SyFriday: Living In Our Own Knight World

[GT500KR]

I found an article about Knight Rider that just came out
http://www.syfyportal.com/news426002.html

always wondered how some people could sit back and just make bad movies and bad television series all the time.

Do they do it on purpose? Do they just think there is an audience for everything, including things that most people would look for the nearest vomit bag while viewing? Or do they really think that what they're producing is good?

Gary Scott Thompson may have answered that long-asked question when he talked a little recently about what was wrong and what was right about "Knight Rider," his show on NBC that no one has really noticed. According to him, NBC's decision to retool the show yet again from his terrorist-of-the-week storyline, and removing three major characters in the process, was the unnecessary interference from the network that hurt great genre shows like "Star Trek" and "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century."

I'm hardly the biggest fan of network interference, and I haven't been a fan of the garbage NBC has been churning out this season. But in this particular case, I have to side with NBC ... "Knight Rider" is something better stuck to the bottom of my shoe. And while I don't think even a retooling can save this crapfest from oblivion at this point, anything has to be better than what we've been forced to watch week in and week out.

can be a stickler when it comes to television, so I don't always go by my own instincts on what's good and what isn't. I'm not a big fan of "Smallville," for instance, but there are a lot of people I know and respect who love that show inside and out, and because of that, I would never denigrate the quality of it just because I don't like it.

But for "Knight Rider," I have yet to hear anyone really disagree with my take on the show. And the ratings are proving it as well. It's not like the network knocked it around the schedule without notice or something like that. In fact, it's held the same timeslot from the very beginning ... it's not that audiences can't find it. It's more like they don't want to find it.

And sorry, but that to me shows that maybe the "Knight Rider" idea wasn't a good one from the start, and the course that Thompson took it didn't help it any. In fact, it could've hurt it.

I know that Thompson is a very talented guy who wanted to bring some of his expertise into a high-profile television show. But it's just not working, and sometimes we need to step back from our creations to see it's not working.

Please don't resist these changes from NBC, Mr. Thompson, because it's probably the only chance you have left to think about saving this show.

[Diddy1_98]

I agree. Knight Rider has been much better since Christmas. I'm really looking forward to the reboot and hopefully the storylines will be good enough to warrant a 2nd season.

[ronni3]

sorry state of affairs......

[Sky_Blue_Civic]

KR's improved a lot, and we should try to save it, and GST has to do his part as the show runner!

[Harry Singh Jr.]

Lets just hope for a season 2

[KnightCrusader99]

How did network interference mess with Star Trek? Was he talking about the original series? Because TNG was so popular it spun off three more series and 4 more movies from the same period.

[Lexicon]

How did network interference mess with Star Trek? Was he talking about the original series? Because TNG was so popular it spun off three more series and 4 more movies from the same period.

He was probably talking about the original series or Enterprise. Those are the only two Treks that have ever been sodomized by network execs. Enterprise had endless tinkering from UPN and the original series was always being hammered by the network for various things that Rodenberry was trying to do or say. TNG was more or less taken from Roddenberry after the first season due to the WGA strike as well as his declining health.

[KnightINSTINCT]

Gary Scott Thompson should know as a director that he was working with a formula that might make or break this show. In some earlier episodes, I enjoyed the stories. But some episodes were just ridiculous. Knight Of The Zodiac was the worst episode that Gary even bothered to add into the series' season lineup. Beyond Zodiac and Knight In Shining Armor, I've been pretty satisfied with the eps of KR08

[Kaine]

this interview just further assures me, that GST doesn't get it!
what i don't get is, why he would do Knight Rider in the first place, when he isn't even interested in the franchise nor wants to accept the legacy or build on it?
that's the one thing the pilot did right... seems as if GST as the showrunner for new KR was the wrong choice

[Kram061-1]

yeah......IF it gets to season 2 they should go with someone else. David Andron has done a good job with the show, and I am pretty sure he was the one who wrote the pilot, and with a little more car action and a little less transforming, it would've been even better than it was. To me, the transforming is one of the things that has ruined the show, among some already mentioned other things.

[Lynda414]

yeah......IF it gets to season 2 they should go with someone else. David Andron has done a good job with the show, and I am pretty sure he was the one who wrote the pilot, and with a little more car action and a little less transforming, it would've been even better than it was. To me, the transforming is one of the things that has ruined the show, among some already mentioned other things.

David Andron did indeed write the pilot. And I completely agree with you. As long as they get rid of the plot hole in the backseat when they ditch the transformations.

[PHOENIXZERO]

Andron doesn't have the clout nor experience to be a show runner. I'm surprised they even hired him to do the pilot due to just how limited his resume is. Though at this point he probably would have been a better choice. >_>

[ronni3]

definatel;y...if a second season is announced...there needs to be a retooling in the management of KR as well.....they should keep GST but give the showrunning to sum 1 else...and i think dave andron did a good job....lets see.....shows have been cancelled...cancellatins have been kalled already....and KR has not been cancelled as yet...so fingers crossed!

[Lynda414]

Andron doesn't have the clout nor experience to be a show runner. I'm surprised they even hired him to do the pilot due to just how limited his resume is. Though at this point he probably would have been a better choice. >_>

Even if he isn't showrunner, I want him writing more eps.

[Shapeshifter]

Andron has one more ep coming up which will air # 15, I believe.

[PHOENIXZERO]

I gave Andron a lot of crap from his interviews and such, gave him a pass on the pilot due to the strike (not to mention NBC's budget) but so far the episodes he's written have been probably the best ones.

[Lynda414]

I think he has the best grasp on what KR is.

[PHOENIXZERO]

Possibly, though I think we do have to give him a bit of the blame for the whole government thing, he did set that up after all. Though the part about Charles resurrecting the Foundation (didn't exactly state whether that was FLAG or the Knight Foundation) was dropped or put on the back burner. I hope what is now episode 17 goes into actual details and fleshes out what episode 12 and every episode prior failed to explain.

[Lynda414]

I think that if Andron had been writing more eps, the government thing would have been done with before episode 12. Seems to me like it has always meant to be a setup for the bigger story. I think GST carried it longer than it should have been.