Salute to Billy

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Michael Pajaro
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Salute to Billy

Post by Michael Pajaro » Wed Sep 09, 2009 10:33 pm

One of the things that really worked for me was the character of Billy. Much of the credit has to go to actor Paul Campbell, but even beyond that I think the writers knew how to write for Billy, and they knew how to write for Paul playing Billy. In contrast, they didn't know what to do with Rivai or .

Think about what Billy did for the show:

Many people critiqued the Las Vegas episode (Knight of the Zodiac) this way: "the main story was weak, but I liked Billy in it." Billy carried the episode. And kudos to the writers for avoiding the obvious cliche and NOT have Billy get scammed.

The surfer episode (Knight of the Iguana) was also a bit weak, but what was one of the highlights? Watching Billy nervously go out into the field. And we saw Billy evolve a little bit out of his comfort zone as the season went on.

And let's face it, Zoe alienated a lot of fans from the very start by calling fireball KITT "awesome". And her ditsy attitude as a surfer chick didn't help. But as we watched her bucker with Billy, and saw their weird relationship unfold, she became much more likeable. How do you describe their relationship? Lovers? Siblings? Rivals? All of the above. Billy made Zoe interesting.

Is Billy really cool? Or really geeky? Yes. He walked the line perfectly and was always fun to watch.


Don't forget: Paul Campbell is competing in a charity triathlon this weekend, raising money for The Children's Lifesaving Foundation. You can support him and leave a short message with your donation here:

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FLAGCEO
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Re: Salute to Billy

Post by FLAGCEO » Thu Sep 10, 2009 12:03 pm

I agree. I think Billy was definately one if the best characters of the show. I even enjoyed his pursuit of the scientist in the final episode -"I love the knight life".

While I'm sure it was better written, I think Paul deserves most of the credit for really developing his character.

Zoe I think had difficulty emerging, and I don't think Smith Cho really found the character. She definately evolved from that ditzy character in the first few episodes.

I also liked sarah's character after the reboot- taking charge but staying at the ssc. I did t like her in the field in all of those first dozen episodes.
Bring Knight Rider back for Season 2!!

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tamatt27
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Re: Salute to Billy

Post by tamatt27 » Thu Sep 10, 2009 7:32 pm

I agree! Billy, for the most part, was always well written for his character. Some things he did annoyed me (the paper cut comes to mind), but they were never out of character for him. I do hope he might have the chance to come to the Festival in March, I'd like to meet him.
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RenanrRinaldi
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Re: Salute to Billy

Post by RenanrRinaldi » Thu Sep 10, 2009 7:49 pm

KITT, attack mode! (shaking)
- Billy
Mike: Next time, calculate faster.
KITT: Were you injured?
Mike: No
KITT: Then my calculations were fast enough.

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knightofthephoenix
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Re: Salute to Billy

Post by knightofthephoenix » Fri Sep 11, 2009 1:41 am

I'll salute to Billy.

His character worked in this show and I felt he helped separate this KR with the original in a positive way.

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