USA TODAY: Rate the first episode of Knight Rider
Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 3:27 pm
NBC's 'Knight Rider' is not up to speed
By Robert Bianco, USA TODAY
If we must pitch dreck at children, can't we at least make it age-appropriate dreck?
There is much to despise in Knight Rider, a shockingly incompetent, barely coherent, ad-driven rip-off about a shape-shifting autobot that owes more to Transformers than it does to the cheesy '80s original that shares its name.
But if we must settle on just one low point, choose an out-of-the-blue scene midway through, in which the sexy villain suddenly cuts off a man's thumb. Let's hope when NBC and its partners at Ford get around to selling little toy KITTs, they come complete with a tiny finger in the glove compartment.
I know, your kids probably have seen worse. That, however, is more an indictment of the increasing coarseness of our culture than a defense of Rider.
Chances are those kids will never make it as far as the digit-dumping. They'll be chased away by a near-incomprehensible opening that turns car-boy Mike (Justin Bruening) into James Bond, with Val Kilmer's monotone talking car as Q. From there, it's off to super-secret headquarters, where Mike and Sarah (Deanna Russo) have a team waiting to save them from a firebomb crisis. Unfortunately, it requires the actors to pretend to be hot, a masquerade that apparently exceeds their range.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Ford | Mike | James Bond | Sarah | Transformers | Val Kilmer | Knight Rider | Bruce Davison | Kitts
But then seldom has a major network launched a show boasting as many terrible performances or jaw-dropper moments as this premiere.
There's Sydney Tamiia Poitier as an FBI agent who refuses to issue a security override — until Bruce Davison's scientist says "please." Or there's Smith Cho as a tech genius who can speak nine languages and manages to be annoying in all of them. And while no one expects reality to intrude much on this Rider, even a 10-year-old may wonder why Mike just stands there dumbstruck when the villain approaches.
Maybe that's answer for the next Rider revamp. Instead of just aiming the show at children, maybe NBC should let them write and perform it.
They could hardly do worse.
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By Robert Bianco, USA TODAY
If we must pitch dreck at children, can't we at least make it age-appropriate dreck?
There is much to despise in Knight Rider, a shockingly incompetent, barely coherent, ad-driven rip-off about a shape-shifting autobot that owes more to Transformers than it does to the cheesy '80s original that shares its name.
But if we must settle on just one low point, choose an out-of-the-blue scene midway through, in which the sexy villain suddenly cuts off a man's thumb. Let's hope when NBC and its partners at Ford get around to selling little toy KITTs, they come complete with a tiny finger in the glove compartment.
I know, your kids probably have seen worse. That, however, is more an indictment of the increasing coarseness of our culture than a defense of Rider.
Chances are those kids will never make it as far as the digit-dumping. They'll be chased away by a near-incomprehensible opening that turns car-boy Mike (Justin Bruening) into James Bond, with Val Kilmer's monotone talking car as Q. From there, it's off to super-secret headquarters, where Mike and Sarah (Deanna Russo) have a team waiting to save them from a firebomb crisis. Unfortunately, it requires the actors to pretend to be hot, a masquerade that apparently exceeds their range.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Ford | Mike | James Bond | Sarah | Transformers | Val Kilmer | Knight Rider | Bruce Davison | Kitts
But then seldom has a major network launched a show boasting as many terrible performances or jaw-dropper moments as this premiere.
There's Sydney Tamiia Poitier as an FBI agent who refuses to issue a security override — until Bruce Davison's scientist says "please." Or there's Smith Cho as a tech genius who can speak nine languages and manages to be annoying in all of them. And while no one expects reality to intrude much on this Rider, even a 10-year-old may wonder why Mike just stands there dumbstruck when the villain approaches.
Maybe that's answer for the next Rider revamp. Instead of just aiming the show at children, maybe NBC should let them write and perform it.
They could hardly do worse.
http://www.usatoday.com/life/television ... htm?csp=34" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
