Knight Rider 08: August 2008 Archives

Think Knight Rider is the right show for you? Unsure if it suits your tastes? New York Magazine has their annual Fall Preview issue out, which contains this handy tool to find out.

Hopefully you landed on the right spot and not Paris Hilton's my new BFF

Their preview also had this blurb on the new series:

Knight Rider...9/24 It's all the superintelligent-car-that-fights-bad-guys action, but kitt's moved on from Michael Knight. Will Hasselhoff devotees be sated by the occasional cameo? NBC; Wednesdays at 8.

ET Canada got a chance to stop by the good 'ol KITTCave and chatted it up with Justin Bruening. The good thing about these interviews, while they don't reveal more than we know - it does help to show what a relaxed and enjoyable person Justin seems to be.

[Thanks justinbrueningnet]

"The funny thing is we went to the Television Critics Association and the critics already had a preconceived notion," says Thompson. "They looked at us and said 'We already saw the two hour so this is going to blow.' I am like 'Give us a chance! We haven't even aired! You don't know what we are doing! We are revamping the series. It is going to be different!' Then I go to Comic Con the same week and the fans were excited to see what we were going to do. When we asked for them to give us a shot, it was like 'Absolutely! We'll be there!' We showed them the four minute clip and they went crazy. One of the last questions was whether they could see it again. I don't fault the critics but unless it's up there as an Emmy winner...... Well, that's not my objective. My objective is to bring eyeballs and get people to watch."

Additionally, Thompson went on to talk about Hasselhoff and the original KITT's return:

"In the two hour, you did see bits and pieces of it," reports Thompson. "We're leaving that right now because there is an opportunity with David Hasselhoff returning at some point. We've discussed it and are discussing it. I don't know if it's going to happen just because of scheduling. It's something we are actually talking about so if we did do it, that would be the point I would want to bring Kitt back."

"We are a car savvy nation where we love our cars. We also spend a lot of time in our car and in some ways, this has a wish fulfillment element. Everybody wishes they had a car that could drive itself or transform so you could sleep and Kitt can do that. The biggest thing is to really keep moving. If you are going to do a show about a car, you need to go fast. The cars need to be really cool and have amazing stunts and races. The other is you need really cool characters driving them."

[Producer Gary Scott Thompson on the New Knight Rider]

NBC posted this pretty amazing video of the KITTCave (Satellite Surveillance Center or SSC) being constructed on set!

We can't tell how long this took to put together, but the task required to do it looks like a huge undertaking and it makes us really appreciate all the behind the scenes people that are breaking their backs to put this together.

http://www.wcyb.com/ aired this 1:33 second clip recently about the NASCAR Bristol event that we mentioned last week

They interview Travis Kvapil about his feelings driving the car, and also show some up close details of them applying the Knight Rider branding and doing a few laps around the track.

Continuing their Knight Rider promotion, BuddyTV spent some time with Paul Campbell, who plays "Billy" on Knight Rider airing September 24th.

Paul Campbell plays Billy, the tech engineer in charge of keeping the physics and chemistry of KITT and the technology in the KITT Cave up and running. However, despite being "the guy who knows everything about it," Campbell has yet to ride in KITT through the show's first five episodes, though like many cast members, he's eager to do so.

See their whole interview here.

An amazing Knight Rider poster was spotted by our very own Sue! This five story tall poster was found tacked upon the NBC building in Burbank. Very slick and recalling the Knight Rider of yesteryear for sure!

Deanna Russo (Sarah Graiman) was interviewed for the September 2008 issue of Maxim. The PG-13 rated photos accompanying the article are available on Maxim's website.

HEAT of the KNIGHT

Despite cameos from the Hoff and a talking car voiced by Val Kilmer, the new Knight Rider's true star is the formidable Deanna Russo.

By Allison Prato

Great news for anybody who's stuck in the '80s: NBC is bringing back Knight Rider, the iconic TV classic, with a Transformers-like KITT, balls-to-the-wall action, and a leading lady who's hotter than any babe from Dynasty. Her name is Deanna Russo, and after a recurring role on The Young and the Restless and guest spots on everything from N.C.I.S. to CSI, she's finally in the driver's seat.

We hear you've been doing tons of fight scenes and weapons training. If a crazy KITT lover attacks you in a dark alley, how will you defend yourself?

My character is known for her kicks and excellent marksmanship. If the attacker is far away, I'll shoot him down, and if he's close, I'll kick him to the ground. In other words, she's not just the good-looking girl in the corner who cries and doesn't know how to defend herself. I'm gonna pick a fight with the boys. I've been learning a mix of everything from karate to kick boxing to doble olisi.

