Autoblog

click above for more new high-res images of KITT

As we all know, Knight Rider will be returning to television this Sunday at 9PM EST on NBC. The new Michael Knight played by Justin Bruening and his car companion KITT, voiced by Val Kilmer, made an appearance on the Today Show this morning (disclaimer: the Today Show is also an NBC program) to promote the mini-movie that will eventually become a full series next fall. Bruening reveals a bit more about the story we'll be watching this Sunday, some of which we already knew and a few new bits. His character is playing the estranged son of the original Michael Knight, a role that will be reprised by David Hasselhoff himself in the movie, though the new Mike Knight is unaware the guy standing next to him with the same name is his dad. Bruening also reveals the loophole that supposedly fills in the 25-year gap between the original series and the new one, which is that the original writers never identified KITT's inventor. OK, well we'll have to see how that one plays out. Ford, meanwhile, which paid a pretty penny to have the GT500KR Mustang play the part of nuevo KITT, has released three more photos of the Knight Industries car, which make lovely desktop wallpaper backgrounds if you're a true fan. We'll decide our degree of fanboyosity after we watch the movie this weekend.


[Source: Jalopnik, Ford]

click above image to view 2-minute Knight Rider preview video

We've claimed from the beginning that the new Knight Rider TV series is going to suck, and while we still believe that this is a not brand that'll hold up well to being updated, a new commercial on NBC at least gives us hope. Being nearly two minutes long, this new spot is more like a mini behind-the-scenes documentary in which the writer/producer of the show explains a few things and we're introduced to the new Michael Knight played by some ex-soap star named Justin Bruening. Bruening explains to the camera that his new series is not a remake, it's "a sequel of the original series." Well, sequels are always better than the original right? Follow the jump to view the video in full that contains a number of actual scenes from the upcoming 2-hour movie premiere. You can also check out the previously released 15-second and 30-second spots. Thanks for the tip, Phil!

[Source: YouTube]

Our friends over at Cinematical are reporting that the upcoming Knight Rider TV pilot will star soap opera stud Justin Bruening as Michael Knight's son. So far as we can tell, the script remains the same as we had heard a few weeks ago, and Steve Shill remains the director. Still no definite word if David Hasselhoff will make an appearance on the show.

The casting of Bruening in the lead role is strangely similar to Hasselhoff's being chosen for the original series. Hasselhoff was also a daytime soap opera star before driving K.I.T.T., and was almost the same age as Bruening (28) at the time.

Should we go just ahead and predict a revival of Baywatch with Bruening as a buff and tan lifeguard, too?

And, oddly enough, there's also a Michael Knight on the All My Children cast. Hmm.

[Source: Cinematical, photo by Evan Agostini/Getty]