Knight Rider is toast
Gang, you and I have nine more Knight Rider liveblogs ahead of us, then it's over. NBC hasn't officially announced the show's inevitable cancellation, but you don't exactly need to be Stephen Hawking to figure this one out. After first giving the show a baffling full-season order, then announcing that it's being completely revamped after ratings took a nosedive following the 1-week break it had in November, NBC suits have reconsidered the number of episodes they want to subject us to when Knight Rider returns from hiatus. The 22-episode full-season order has officially been cut back to 17, the last of which will air on February 25. Barring some kind of ratings miracle, Knight Rider will then join last year's NBC retread fiasco, Bionic Woman, in the Bad Decision Hall of Fame. According to the L.A. Times, Knight Rider's Wednesday 8:00 PM slot will go to a new, as-yet-unnanounced program starting March 4th. Note to NBC: this would be a good time to run the Top Gear pilot. Just saying, you know? After all, you'll need something to replace Knight Rider next fall. As for KITT and friends, they return on New Year's Eve for their season-ending (and probably series-ending) 9-episode run. See you then. Thanks for the tip, Ben.
[Source: L.A. Times]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Ben 10:04AM (12/04/2008)
Yay! The horrid show is finally going away!
Thanks for letting us know, the other Ben. =]
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skant 10:34AM (12/04/2008)
Ben has been great about keeping us up to date on everything Knight Rider, but I do feel bad for him. 9 episodes of blogging about a dead show just sucks.
For everyone's benefit, how about we just call it a day right here and now?
pk386 11:05AM (12/04/2008)
Well at least I can still watch DRIVE on FOX...
Wait... N/M
Seminole 10:06AM (12/04/2008)
I just heard Alex cheering for joy all the way in Tallahassee!
Lets just hope that NBC doesn't cock up Top Gear, though if NR is any indication its going to blow.
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JAL 10:59AM (12/04/2008)
Got a feeling that Top Gear is going to blow just as badly. You got Carolla who THINKS he knows allot about cars, listen to his show...he likes to talk about them but get the infor WAY wrong. Stromer (Carollas buddy, and who beat out Chris Titus, a REAL car guy, for the spot) ...well he has nice hair. Tanner Foust.... is the BEST thing about the show, he at lease knows cars. My expectations for this show are quite low. Carolla bitching on how all American cars suck, Stromer playing with his hair and Foust doing kick ass drifting and carrying the show.
Sean Morris 11:10AM (12/04/2008)
I went to the Top Gear pilot taping in LA. I had low expectations. They very much exceeded by expectations.
My blog post on the show.
http://www.gtrusablog.com/2008/07/top-gear-usa_27.html
Atlas 11:22AM (12/04/2008)
Your expectations exceeded your expectations? I think this sets a new benchmark!
Tony2X 12:27PM (12/04/2008)
I thought Top Gear Australia was going to suck and it actually turned into a pretty good show. I think that the US version might be pretty good too.
I know there is no way you can replicate all of what makes the UK version so magical but for us UK die hard fans of Clarkson, Hamster & Captain Slow, there is always the interwebs.
For me, the more TG the better!
TJ 10:11AM (12/04/2008)
If you are going to re-hash shows, bring back good ones. Airwolf. A-Team. Saved by the Bell.
Truth be told, other than The Office, the last time NBC had a good show it was a show about nothing. Pathetic.
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RRL 10:21AM (12/04/2008)
*AHEM* 30 Rock ... "Crazy Putty" if you're a fan.
RWDSwede 10:21AM (12/04/2008)
Well, 'cept for Battlestar Galactica (prime example of a remake show done right) but that's been exiled to their SciFi bottom shelf since Day 1.
TJ 10:40AM (12/04/2008)
Never watched 30 rock.. May or may not be a good show, but due to the extent of my political differences with Fey and Baldwin, I just can't bring myself to turn it on.
geo.stewart 11:02AM (12/04/2008)
saved by the bell? r u serious?
I'll give you Tiffany Amber but those were jail bait years.
I want to see the following match ups
A-Team vs MacGyver
Airwolf vs Viper
Stingray vs Knight Rider
LloydChiro 11:25AM (12/04/2008)
I'm pretty conservative, but I think 30-rock is a pretty good show. Give it a try. Especially since conservatives are known to have the best sense of humor.
Cellien 11:31AM (12/04/2008)
Saved by the Bell? LAWL, get outta here.
BoxerFanatic 1:15PM (12/04/2008)
@Geo.Stewart...
A-Team vs. MacGyver, it looks like A-team, until Mac builds an amazing machine from a toothbrush, paper clip, wad of chewing gum, and a piece of string. A-team doesn't stand a chance.
Airwolf CLOBBERS Viper. Only after an overly dramatic hostage situation, of course, in which the helicopter stays hidden until Stringfellow Hawke can finally get to the lair, and then commence the tush-kicking in very short order.
Stingray Vs. KR... Old KR might win, but new KR, both just lose. I don't even think I remember "Stingray." I barely remember "street hawk".
The sad thing about this whole thing with new KR, is that the execs probably think the whole genre is just poison, rather than realizing that this execution stunk on ice because of writing, production, specific premise, and corporate sell-out. We probably won't get good TV to replace this, as the studios abandon the whole genre, rather than practicing some accurate self-evaluation.
The good stuff actually gets canned FASTER than this. Like Journeyman, and Firefly. My Own Worst Enemy is probably going away, too. Thankfully Chuck, Pushing Daisies, House, and Bones, and one or two others are still on. Otherwise I would be stuck watching reruns and delayed releases of the only other good show, BBC's new Dr. Who.
But no... Rosie's variety show was a great use of development cash. I think even THEY were suprised how much that flatlined. I saw a commercial for that, and actually avoided the television entirely because of it.
geo.stewart 2:38PM (12/04/2008)
boxer fanatic:
great minds think alike,
btw: stingray
http://www.tv.com/stingray/show/381/summary.html
Stingray totally kicks KR, if only because a 65 stingray vette with Nick Mancuso does cool WAY BETTER than a gussied up 80s transam or a Val Kilmer voiced mustang
JZeke 10:22AM (12/04/2008)
This show could've been decent, but they hired the crappiest writers in LA to flesh this out, a pretty sloppy art director and casted it with a bunch of tools.
There's always space on tv for a good show where a machine relates to humans, regardless of it being an android, car or evil robot race *cough* Cylons *cough*.
They didn't even bother to try.
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Lee 8:04AM (1/16/2009)
Exactly! I loved the old show but always hated Hasselhoff. I could love the new show if they had better writing and did not make old Batman Cartoon characters out of all the villians. Get real here people.
Donald 10:24AM (12/04/2008)
I gotta wonder if NBC pulling the show had something to do with Ford reconsidering its investment in Knight Rider.
Ford: Why keep dumping money into a show nobody is watching?
NBC: After carefull consideration, despite attempts to revamp the show, we have decided to end its run in February.
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