why did Knight Rider end after the 4th season?
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sickrick05
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why did Knight Rider end after the 4th season?
I've been a fan of Knight Rider since the late 80's (since I was like 7) and I'm new here. Does anyone know why and how Knight Rider was cancelled after the 4th season?
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Michael Pajaro
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I prefer to think of it that Knight Rider wasn't "cancelled", it simply "wasn't renewed".
It's basically a matter of ratings vs. cost. Knight Rider went form being a show that was in the Top 20 to a show that was ranked in the 50s. Action-adventure shows are expensive, and it was simply too much cost for not enough return.
Creatively, I think Knight Rider wa starting to get a little tired by season 4. Although it clearly had some fantastic episodes (Scent of Roses, Juggernaut) overall I don't think season 4 was as good as the others. Although I didn't like the fact that it wasn't renewed, I think it was appropriate.
It's basically a matter of ratings vs. cost. Knight Rider went form being a show that was in the Top 20 to a show that was ranked in the 50s. Action-adventure shows are expensive, and it was simply too much cost for not enough return.
Creatively, I think Knight Rider wa starting to get a little tired by season 4. Although it clearly had some fantastic episodes (Scent of Roses, Juggernaut) overall I don't think season 4 was as good as the others. Although I didn't like the fact that it wasn't renewed, I think it was appropriate.
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sickrick05
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Lyn
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I was bummed over that fact, since the show could've, in my mind, gone for at least one more season, at least.
It took me a long time to get over the show being cancelled, and the half-hour shows didn't really help matters much when the show first appeared in reruns.
Nowadays, I think the show was lucky to have had four seasons at all, what with all the difficult stunts that were done from scratch---without special effects done by computer animation!
Even so, I think the show ended a bit too soon---with the wrong kind of send-off!
Just my opinion.......
It took me a long time to get over the show being cancelled, and the half-hour shows didn't really help matters much when the show first appeared in reruns.
Nowadays, I think the show was lucky to have had four seasons at all, what with all the difficult stunts that were done from scratch---without special effects done by computer animation!
Even so, I think the show ended a bit too soon---with the wrong kind of send-off!
Just my opinion.......
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TurbomanKnight
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I prefer to think Knight Rider wasnt canceled after the 4th Season but during the 4th season. Where they left off at was so premature because you have no idea what happened next until you saw Knight Rider 2000.
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Phoenix915
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And many fans weren't really happy with KR2000, so we still got screwed. Same with TKR.TurbomanKnight wrote:Where they left off at was so premature because you have no idea what happened next until you saw Knight Rider 2000.
Getting on topic, four years was about right for KR. Any more and we'd probably have more less-then-stellar episodes like 'Voo-Doo Knight' to complain about.
(Not to mention those season DVD sets are expensive.)
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TurbomanKnight
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Yeah, KR2000 was crap. I cant complain about TKR because I never saw it.
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JimmyZhuang
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Knight Rider Archive
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It's true that Knight Rider suffered a big dip in quality in the final year, mainly as a result that the series fell into the hands of a series of producers who didn't understand the show. Robert Foster was still onboard, but was concentrating on the Dalton spin-off from Mouth of the Snake. The show-runners of year four were all from the Knight Rider inspired shows Airwolf, Street Hawk and the like (and it was already a bad sign that those shows couldn't find their feet), and Knight Rider began to move away from the kind of stories its audience were comfortable with.
Ratings were lower, but were not responsible for the shows cancellation/non-renewal. The series was still pulling in a respectable share of the audience during its fourth year (a Nielsen rating of 13.8, 22 share), despite the gradual decline in quality. It was cancelled because of high production costs, and Universal had low expectations for selling the series in the syndicated market. They were approaching the required number of shows needed to "bundle" the show into syndication abroad, and it was this dollars and cents reason that ended the ride. They reasoned it just wasn't profitable to invest many more millions into another season, when they could just sell the product they already had. And they didn't think there was much interest in that product.
As TV Guide (US, August 16-22, 1986) explains, "Universal got hurt earlier this year when it told the networks it would walk away from expensive projects if licensing fees didn't go up. Universal dropped at least two series and began backing off from the hour-long action shows that have been its strong suit (Knight Rider, The A-Team, Airwolf, etc.). Universal's Knight Rider, for example, was costly to produce and, so far, doesn't look like it will be a big success in syndication." Ironically, the series became highly successful in syndication, and twenty years later is still seen in over 70 countries.
- Paul
- http://www.knightriderarchive.com
Ratings were lower, but were not responsible for the shows cancellation/non-renewal. The series was still pulling in a respectable share of the audience during its fourth year (a Nielsen rating of 13.8, 22 share), despite the gradual decline in quality. It was cancelled because of high production costs, and Universal had low expectations for selling the series in the syndicated market. They were approaching the required number of shows needed to "bundle" the show into syndication abroad, and it was this dollars and cents reason that ended the ride. They reasoned it just wasn't profitable to invest many more millions into another season, when they could just sell the product they already had. And they didn't think there was much interest in that product.
As TV Guide (US, August 16-22, 1986) explains, "Universal got hurt earlier this year when it told the networks it would walk away from expensive projects if licensing fees didn't go up. Universal dropped at least two series and began backing off from the hour-long action shows that have been its strong suit (Knight Rider, The A-Team, Airwolf, etc.). Universal's Knight Rider, for example, was costly to produce and, so far, doesn't look like it will be a big success in syndication." Ironically, the series became highly successful in syndication, and twenty years later is still seen in over 70 countries.
- Paul
- http://www.knightriderarchive.com
