Knight Rider Second Series 2008 Why Cancelled?

[Nicholas Knight]

The new series waited too late to get the old school feel. I actually like the episodes after Knight to Kings Pawn. The new series had the "Bond" feel to it instead of Knight Rider and seemingly not focused on Mike and KITT. Then they didn't properly link the past series to the 08 series.

If the pilot's story had continued with Micheal Knight(Hoff) as the head of Knight Research instead of Torres and Mike Traceur's pal Dylan instead of Billy, with Agent Rivai on just the first ep of the Series, and a better origin to Mike Knight II's past, and kept the (pilot) Attack Mode, I think the show would probably be still in syndication.

It just so shocking with the popularity of the 08 TV movie, that NBC would kinda say, " It was watched enough to become a series, now lets omit things of the pilot......"

[Two Three]

responsible for all very crap scenario and writer Gary Scott Thompson
Because first series creator Glen A. Larson and second series too Creator Glen A. Larson
But writer is other,very damn..
Also; Series Episode 1
The dialogue between Zoe and Billy very crap
(Michael Long - name is porn star name) <--What the hell is this ?
scenario very crap..

[Lost Knight]

Now if you were looking at it from a very practical standpoint, here's one word that the pilot had in abundance that the series didn't: Auto-Cruise. (2 words?)

Granted, you didn't see any steering wheel shots, whilst kitt drove on his own, they usually had the windows blacked out.

I'm pretty sure that's what Michael was referring to. To elaborate further on that, I thought it was sad that from a technical standpoint, the original series was superior to the '08 series in many ways in terms of stunt work. To me, it's a lot more gratifying seeing a REAL turbo boost and K.I.T.T. (almost) really driving on his own. The backdoor pilot took this a step further with remote control and I wish they continued to use that method for the rest of the series.

We all like to playfully knock the old 'backseat stunt driver' method by looking for hands and arms in the still shots, but I think that beats out tinted windows any day.

[Michael Pajaro]

Granted, you didn't see any steering wheel shots, whilst kitt drove on his own, they usually had the windows blacked out.

That's pretty much what I meant.. We were TOLD KITT was in Auto Cruise, but we didn't really "see" it because of the blacked out windows. In contrast, the two-hour movie had the best Auto Cruise footage of any episode, from any series, hands down. I just think they really did a great job showing us a self-driving car in the movie.

[james olden]

Re: the earlier suggestion of new Knight Rider on another network . . .

There is the issue that NBC/Universal own all the TV rights to the Knight Rider franchise, and they might want
to keep it an exclusive property within the NBC/Universal "family". Thing is, what if another network like CBS
(for example) offered NBC/Universal a licensing deal to broadcast new episodes on their channel alongside
the variations of CSI and NCIS, and even alongside the updated version of Hawaii-Five-O ?

Would NBC/Universal still want to "keep it in the family", or would the dollar signs take precedence . . . ?

In some ways i understand the keep it in the family thing but in some ways i dont because if that was really the issue NBC/Universal wouldve had either TOS or 2008 series of Knight Rider along with the shows T.J. Hooker and Charlies Angles T.O.S. that they already have on the Universal Digital Cable Channel. Maybee the reason is dollar signs.

[coco]

Please don't shut down, I like it very much, is also looking forward to broadcast in the second quarter, the hope can be more and more exciting。please。

[goldbug]

After having given this thought on and off for a couple years, I have to agree that in terms of what KR2008 was up against, the show was kind of doomed from the start. I can't help but wonder if the show might have done better on a network like USA or TNT where smaller rating numbers can still be considered a success.

I also have to say that in retrospect, certain elements that needed to be in the series didn't deliver. The relationship between KITT and Mike was only touched on here and there. It should have been a core element of the show. Also, the chase scenes used WAY too much CG. I remember the one on the highway being chased by cops was awesome, and the elevated parking lot one (the ep was written by Andron) was awesome too. I've seen some chase scenes on shows like "Burn Notice" recently that would've fit in perfect with KITT and gang.

I also agree with comments that the government involvement was way too heavy handed. They tried to explode the concept of the show when they really didn't need to. I liked the arc leading to FLAG becoming it's own entity again towards the end, but I feel the show should've gotten to that say, 4-5 eps into the first season (or just continue with the premise of the pilot movie).

I was sad to see the show go. Had it been given another season I think it would've found its legs, but shows nowadays don't get second chances like they would've 20 years ago.

[JamesBondMustangGT]

I liked the new show, but I thought they went too far. The great thing about the original Knight Rider was the simplicity of the show. Yeah K.I.T.T. talked, had a personality and could do some really cool things, but it wasn't invincible and it was still a car. The new series tried to do too much with CGI and as much as I love Ford as a brand, I think they had too much to do with things as a sponsor as well. Having KITT transform into a truck or Fusion? Really? Too much. I can buy the heads up display. Maybe even the graphic capable skin on the ourside of the car, but KITT should never have become any more than a car. Also "Attack mode" in the series was too much as well. In the Pilot movie it was cool, it the show, it wasn't.

If they can bring the show back properly, I'd watch it. I watched all of KR2008, but they need to not do so much CGI. CBS did a great job with Hawaii Five-O because they made it like the original. It isn't overly done or complicated. If NBC could do the with KR, then it will be great. Make it simple. I feel if they wanted to bring it back they need to still wait a few years for the bad taste of KR2008 to get out of peoples mouths and to make people say, "Wow! This time they got it right."

[KITT Conversion]

In some Classic Knight Rider episodes, when KITT is turning a corner, I've noticed that you can see some sort of bar, under his front nose, which clearly 10 mins before that bar was never there.
In my community, people always asked me, why when KITT was driving himself, that the windows were blacked out. Some people answered: it's because there's actually someone in the car driving it.

With reference to the part about the bar under KITT's nose, there's also something like that in Dukes of Hazzard, either in the beginning of each 3rd season or 2nd season episode, when it shows the clip of Bo and Luk jumping over the river, or whatever it was, look on the passenger side, and you'll see the camera they always used to those side shots.

There's also a topic somewhere on this Forum, which shows a picture, of KITT driving, and thn there's a random black car on the side of the road. Another flaw in the Classic KR.

Just my 3 cents in this

KC

[K2000kid]

Just wanted to add my 2 cents here. While Knight Rider 1982-1986 was probably one of the biggest things besides the hair in that era, a show revolving around a talking super-car just doesn't work now. Lets not forget they tried saving the original series with Super Pursuit Mode after the ratings dipped and we all know how that turned out. To its credit Knight Rider inspired a lot of those other super-vehicle crime fighter shows like Airwolf and Viper, but Knight Rider was a product of it's time and is best remembered and celebrated for what it was.