The Beginning of the End...

[TransGoJoBot]

Well, say good bye to Knight Rider.

Episodes are being cut down to 17.

If the execs won't let them have a full season, I do not see how this will help KR get to season 2.

Mod Edit: There's now also an article at KITTSite

[Cromartiefan]

Terminator got a cut down season, and that came back

[jym-el]

want ratings to improve?

bring in the black T-top...

or stick with the formula "ONE man can make a difference"

[GuardianAngel]

I agree with jym-el!

I doubt it will come back. Ratings dropped consistently and there has been a lot of criticism. The series is flawed in many ways, unfortunately.

Unless the producers come up with better scripts and go beyong the changes they announced I doubt NBC will pick up the series for a second season.

[drew-crypto84]

This news can mean either one of two things.
1. NBC may axe KR which will be typical of a US Network to axe shows before they even start in other countries (come on NBC if Friends wasn't popular around the world then you would have ended Friends during it's fourth season so give it a chance when it starts in other countries).

or

2. The world is currently in a financial crisis so NBC wants to save money for a while (everyone has to make sacrifices at this time), if that is the case then I wouldn't be surprised that other shows will be cut short too.

[KryptonSite]

I think part of the problem, which isn't helping KR's cause, is while the early episodes did have consistent ratings, it felt like we were seeing the same episode over and over again every week. Every time, Mike would go undercover as someone/something else, someone would recognize him from the past (even though he's supposed to be "dead" now), something would happen to make Sarah jealous, and something would happen to immobilize KITT. Oh, and lots of undressing, for one reason or another.

I think for a while there it actually helped the show because people at least knew what they were getting into. But after a while it started to get stale really fast.

I'm not sure what it'll take for the show to rebound. KARR would be nice, as would Hasselhoff... but if neither is a possibility, I don't know what should happen. Maybe giving the cast and crew an extra episode or two to pull out all the stops and wrap things up nicely would be palatable.

[moviefan2k4]

Originally Posted by TransGoJoBot

Well, say good bye to Knight Rider.

Episodes are being cut down to 17.

If the execs won't let them have a full season, I do not see how this will help KR get to season 2.

Mod Edit: There's now also an article at KITTSite

Aaarrrggghhh!!!!!

I really hate to say this, I really do...but it appears to be their own fault. They took a show that was meant to be about one man versus the world, and chocked it full of so much conspiracy and needless sex that the ratings suffered. Personally, I think if Thompson & Co. could convince NBC to let them do a second season, their best bet would be to take 80% of the sexual garbage out, and make the characters actually use their brains more than their bodies. The main cast should be Mike, Sarah, and KITT, with Charles making 2 or 3 appearances per year...that's it. the tone could be redone to match better with the original show, and if treated with enough integrity, the ratings would likely improve.

[SuperClerk]

I like that they are trying to bring the show back to it's original feel but it seems the changes come a little too late. I think that the people who have tuned out aren't likely to return even if the changes are put out there in commercials and print. The choice has been made.
This bums me out as I like the show and I feel it has the potential to be really good and last for a few seasons but I think they missed their chance and now the window to get more views is gone.
The only thing I see helping is a teaser commercial featuring a B A looking KARR or the Hoff himself with the original Feeneykitt.

[KittKattBar]

I just don't understand why people couldn't give KR08 a season to find its legs. It could have been great, but everyone had to act like a bunch of entitlement-minded Millennials and whine about the show not being the way they wanted it to be. No wonder a lot of TV shows fail before they've had a full season nowadays.

[moviefan2k4]

Originally Posted by KittKattBar

I just don't understand why people couldn't give KR08 a season to find its legs. It could have been great, but everyone had to act like a bunch of entitlement-minded Millennials and whine about the show not being the way they wanted it to be. No wonder a lot of TV shows fail before they've had a full season nowadays.

This may be difficult for some folks to believe, but there's many viewers who've simply become fed up with all the ellicit sex, brutal violence, and crude language that've made their way into TV and film...and those people are rarely reluctant in making themselves heard.

Stuff like skintight bikinis, people sleeping around, graphic or bloody foghts, and folks cussing like mad will likely get ratings up initially, for "shock value"...but sonner or later, the people won't stand for it any longer, and the new "Knight Rider" is rapidly becoming evidence of that. By the same token, I personally don't think "Gossip Girl" will last much longer, nor the new "90210".

[PHOENIXZERO]

Originally Posted by drew-crypto84

or

2. The world is currently in a financial crisis so NBC wants to save money for a while (everyone has to make sacrifices at this time), if that is the case then I wouldn't be surprised that other shows will be cut short too.

This.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t32zDPc_Veg

From what little I know of the episodes that are revamped, retooled, whatever. The "sex" and T&A stuff has been toned down significantly. Dunno if that can really be confirmed yet, but we'll find out in about a month. Hopefully NBC will do some actual promotion and the ratings will improve.

[Djonn]

My take: The developers of the new versions of Knight Rider and Bionic Woman both made the same mistake: they didn't stick to the dramatic structure of the original shows.

In the original versions, both shows were chiefly "Lone Ranger"-style anthology dramas. Almost every hour was a self-contained story, in which our hero (be it Michael Knight or Jaime Sommers, or for that matter Sam Beckett or David Banner) was the catalyst, and the story was really about the guest characters finding a solution to their problems with KITT's or Jaime's or Sam's or the Hulk's help. Instead, the current remakes of KR and BW turned both shows into inward-focused ensemble serials -- essentially, sci-fi soap operas.

