The Knight Rider concept 25+ yrs later

[K2000kid]

We all grew up on shows Like Airwolf, Knight Rider, and ATeam.
Fast Forward 25 yrs and those people are now watching The Office, American Idol, House, and CSI
Now sitcoms, reality TV, and Crime Drama rule the roost

Knight Rider doesn't really stand a chance and I dont blame the show
the writers, Ford, or NBC for that matter

It's the age we live in and trying to sell a show about guy with a talking car
going town to town to deal with a new bad guy every week
is like selling a woman in a wedding dress a ketchup popsicle
I doubt Dukes of Hazzard would do well now either
a show about a couple good ole boys who live in the sticks runnin from the law
every week would last about a month max

Long story short, Times have changed and people just aren't into talking cars anymore

[Sky_Blue_Civic]

If people weren't interested in talking car anymore, do you think the anthro car fan community would be huge? Do you think the Chevron Cars wouldn't be popular even today? People still buy those collectables. What about Disney/Pixar's Cars? It was a huge success, too.

Speaking of Cars, did you know it's sold more than a billion dollars worth of toys and you can still find Cars merchandise today? They're even releasing Cars 2 in 2012.

Last but not least, did you think it the Pilot movie for KR08 would have had 12 million+ viewers?

It's not the concept of talking cars...it's the people behind the scenes (not the actors) and the lack of promotion to blame.

[K2000kid]

Pilot movie was a fluke, call it curiosity views people wanted to compare it to the eighties version
i challenge you to ask ten people this week if they ever watched the new Knight Rider and tell me how many look at you like you have two heads, then wait for them to laugh when you walk by LOL
it's just not a popular show to watch

[PHOENIXZERO]

Sitcoms and crime dramas as well as some reality TV, a show called Star Search and dramas such as Dallas (the number one show of the time) ruled TV back then also as well as, it's nothing new, even though people think it is. Same old crap with new packaging. Hell, there was even a big recession at the time also when the original KR came out. The real difference is that today there's hundreds of more choices what to watch or other methods of entertainment. Then there's just the fact that the new series hasn't caught on with the public, largely thanks to the poor and flat out stupid choices made by GST, many of his writers (many of which I have a feeling don't really care for the show they're writing) and especially NBC.

IMO, there are three reasons the pilot did as well as it did. One, name recognition, two people expecting and wanting to see Michael Knight and KITT again and three, there just wasn't much else to watch on a Sunday night at the time. I'd guess that the largely negative reaction to the pilot, the terrible reaction to what the plans were for the series (including the Comi-Con unveiling of Attack KITT) as well as there being actual competition turned off more from the series..... Then there was the series itself which was a massive train wreck in many of the first nine episodes.

[Mr. M]

Don't forget advertising. NBC really did quite a bit of advertising for the pilot movie. Just one commercial that they advertised over and over again.

[My_Friend_KITT]

Hello K200kid and Everyone,

I have asked more than just 10 people about KR. Let me elaberate...

I work at the casino in Knight of the Zodiac. So I know first hand about being soo excited by a tv show that I had ask everyone I worked with if they had seen "last night's KR". I did find about 10 people out of like 60 I had asked that had seen it. However, my excitement about telling everybody led to about 20 more of them adding on as viewers.

Also, I used to (Darn it, discs are frozen must by more.) watch the TOS on my portable dvd player at work during my lunch break. The best part of this was...I kept having a growing over-the-shoulder audience that shared their love of the TOS. I was suprised too...Most of the people were 18-23 years old. Pretty young I thought.

So in my opinion, the elements are there for this to become a hit. I do believe that lack of promotion as well as second rate status to Obama and Rosie Odonnell had left people thinking it was no longer available. Many times I had to reassure my co-workers that it was still on and absolutely awesome!

I do believe that the concept can still work. I also believe that it will be highly accepted in Season 2 (with proper promotion).

[knightofthephoenix]

I completely disagree. The Office, American Idol, House, and CSI are all hits because they were unique in some fashion.

You don't need to follow the current trends to have a hit show that people will watch.