 25years ago. but as for turbo boost and some outher stuff glen larson mite hold some artstick writes to that stuff all& all not a bad movie but it is just a start.
8 - Noel
I loved KnightRider of the 80's, not because it was some kind of artistic masterpiece but because it was an hour of pure escapism and isn't that what we all want in our lives these days.
Alas, I too felt I had to give this new Incarnation of KR a go but lordy was I dissapointed, it wasn't even escapism! I felt the minutes ticking away and willed the ending along.
It was half way through the Movie before we met Mike and he was no great addition to the show and they spent so long droning on and on about the intricate way in which all the lead characters lives were entwined that I started to glaze over!
What surprised me the most was the lack of effects, no Turbo Boost, hell I don't even think the car left the ground and Please!! The car runs on Gas, what sort of Retro Fit is that?? KITT from the 80's never needed Gas!! So much was missing from the show and it seemed that they just filled the minutes with pointless and futile reminiscing from the lead characters.
I'd be hard pushed to watch a new series of KR if this is all we have to go on!!
9 - Phillip Winn
It took me two nights to get all the way through this. I think that the problem is that the original Knight Rider appealed to me as a young teenager, and I'm no longer a young teenager. If I were 13, I bet I'd like the new Knight Rider just fine.
As for me, I'll pass.
10 - Jeff Mueller
Wow what's with all the negativity? They are continuing the series!! Was the acting lame? Sure it was! Was the storyline weak? Sure it was! But it's a pilot!! Do you remember watching the pilot for the original series? It was lame too! It then went on to become the greatest action/adventure series of the 80's! This show has the potential to bring out the imaginations of little kids and in my case, little adults all around the world. KITT is still the coolest car by far on television and regardless of cheeze I got the same butterfly feeling I once had as kid. David Hasselhoff was compelling. The comment about him looking old... um he's in his 50's, what do you expect?!
I loved the very end when the Knight Rider music starts playing and Mike is preparing to go off on his first mission, reversing out of the KR command centre which is now a plane. Super cool. Not sure how they'll land that on a highway... lol but still.
This series can only get better with age. Sure there were a few things if I was the writer I would have changed. The KITT voice... somewhat weak. Plus the obvious Ford ad placements demonstrating the amazing breaks and power of their other vehicles... equally weak. But that's business! Appreciate the fact that this show is coming back to television. There is not one show on tv right now that gets me as excited as Knight Rider and I can't wait for this series to continue in the fall.
11 - Vichus Smith
One thing that really doesn't need to be argued is the coolnes of the car and its numerous gadgets and tricks.
I know this could all be changed an/or tweaked by the time the show comes on, but I reviewed it mostly as a stand-alone. By itself, it sucked.
If they get rid of the dead weight (the bad lead actor, his awful love interest, dull script) then I'd totally be up for it. I watched EVERY Knight Rider Spin-off, and they were either cheesy or just bad.
Speaking about the hardcore nostalgia geeks, I think that nothing short of the original show with the original cast would help them cope with a new series. Whatever remake of a TV show you can name has their irrational detractors.
I would just like one remake that takes the concept and uses it in a way that blows everyone away. Well, I mean, besides Battlestar Galactica. That's the definition of a good remake.
12 - Chen Lee
El Bicho, that is a good one!
I did not expect a oscar winning TV movie, but at least there was a lot they could do to make the show better.
Adding a lesbian FBI agent was just a stroke of bad taste, nothing against the life style, but seem like they want to add that in just to show how forward thinking and ain't just cool that we have a lesbian detective...
changing the name from Blackwater to Black river for the bad guy is also another bad move, seem like the private security firm are the current whipping boy in the film industry.
and not to speak of the bad acting... and acting was horrible, there was not one good actor in that show, even the . at least the old Knight rider has some decent acting, or what I could remember...:)
I guess they did not destory the show, they just destoryed my memory of a cool car TV show from my childhood... LOL!!
13 - Chen Lee
El Bicho, that is a good one!
I did not expect a oscar winning TV movie, but at least there was a lot they could do to make the show better.
Adding a lesbian FBI agent was just a stroke of bad taste, nothing against the life style, but seem like they want to add that in just to show how forward thinking and ain't just cool that we have a lesbian detective...
changing the name from Blackwater to Black river for the bad guy is also another bad move, seem like the private security firm are the current whipping boy in the film industry.
and not to speak of the bad acting... and acting was horrible, there was not one good actor in that show, even the . at least the old Knight rider has some decent acting, or what I could remember...:)
I guess they did not destory the show, they just destoryed my memory of a cool car TV show from my childhood... LOL!!
14 - Jet in Columbus
Jeff, the original KR pilot flew circles around this one. It didn't take forever before we knew Michael Knight and Devon and their motivations and then it was off on the first adventure. We got to know KITT right away too and the pacing didn't drrrrrrrrraggggggg.
In the new version we left the two hours hardly knowing anything about them, who was going to be running FLAG etc.
