I teach 500 kids about Knight Rider and they love it..almost
Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2008 3:07 pm
I'm so glad to come on these boards and see so many people supporting Knight Rider like I do. We all do our part in society and tell our friends and families to watch the new one and I think its great. I'm sure all of us want to keep that dream of our childhood alive. We were saddened in 1986 and many of us wished that if it did have to end, "Scent of Roses" would be the perfect exit strategy (Michael drives off into the sunset; the same sunset that ran us over in 1982
), not just some Random Voodoo episode to leave us like huh? We all loved the show so much we wished every incarnation and every spinoff from Code of Vengeance (remember that one?) to Knight Rider 2000 and the awful MadMax-wannabe-post-apocalyptic-catastrophic-lets-be-original-and-give-Kitt-a-complete-overhaul-as-well-as-a-sex-change garbage that was called Knight Rider 2010 all the way to Star Tre...ahem...Team Knight Rider, it was disappointment after disappointment. Now its back to one car and one man, with time to judge if they will get it right. But I'm not here to judge. I'm here to let everyone know where children stand with the new show (because lets face it, most of us on this board were children or at least teenagers when the show came out...is it safe to make that assumption?) Now I know what you're probably thinking, I'm only a fraction of a representation of the children who have seen Knight Rider. But let me say this, in my Masters Program that I'm taking now, we're required to do a Thesis Research on any topic of Child Development. Fortunately they approved my study of Children's reaction to comparative technology. This means children compare old and new technology. What's a better example of comparison than Knight Rider? I am totally unbiased when I show these children episodes of Knight Rider of "which one I like better". The children write essays doing comparing/contrasting. I've even interviewed their parents. First off, the approval rating of parents are off the scale for disapproval of the new show (mainly due to sex, violence and language). Some may argue that the old show was not geared to children either, but those questionable topics were minimal. Lunchboxes and toys speak volumes of an audience concentration. Sure there was some violence, but an entire family could watch it. But now for the most important part...the kids' reaction. This study is based entirely on a group of 500+ public school children in New York City so we have an equitable representation of races, sexes, and traditions which play a vital role in each family's values. Due to my background for working with NBC, I was hired as a Technology teacher in my school. We use Knight Rider for the basis of many issues in technology...from Computers to video games to GPS systems. I purposely remain neutral and refuse to tell the children which Knight Rider I prefer because I knew many months ago that I would eventually have to do a thesis and did not want children thinking I was favoring the Hoff or Bruening. And now after reviewing their surveys, I find it amazing that the 21st century mind prefers 20th century technology. Is it in us all that we prefer things simple? I think Sarah Graiman put it best when she said "Complex doesn't make things better." Perhaps that might be the formula that could save this show. I'm glad they're taking their own advice. I know 500 voices in New York City isn't much, but it should be enough for producers to take note when I'm using them as my guinea pigs in a study and I force Knight Rider (old and new) down their throats everyday.