Never heard of it, but it sounds terrifying.

It's a Filipino martial art. You have two bamboo sticks, and you can do some gnarly shit with them. You take someone out, or, if they have a gun, you can disarm them in half a second.

For all the Knight Rider fans out there, how can you assure them you guys aren't butchering the franchise?

The most important part of Knight Rider was the car, and we're putting it on the highest pedestal we can-honoring it as this incredible machine. Nowadays, everybody has a talking car, with GPS systems and OnStar, but this KITT is on a whole new level. For example, he's able to morph from a truck bed back into a Mustang.

On Tuesday, we were completely humbled and pleased to bring to you an exclusive video of KITT turning into Attack KITT from the team behind the new Knight Rider

Today, we are very fortunate to have access to a before and after video. See how the complete shot was put together, from an empty parking space, to wireframe to final image! If they can do this much standing still, we can't wait to see more of it on the road!

Continuing their coverage of Knight Rider, today Sci Fi Wire wrote about their trip to the Satellite Surveillance Center (SSC) or what has been more commonly called the "KITTCave"

In reality, the lab--situated in an undisclosed location in an unidentified city--is actually an elaborate set at Santa Clarita Studios, just north of Los Angeles. The set represents K.I.T.T.'s multilevel underground hideout.

In the center of the set, on a rotating metal platform, sits the $75,000 2008 Ford Mustang GT500KR itself. When K.I.T.T.'s ready to go, it revs up and speeds down a tunnel inside a soundstage. "They don't let me drive it very much, but I get to sit in it, and it's pretty comfortable," admitted star Justin Bruening, who plays Mike Tracer, the ex-soldier who is the human companion to the super-intelligent talking car voiced by Val Kilmer. (Tracer acquires the codename "Michael Knight" in the show's first episode.)

Definately an interesting read that is worth checking out!

[Knight's K.I.T.T. Cave Revealed]

NBC comes through again today with this official shot of Attack KITT. If you've been watching our site - you are quite familiar with this beast by now. But we aren't tired of this beauty just yet - and we think he looks great at night.

In what's bound to be seen as good news by the entire fandom, SciFi.com has learnt that the original Knight Rider, the Hoff himself, David Hasselhoff, is in negotiations with NBC to reprise his role as Michael Knight alongside his onscreen son, Mike Traceur, towards the end of the first season.

Gary Scott Thompson had this to say:

"That's the first time the show's producers have confirmed that they are considering inviting Hasselhoff onto the new series."

"He may make an appearance later this season," Thompson said in an interview on the show's set in Santa Clarita, Calif. "He is talking to NBC next week, and we are working out everyone's schedule ... I don't want to put him in just for the sake of having him drop by; I want there to be a good reason for him being there and have it be part of the story. I talked to David about a way of doing that, and so far he likes it. It's a cool idea."

To find out whether there's a chance of the original KITT returning to the frey, hit the link, and check out the whole article.

Check out these images NBC just released for the first episode of Knight Rider's return to series. The episode entitled "A Knight In Shining Armor" picks up in real time from when we left our characters in February. It airs September 24th on NBC.

In a follow up to our coverage of NBC's work with Yates Racing, and more specifically Travis Kvapil's No. 28 Sprint Cup Car, Eonline have posted a new image of the vehicle in question, showing off a number of unseen profile views. 

Moviehole was able to reveal today that Kristina Anapau of the movie "Cursed" shot some scenes as a guest star in an upcoming episode of Knight Rider.

Looks like someone is having a street race!

[Moviehole]

They really know how to keep us on our toes, don't they? NBC has another commercial for us tonight. This one updates a commercial we saw back before the pilot aired and updates it with new footage and technologies - such as Turbo Boost.

YouTube embed for those that need it - after the jump.

Over the weekend a commercial for the new Knight Rider aired during the Olympics on NBC, and we captured and posted it for you then.

We've been having daily discussions about the commercials in our forum, and last night we were provided with a little insight on this one.

A member of the team working on the new Knight Rider series, who has been kind enough to post recently, provide us with this alternate angle of the commercial that aired, as well as explain a little history about the commercial.

We were pretty shocked to see it air on national televison. I thought it was pretty cool of NBC to do that! That's a sign that we are doing something right in house.

We couldn't agree more. Read more on this clips production here, where he gets quite a bit more specifc about the process. It's truely interesting for anyone who enjoys learning about the behind scenes process.