Now the soap opera structure can work if that's what viewers have been primed to expect; Smallville itself is a key example. But the ensemble-serial approach has a big weakness from a storytelling perspective -- it takes a long time to pay off its story arcs, and the structure severely limits the degree to which you can develop individual characters in the course of a single episode. It's basic arithmetic: if you have to divide forty-odd minutes of screen time between six or seven actors and three or four running subplots, character development is going to suffer.

The Lone Ranger format works because you don't have to spend a lot of time developing your series star's character -- it's built into the series template and established during the opening credits. It also helps immensely to have a lead actor with a strong, convincing screen presence (James Garner as Maverick or Rockford, Lee Majors as Steve Austin, etc.).

Had the 2008 Knight Rider replicated the original's Lone Ranger format from the start, I think it would have had a far better chance for success. As it stands, I think the developers shot themselves in the foot from day one.

[slayfan]

OMG Djonn, it's like you looked inside my head and said exactly what I've been thinking, only better. To me the movie back in Feb set up the new series nicely with Mike finding his way to Kitt and setting up who's who, the show should have followed from there with each episode revolving around Mike and KITT going on a mission that starts and ends in one episode with maybe some threads that play out all season leading to a nice finale. (I love the lone ranger comparison, by the way) However when the show started it was nothing like this and I completely agree the problem was that it was focused on a group of characters and more about them than the missions. This was NOT what I was led to beleive the show would be about and even though I really tried to give it a chance I lost interest and started missing weeks. But now I have hope again after reading that they are re-tooling the show and going to try to make it what we were expecting in the first place, I just really hope it's not too late. If they can turn it into the show that fans expected to see I think the ratings will pick up IF the network gives it time. Thats the most important aspect, the network has to give it the time it needs and from what I've seen from them already I doubt they will (Which is stupid because they will just replace it with some other crap instead of giving this show a chance to be the success it should be) If it were up to me I would pass some kind of TV law that networks have to give struggling shows a chance, which is a full season, to improve before they pull the plug - unless its really, really bad or a reality show)

Oh, and I want to hear the words spoken, preferably from father to son, "One man really can make a difference."

[SparkleforSmallville]

My thought was, that since Ford is a Sponsor, maybe they pulled some of their money cause they are in financial trouble. NBC is obviously in trouble.
They're going to pull all of their 10PM shows during the week to air Jay Leno

I hope KR's re-vamp is good, I still like the show. It has potential

I also think it would be better as a G rated adventure show. I saw a post by a Mom, who said her son really likes KR but she has to screen it, cause of the T&A.

[gameface25]

They need Hoff to be the one in charge of KARR

[watubeenmissing]

With the problems with ford company .. i'm thinking will this at all affect Knightrider?

[Jaded Wolf]

This show would be cool to watch except for these reasons:

1) NBC cannot do an action show justice with Heroes being the sole exception. Knight Rider should be about one man and his car. Instead it's filled with sex innuendos and cheap plot lines.

2) The cast. It should be the car, the rider, and that's it! Limited time should be spent on the agency they fall under. Instead we get two idiots sitting in KITT acting like they are watching porn when they spy on Michael and Sara and if they will make out or not.

3) Weak stories and plots with no direction whatsoever of the series. This is not the 1980's anymore where you could do that.

4) This is not Transformers so why is KITT transforming all the time? There is no reason why there should be an attack mode or an off-road mode. It's just cheap advertising for FORD and they hoped to play off of the success of the Transformers movie.

I stopped watching this show about two months ago because it's just ridiculously boring, lousy, and stupid.

----- Added 4 Minutes later -----

Originally Posted by Cromartiefan

Terminator got a cut down season, and that came back

True but this is because Terminator has a stronger plot element and stronger cast. There's no focus on sex and they stick to the point. The only flaw T:SCC is showing currently is the continuous teenage angst of future rebel leader John Connor but even that is tolerable compared to the gratuitous sex of Knight Rider.

Knight Rider won't be spared like T:SCC was because of the network and the lack of direction of the show.

[Mrdave100]

I know it sometimes takes actors and writers time to decide where they want to take a show and who the character is going to be, but the acting is horrible. With so many so-called reality based shows on TV, there are 100's of talented actors looking for work and NBC hired a high school drama class at best.

No chemistry between the actors. If you want to use double entendres the characters have to have believable interpersonal interactions.

Show sucks, plain and simple. Some NBC network dimwits thought they knew more about acting, writing, storylines, and casting, than writers, directors, and actors. Lay the blame at the feet of the studio.

[Radioflyer]

Originally Posted by TransGoJoBot

Well, say good bye to Knight Rider.

Episodes are being cut down to 17.

If the execs won't let them have a full season, I do not see how this will help KR get to season 2.

Mod Edit: There's now also an article at KITTSite

They can try to get picked up on the Sci fi channel.

----- Added 8 Minutes later -----

Originally Posted by jym-el

want ratings to improve?

bring in the black T-top...

or stick with the formula "ONE man can make a difference"

Ditto. Something about that old car shouts futureistic even today. It's sad that they feel they had to drastically change everything. All it needed was a little tweaking ,cast, dashboard,tech talk and the show would just about make itself.

[SparkleforSmallville]

A KR Executive Producer talking about the Show:


http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_...0d4e476cd28145