Said within the first five minutes of the Knight Rider premiere last night and giving me a really bad feeling about the rest of the show: “These are the most complex algorithms I’ve ever seen.”
Yes, someone actually said this. After staring at a computer screen in a dark room for about 2 seconds. Someone who I assume we’re supposed to believe is an actual person, and not just a glorified extra reading off a page.
I can’t help but wonder if Alias ruined most other action shows for me (except Battlestar Galactica obvs!). Even during the worst Alias shows you were guaranteed a neat action scene and some fun techno music. Every episode was like a mini movie, and you could tell (for the most part) that they were going somewhere.
And it’s not just the action. It’s the characters too. I couldn’t care less about any of the characters on Knight Rider, just like I didn’t care about any of them on Bionic Woman (except Katee Sackhoff! I love you Katee!), and just like I’m beginning to care less and less about the characters on Lost.
It doesn’t help when there’s like a million ancillary characters to keep track of, including the cop who’s investigating the whole situation. Why is there always a completely separate investigation storyline where there’s a person two steps behind the main characters, and for that matter the viewers? I mean, who would think that someone constantly investigating what we just saw would be an interesting storyline? (I’m looking at you Sarah Connor Chronicles!)
As for turning Knight Rider into a regular series, where can a show about a talking car actually go? Gimmick shows like Knight Rider and Bionic Woman were born in a different time. We need a bit more from our shows these days. You know what the last episode of Wonder Woman that aired in 1979 was called? I do. It was called Phantom of the Roller Coaster: Part 2. Three seasons, with one of the most famous comic book characters of all time, culminated in a two part episode about a haunted amusement park. Steve Trevor didn’t even get to find out who Wonder Woman was!
Sigh.
If the ending of tonight’s Knight Rider is any indication, these people have learned nothing from Bionic Woman‘s failure and will continue on a mission-of-the-week trajectory.
And that’s why we have “Torchwood”. Thanks for the heads up about this show. Now I know not to waste my hard drive space with this torrent. Thanks.
I’m still in pain. What was that piece of crap? It was a 2 hour Ford commercial. Damn you NBC for ruining anything that should be a fairly simple sell.
There’s a new Knight Rider?
God I’m out of touch with pop culture.
Haven’t seen it yet (and now may never!), but I recall reading that the creator of this new version admitted to writing the 2-hour pilot in only 12 days. 12 days!
THAT is the problem with most television. I have a feeling that Battlestar Galactica writers spend way more than 12 days on a single ONE-HOUR episode!
When? When will this knightmare end?
wait, I thought that Bionic woman was a hit? Who know what these stupid network tv exec’s. I tired of these remakes, oddly enough that I have never seen, since I far to young, lol. I personally like watching real humans, not reality humans, but the humans on the Discovery Channel, although sometimes they can see a little fake and the search for , which most of the time is psedu-archeology, which isn’t really archeology. I’m starting to ramble, sorry.
Steven!
It wasn’t the height of sophistication, but I wasn’t expecting all that — I was expecting mindless, fun entertainment and Knight Rider delivered. Okay, granted, it really didn’t take much to deliver all that, but, hey, this is *Knight Rider.*
And adding The Hoff at the end was icing on the allbeit extremely sugary cake.
(and now no one here will *ever* pay attention to another comment I write…)
Oh, and the weird thing — I have a buddy of mine that’s a dead ringer for whoever played the Mike character on the show.
I’m already devising a plethora of irritating “Son of Hoff” provocations…
Why the hating on LOST? I’m loving the new season so far. The reveal at the end of last week’s ep made me audibly squeal with delight and horror, something I NEVER do.
“As for turning Knight Rider into a regular series, where can a show about a talking car actually go?”
Um… now I must remind myself that you are a youngin’… cause you probably don’t remember the mass hysteria that Knight Rider produced in the 1980s. It was crazy crazy CRAZY. I wanted to BE Michael Knight — down to the chest hair on David Hasselhoff’s… er… chest. Oh yeah and I wanted the car too. ‘Cause it was cool. And it had a British accent. Man those were the days.
I thought Val Kilmer was horrible as the new voice. No personality.
I reserve judgment for future episodes. Hopefully it will get better!
Not to contradict RcktMan because I too was a devout Knight Rider watcher in the 80s… However, there were many things I thought were fantastic in the 80s that I don’t necessarily admit to nowadays.
BSG proved that if you’ve got a new angle on an old idea, you can re-invent something that was pretty cool during its day but is laughable by current standards. I didn’t see the Knight Rider movie but from everything I’ve heard, they didn’t bother finding a new angle. They followed the 80s formula: hunky guy, gadgets, talking car.
In an age where the best, most sophisticated TV shows are found on pay channels, the networks need to stop saying, “Hey, this worked once, let’s try it again” and start being innovative. Or they’ll die. It’s that simple.
Ten years ago, there was nothing but crap on ABC. Today, they’re the network to contend with and that’s because they take chances with shows like Pushing Daisies, Lost, and Desperate Housewives. No matter your opinions of these shows, you can’t deny that they take narrative chances and, for the most part, they pay off.
Re-hashing 80s shows will be cool when big 80s hair and Zubaz come back… which I doubt they will.
Apparently, I have a lot to say on this matter. And I still want Craig to justify why he’s hating on LOST.
I agree with Brian (color me shocked!). LOST is kicking ass so far this season. I’ve loved every episode. The fast forwards were EXACTLY what the doctor ordered. It finally gave us a sense of a destination, story-wise, and sets up all sorts of intrigue.
I’m not HATING Lost. It’s just so frustrating! I haven’t loved it since Season 1, but I’ll never be able to stop watching.
OK..I recorded and watched this last night. I liked it! Then again I’m old enough to remember the first one..when it was on live.
I didn’t want it to end, I wanted another adventure.
Speaking of Sarah Connor chronicles – have you checked this out yet:
http://www.bestweekever.tv/2008/02/20/the-evolution-of-terminators-john-connor/
HI-LAR-I-OUS