Just some speculation

[lunchmeat]

I've been thinking, which usually isn't a good thing.

David Andron wrote the pilot, and it was pretty good....pretty great, actually. (It's what got me started on the whole Knight Rider kick.) This latest episode was also written by him, from what I've heard, although I might not actually have my facts straight there.

In this episode, we saw the introduction of a DEA agent with whom Mike had some friction....and I'm thinking, had Andron written the series, that this would have been a recurring theme throughout the season. Mike butting heads with the law all the time would have actually made for a great series....especially with Maria Menounos as the agent. I wonder if we'll see more of this - the writing left it a little open-ended, so even if we don't see the same agent, Mike will have a record.

More episodes like this, from the start, would have been welcome by me - and the tie-in to the pilot was actually very nice. I really wouldn't have minded a season of Mike solving problems while dealing with a DEA agent who thinks he shouldn't be in the way - it would have worked well as an episodic theme, but with elements of a serial thrown in. The whole "oh, it's you again" could keep me hooked every episode, because I'm lame like that.

Regardless, we got what we got. Considering this, I would be very interested to see a director's cut of the entire season, the way it was meant to play out before the reboot. I'm kind of curious about what the seasonal arc was supposed to be, and I'm also curious about what shots were added and which were taken out. (I think that Exit Light, Enter Knight was supposed to end with the building explosion as a cliffhanger...so I believe that there was a LOT of editing done there.)

Really, just some speculation - just throwing some stuff out there.

[KnightINSTINCT]

I knew it! This episode had David Andron all over it. I never watch who writes which episode, but the story detail he puts in each of his episodes is incredible!

There should be a way to reach out to him. He deserves the fans praise

[Mr.Marcus]

Another quality episode directed by Jay Chandresekhar. Andron and Chandresekhar should be the sole creative forces behind KR08. It'll finally be good on a consistent basis.

[Lynda414]

Agreed. I much prefer Andron to GST. He has an excellent grasp of what Knight Rider is. I bet you anything he watched TOS when he was a kid. Or teenager. I don't know how old he is.

[Shapeshifter]

I knew it! This episode had David Andron all over it. I never watch who writes which episode, but the story detail he puts in each of his episodes is incredible!

There should be a way to reach out to him. He deserves the fans praise

I'll see if I can't get your kind words passed along.

[Lynda414]

He's definitely taking the show in the direction it should have been in all along. They should have kept him after the pilot movie.

[Knight316]

He'd probably be cheaper than GST to keep for a second season.

[NeoRanger]

A few points here:

- Andron doesn't have the experience to be a showrunner.
- GST was asked to do this (twice, mind you), because NBC "wanted a show people would watch". Of course, they sort of forgot you have to pay to do a show.
- I don't know how much creative input Andron has in the overall picture, but traditionally, individual scripts get rewritten a few dozen times, by many different writers and get past the showrunner. That means there is a good chance that Andron's episodes wouldn't be either the same or nearly as pleasant if someone else (or even himself) was the showrunner. Writers don't just turn in a script and it simply gets to shooting. Having said that, I don't know if the case is different for Andron, because of his involvement with the pilot movie and the original idea.

[Knight007]

cant they join forces? GST will take some of the writing and keep runing the show. and Andron takes most of the writing

[lunchmeat]

I remember reading somewhere that GST, when he created the original series, wanted it to be "more like James Bond" and Michael was going to get a lot of gadgets, but due to budget reasons, they gave them to the car instead. I'll have to look this up, so please don't take this statement for truth until I can cite a source.

If this is true, however, GST's "vision" for the show may not have ever matched what TOS became....and if he was involved with TKR (I don't know if he was or if he wasn't), then the direction of KR08 would make sense. Not that I like it, but it would make sense...

I'm going to go find that quote. I think it was on wikipedia.

Edit: Y'know....I'm actually not sure about this at all, now. Please disregard. I might have GST and Glen A. Larson mixed up in my head for this.

[Radicalas]

I remember reading somewhere that GST, when he created the original series, wanted it to be "more like James Bond" and Michael was going to get a lot of gadgets, but due to budget reasons, they gave them to the car instead. I'll have to look this up, so please don't take this statement for truth until I can cite a source.

