Knight Rider

I wondered about this show. First of all, I was rather disappointed about the car. I mean, discarding the stylish Trans Am for a mere Mustang? Just doesn't do the job. After watching KITT for a while, it turns out he can even transform in three forms, which is quite senseless and most of the time it does not even make sense... The voice of KITT is rather boring and toneless.

Then the new intro song. Normally I like remakes with a bit of a rock twitch, but this one? Rather disappointing.

Then the more important things: The stories. I watched several episodes, as I want to give it several chances, but it does not really seem to get better. The stories are rather flat and chaotic and even quite repetitive to some lengths.

The acting is most of the time either overacted, or on the contrary missing livelihood in mimics and body language.

The special effects are really well done. Alas most of the time, they do not add to the story. On the contrary even, they are too often a way to show off with the CGI capabilities.

In some fist fighting scenes, the stand-ins didn't even look like the original actors. Different size, different body mass, different colour of hair, different hairdo. Normally I do not complain about such things, but here it's embarrassingly obvious at times.

Long story short: they better had spent less money on the effects and more money on decent writings and talented actors.

So having been a child of the 80's where Knight Rider, The A Team, and other such Glen Larson staples were a religion for me I sat down with the full DVD season 1 box set of this remake fully prepared to growl and hate my way through the entire thing.

Annoyingly, frustratingly, and hating myself when I admit it, this wasn't actually as bad as I was expecting.

Yes granted the best way to look positively at this rendition is to not actually compare it it the first run, and especially not the god awful other attempted reboots since the ending of the 4 season run of the original.

The first second you see B list movie staple Bruce Davison in the cast list you know you aren't dealing with the likes of shawshank or schindlers list.

That not withstanding, the series itself has some amusing moments, and Val Kilmer replacing Bill Daniels as KITT isn't as bad as many would expect either.

Yes its shameless lower primetime shenanigans and is completely filled with bare skin heavy pretty girls and leading man handsome men all giving pouty looks and eyelid heavy looks just off camera at every opportunity but when its such blatant americana like it is, this can be overlooked if not forgiven.

The car itself is well designed, the mustang being a very good choice. However the transforming abilities are just a step too far for the suspension of belief for me.

A welcome return was the appearance of KARR with the original voice talents as well.

When you watch this you'll need to be aware of the first series, but try not to cast an opinion based on the warm memories you may have of it as a child.

Justin Bruening is a valiant attempt to replicate the Michael Knight character and is fleshed out in terms of back character a little more than David Hasslehoff was but still, its a channel 5 type budget show so you aren't expecting george clooney levels of talent.

Speaking of the Hoff, his cameo makes a welcome addition to the pilot and is strangely subdued and serious which you wouldn't expect.

All in all, a fun show but not one you'd really expect to be renewed even tho a second season may be fun.

Watch it on a weekend afternoon when you have nothing better to do, its really not that bad and you'll enjoy it if you want a brainless few hours just to enjoy some typical man time with cars, explosions and the like.

what more could you ask for. its got a gorgeous good looking sexy cast and a gorgeous good looking sexy car. storyline is lighthearted and not meant to be taken serious. i mean how much further can you take the storyline of a crimefighting team and a super-car. car and man get mission to stop bad guy and man and car go out and stop bad guy. its got action, jokes, humour and i even had a tear in my eye at some points. cast are great and all gel really well. the original show was good and now they have just updated it and made it better. just don't take the show too serious, sit down, relax and just enjoy the show. i hope there is a 2nd season as it deserves one

I actually didn't much like the first half of the show. Having watched the original 1982 series, I immersed myself in the dynamic between Michael and KITT as they solved the cases, and only just in the last few episodes did I feel that same magic happen between Mike and KI3T. There were still plenty of moments I enjoyed, and the other side characters are all great. It was just starting to get good, and it goes and gets cancelled without even a second season. Such a shame. It's a worthy watch, if a little over the top as far as the showy tech and special effects go.

I've seen a lot of hate on this show, and honestly a lot of it is just people going "not muh" and touting the 1982 series as so much better. You know why the original seemed so much better? Characters were given room to grow, and that takes a lot of production. Knight Rider 2008 had just barely begun tapping into that potential, so of course to many it's going to fall short. This is a suitable sequel series to the original, I'm just sad it had gotten cancelled after 17 episodes.

So if you liked the Old Knight Rider..When it was first proposed to Universal Studios They had the Pilot and 2 episodes..Universal denied the series due to the cost of the New 3rd Generation Firebirds..Just before they Cancelled it ..There was a Horrible Train accident in the General Motors Train yard in Van Nuys CA..Over 200 new Firebirds were Damaged..Last minute Universal Studios bought the cars and Knight Rider went on for 6 seasons..I'm guessing the new Knight Rider series went thru the same problem..Mainly going thru the Recession I know Ford Motor Corp.helped out..Doing a Motion Picture is a one time Vehicle Expense..When you have a TV series that is based on Cars ..it gets CRAZY Expensive...insurance/ stunt drivers/ permits..etc..Too Bad i really liked the New Series..