Many many thanks to z00story for sharing with this and the 'higher ups' that gave them the go ahead. We are very truely appreciative of being able to share this with everyone.

Those lucky folks over at BuddyTV have gotten to go on set at the filming of Knight Rider!

They plan on releasing a new video every monday. This edition they talk with Justin, Gary, Deanna, Paul and Bruce, while also showing a bit of the set (check out those guns!) and filming KITT on green screen.

My first instinct when entering the Knight Rider set was to run around like a little boy, touching all the computer monitors, running up the metal stairs and sitting in KITT's driver's seat. Or maybe that's just me. Either way, being on the set is like being a kid in a candy store, and I got the impression that's exactly how the cast feels as well.

You can check out their video here!

UPDATE: Found an embed:

NBC, NASCAR and Yates Racing have teamed up to help promote Knight Rider. This Saturday, as part of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Travis Kvapil will drive the specially painted No. 28 car.

"The stealth look and feel of the car coupled with Travis Kvapil at the helm has us very excited about this race," said John Miller, chief marketing officer at NBC Universal Television Group and president of the NBC Agency. "This event exemplifies the adrenaline and action the 'Knight Rider' series will deliver."

Added Kvapil: "It's every guy's dream to feel like they are an action hero, and I get to have that chance under the lights of Bristol with our No. 28 'Knight Rider' Ford."

[via Hollywood Reporter]

Check out this new commercial, do we get our first sneak peak at a possible Turbo Boost? They talk about definitely talk about Turbo Boost; but you can see KITT maybe finishing some sort of jump. We also noticed some ripples on the car as it's flying by.

[Thanks to KiTT316, KNIGHT10000 and Sue in our forum for tracking this down!]

Check this out! Our first look at KITT transforming into the new Attack mode for the series airing in September. Pretty slick, though a bit rough - what do you think?

[Many thank to Sue for the capture and Sky Blue Civic for the alert!]

Jalopnik (those lucky..) have scored a ride in the Knight Industries Three Thousand for the Woodland Dream Cruise that happened yesterday.

Unlike most of those used in filming, this isn't a fancy-pantsified Mustang GT. Nope, it's a heavily-modified GT500KR, with light bar and all.

They can't show us anything more until their embargo ends on September 1st. Though looking at their pictures, it just looks like a King of the Road with the light KITT installed. The interior looks completely stock, short of the Mio Knight Rider GPS.

Would be fun to be in their shoes!

This is similar in cut and pace to the others. The only thing we can tell is different is that Val Kilmer is actually the voice for all dialog, with no stand in.

NBC just hooked us up with this Primetime Preview of the Knight Rider 2008 series airing in September. This three minute clip is pretty sweet and contains both footage from the pilot and unseen footage from the series. Also to note is some behind the scenes look at the 3D transformation process and some interviews with Gary Scott Thompson and David Andron.

This is part of a larger 30 minute preview that will be airing on select markets and channels (even airlines) in the month leading up to the series premier.

From TVWeek:

The network said Tuesday that it will syndicate the special to all of its 232 local stations and its vast array of cable holdings, including USA, Sci Fi, Bravo, Oxygen, MSNBC, CNBC, Chiller and Sleuth. In addition, the show will be available for on-demand Internet streaming via NBC.com as well as local stations' Web sites.

Brief :10 second commercial that aired during the Olympics tonight. Just the scanner light strobing on black with the voice of Val Kilmer saying: "You May Call Me KITT" with a transformation title at the end.

The anual race of the Gumball 3000 starts this Saturday in San Francisco. With a special guest behind a very famous wheel.

from wikipedia:

The 2008 10th Anniversary Gumball 3000 Rally will take place in August. Cars with neutralized carbon emissions are preferred and proof will be required. The entry fee is £60,000 ($120,000US). The start line will be San Francisco, proceed through checkpoints in San Diego, Las Vegas, flight to Nanjing (Drivers stopping over in Pyongyang), Shanghai, and finally finishing in Beijing during the 2008 Olympic Games.

It turns out that David Hasselhoff & KITT will be involved... read more after the continue reading link!

A slightly longer commercial aired tonight during America's Got Talent. Twenty seconds in length, it presents a similar tone to the one before it, but it has a new piece of dialog.

15 second commercial aired during Sunday Night Football, for the new Knight Rider 2008 series airing September 24th.

First new commerical on NBC showing actually footage from the new series. Of course we had seen most of this footage a week ago, but this is a new cut and a pretty great edit. Very energetic!

This aired during Saturday Nights Main Event. Thanks to Sue for the capture!

[Original Thread]