In the original we got to know and like KITT and his personality, in the new version, he's just a flashy car witn nearly no personality. It's not that KITT's not a Pontiac, it's that we didn't laugh at someone trying to steal him in the first time because it was funny, engaging, and made us care that Michael got him back.
I actually watched it hoping it'd be an extension of the old adventure. It would've been better to see Mighael Knight driving the Mustang up front or have Michael in charge of FLAG and pass the torch to his son... then hand the keys over to Mike, instead of waiting until the last 10 minutes of the show, we really weren't rewarded at all for having to sit through it, and as I said before, Hoff looked like a cadaver that didn't know it was dead with died black hair...
I googled the web and though it had a lot of viewers sunday night, it was doubtful that anyone will watch the series past the first few empisode without a MAJOR writing overhaul, because frankly, we weren't left caring about the new characters at all, and you can't say that about the original pilot of the first series.
Then, Michael had been wounded again, they got the bad guys with witt and cleverness and you left watching it with the feeling of WOW!
I groaned at the end of this movie...
15 - Mike Jones
I don't know what all you guys watched, but I thought the movies was GREAT! You are all talking about the horrible acting (have any of you even seen the old knight rider, that was some horrible acting) and how Mike was not even driving the car. This was just a pilot, a show that will lead into a series. Did you want them to just throw somebody in a car and start chasing bad guys. And remember the show is primarily about the car and I thought they did a great job with it. With all the other horrible shows on TV you guys sit here and rip this one. You all need to get a sense of entertainment.
16 - Sam
The new KR isn't worth watching. The car is the only thing that holds the show together. But even there, the car's "personality" isn't as engaging as the old KITT. I think it would have been much better if they kept the old KITT computer and "transplant" it into the new one. Since this is a new car, it should have been given a new name. KITT was the original name for the Trans AM. The new KITT is the long lost good brother after evil KARR was destroyed. It should be called KITT Jr. Which would fit the new Shelby Cobra than the old Trans AM. Wonder if KITT has any more missing relatives lurking out there.
17 - sort187
I don't know what was worse, trying to get interested in the show, or just barely getting into it, only to be interrupted by the FLOOD of commercials EVERY FIVE MINUTES!!!!!....is it me, or was most of the 2 hour time slot eaten up by all the advertisements....I can understand the Ford placements...but EVERYTHING ELSE??!!?? I mean, DAMN! Just when I thought I could settle in for a few minutes (which was all we got between commercials) it was time to watch another Metamucil ad, Energizer Bunny, or whatever...I'll bet if you split it up, the end result would have been 1 hour and 10 minutes of commercials, and 50 minutes of actual movie....if I wanted to watch so much product placement, I would have tuned into QVC....I know this should be my opinion of the Knight Rider pilot, but unfortunately, I couldn't get into it long enough without being bombarded by ads for KFC and Cialis. I hope that nobody trying to watch the show had A.D.D.---
18 - Paul Lapensee
I didn't find that bad. The writers strike may have limited there choices in scripts.
Compaired to all the crap on TV now it was nice to see Knight Rider return.
It will never be like the original and I don't think that was there intention.
Like all new show it takes time to find its footing.
We may yet see turbo boost. They don't have as many cars to crash in this series like the first one. So it would all have to be computer generated.
You can bash Knight Rider all you like. But with our limit choices on good TV shows lets give it a chance and see how it turns out.
19 - superss90
i hope they cancel this for good...
leave the classic alone please...
20 - Vichus Smith
Alright, Mike Jones. Fess up to the fact that you're trying to be funny. This was not great. If you really think it was, then NBC must be loving you. I however, can find entertainment in better places.
I think that the writer's strike had no effect on this script. Professional writers or, not, this looks like it was always a lame attempt at pimping an old franchise for new cash.
21 - Andrew
I watched it with several buddies and we enjoyed it! Everyone's always a critic nowdays. I guess thats what our airbrushed society has become.
22 - Mark Saleski
good writing? you were expecting good writing? this is freaking knight rider, not masterpiece theatre!
i kind of enjoyed it.
23 - Vichus Smith
Enjoying something and it being, you know, good, are two different things.
I enjoy pizza, but I would never tell someone it's healthy to eat nothing but it.
Who said the thing had to be magnificent. There's a lot between suck and shine. All I wanted was for it to be something that at least tried a bit. It's been at least 20 years. I wanted to imagine that Hollywood learned some sort of lesson.
24 - Mark Saleski
i know what you're saying. in my mind, i was comparing it to what went on in the past and, let's face it, there was a ton of cheese back then...so i thought it held up pretty well.
25 - Vichus Smith
Maybe I'm going too far to say this, but I do think that in addition to the cheese of Knight Rider, David Hasselhoff has a charisma, a quality that makes you appeal to him. This new guy felt like he wasn't giving it a good shot, and he wasn't an interesting character, even though his story is interesting.