If this is true, however, GST's "vision" for the show may not have ever matched what TOS became....and if he was involved with TKR (I don't know if he was or if he wasn't), then the direction of KR08 would make sense. Not that I like it, but it would make sense...

I'm going to go find that quote. I think it was on wikipedia.

Edit: Y'know....I'm actually not sure about this at all, now. Please disregard. I might have GST and Glen A. Larson mixed up in my head for this.

GST isn't connected to TKR, probably you mixed him with Glen.

[Shapeshifter]

A few points here:

- Andron doesn't have the experience to be a showrunner.
- GST was asked to do this (twice, mind you), because NBC "wanted a show people would watch". Of course, they sort of forgot you have to pay to do a show.
- I don't know how much creative input Andron has in the overall picture, but traditionally, individual scripts get rewritten a few dozen times, by many different writers and get past the showrunner. That means there is a good chance that Andron's episodes wouldn't be either the same or nearly as pleasant if someone else (or even himself) was the showrunner. Writers don't just turn in a script and it simply gets to shooting. Having said that, I don't know if the case is different for Andron, because of his involvement with the pilot movie and the original idea.

I can shed a little light on this.

It's true, there is a lot of re-writing, and a lot of masters to please. Most of the re-write requests come courtesy of the studio and the network, and are often practical in nature (we can't afford to shoot that scene, too many characters, etc.) But, the writer who's name is on the episode does all the re-writes unless they're staff writers, in which case sometimes a producer/writer is asked to 'ghost' re-write an episode. In Andron's case he had almost complete autonomy on his episodes, and you can see it--his episodes tend to be a little darker and more detail oriented than some of the others. They are his vision, without too much outside influence. So, the show that would have been, would have been a lot like what you saw last night.

[WIBoomer1]

So maybe we need to adjust our thinking, and ask NBC to give control to David Andron....???

Because this version was heads and tails better than some of the previous eps...

[lunchmeat]

Is that possible? If the show continues, I'd like to see more episodes like Exit Light, Enter Knight and Fly By Knight. The two-parter was pretty good as well.

Further speculation....sometimes I think that KARR was rushed. I know that fans really wanted to see him come back and everything, but I wonder if it would have been better to wait on it. In TOS, KARR did appear in the first season, but he was just a throwaway character - he wasn't really meant to be meaningful. KR08 had a lot of fan expectation riding on its shoulders, and I wonder if they felt compelled to have him make a first-season appearance.

I also wonder how KARR would have fit into the story arc without the retool, and I wonder how Andron would have handled him. (Remember Prometheus?) I did like the physical treatment of KARR - the robot thing was pretty cool in my book - and the basic idea was fairly sound (the whole military war machine thing), but the story was pretty messed up in a lot of ways due to the retool and the treatment of the season as a whole.

I guess, fundamentally, I'm wondering what the series could have been. I don't really like to say that, as everyone on the KR team has no doubt been working pretty hard to produce what we see...but there's a certain coherency that's missing here. Perhaps, if there is a next season, that can be rectified.

[Mr.Marcus]

I think its safe to assume that if Andron had remained as show runner we'd have a better show. The KR film had its flaws and rather than stick it out with Andron, NBC thought it was better to bring GST into the fold. I can't say that I blame them since their intention was to make things better, they just went with the wrong man for the job. Oh well, whats done is done.

[Sue]

A few points here:

- Andron doesn't have the experience to be a showrunner.
- GST was asked to do this (twice, mind you), because NBC "wanted a show people would watch". Of course, they sort of forgot you have to pay to do a show.

I agree, I think Andron is a great writer, but may not have had the experience needed for NBC to consider him as show runner. I also agree that NBC was hoping to have a transformers like show with movie quality action and effects and GST is probably the man for the job, only it seems they started strong but then cut the budget too much to really be able to make that kind of show effectively. Andron's style is more modest, less action but more good dialog.
Even though I loved it, people were not fully happy with the back door pilot and so changes had to be made. I feel like now we have finally reached where we need to be at with the balance of GST's and Andron's visions. Hopefully now that all the kinks are worked out NBC will give them a shot at a second season.

[KnightINSTINCT]

I'll see if I can't get your kind words passed along.[/quote]



Thanks!