I am a combination 80’s/90’s kid. Some of my favorite shows in my youth include a lot of action-based shows that had fights, gun battles, and most importantly cool cars. Shows like A-Team, The Fall Guy, Magnum PI, and most importantly Knight Rider. The 80’s was a very masculine era for a young boy growing up. Still the best era for TV shows in my book.
Knight Rider was the cool 80’s show with the ultimate cool car/sidekick. The car who talks, take out the bad guys, and without taking a scratch for its trouble. Even today’s cars have a lot of cool features like GPS, Voice Control, Parking Assistance, and Cameras on your Back bumper which are definitely K.I.T.T. inspired.
Still with all that they are still nothing like K.I.T.T. (Knight Industries Two Thousand). He was the buddy cop partner every kid dreams of. He had Super Acceleration, Amazing Jumping Ability, Oil Slicks, Ejector Seats and unlike Suri or Alexa he can be an excellent conversationalist. Plus, he was in a Pontiac Firebird which was one of the coolest cars around in the 80’s. The driver was no slouch either. Michael Knight with his leather jacket, his way with the ladies, and ass kicking abilities.
After the show left the air, I was still able to watch the show in syndication. Funny thing is I never seen the pilot episode until sometime in the 90’s when I purchased the Knight Rider series on VHS. He was Michael Long played by a different actor dubbed by David Hasselhoff (Boy, did that make me laugh). He looked like a boy with a man’s voice. Then with some plastic surgery he was the Hoff. Years went by and then Knight Rider 2000 came out.
Knight Rider 2000 was a decent continuation of the Knight Rider franchise. A bit cheesy but watchable. Apparently, it was a possible pilot for a new Knight Rider. As interesting idea that would have been it wouldn’t have worked. Too Sci-fi for Knight Rider. The coolest thing was that they update K.I.T.T. for the movie. He went from a Pontiac Firebird to a customized 1991 Dodge Stealth. It looked pretty sweet.
Finally in 2008, a new Knight Rider was made. Reboots, Sequels and Remakes are the rage today and Knight Rider was no exception. At first it seemed that this was a simple remake with a new character taking the reins of a new K.I.T.T but then it was revealed that he is the son of the original Michael Knight. Michael Knight Jr as it were. It was a decent show. The actor starring in it worked the role of Michael decent enough. The problem unlike the original which had only less than a hand full of cast members, (Two other characters besides Knight and the car) this cast had triple the amount which made the catchphrase “One man can make a difference” kind of pointless. Halfway the first they cut the cast to a handful of actors and had smaller stories more in the spirit of the original. It was too late. But then it was cancelled. No second season.
Now Netflix has the original series and the 2000 tv movie. I am watching from the beginning and enjoying it all over again.
Later
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