SDCC 2022 Exclusive Knight Rider K.I.T.T. Hot Wheels Car by Mattel

Mattel has announced a killer line-up of San Diego Comic-Con 2022 exclusives, including this SDCC 2022 Exclusive Knight Rider K.I.T.T. Hot Wheels Car by Mattel This release celebrates the 40th anniversary of the popular television show Knight Rider and its iconic AI-enhanced Pontiac Trans Am, the Knight Industries Two Thousand (a.k.a. K.I.T.T.). This Hot Wheels car has a fantastic level of detail, including a working LED scanner bar that emulates the original anamorphic equalizer. It can be purchased at the Mattel SDCC booth and online at MattelCreations.com starting at 9am PT on Friday, July 22nd.

NBC Announces Its Fall Series Premiere Dates

I think this is utterly bizarre! We’re not even into June yet and already NBC is announcing when their television shows will debut/return this fall. (link) I can’t think of a reason why they’re doing this now, besides maybe just trying to get a little early publicity while the other networks are off doing other things, like getting ratings. Again, NBC was fourth this year in the television season ratings rankings. (link) I guess at this point any early publicity for their scripted shows is a good thing.


Since NBC’s decided to share the dates scheduled for the launch of their 2008-2009 television season, I thought I’d pass along the info to all of you. Check out the season premieres of returning shows and the debut of brand new shows below:

NBC's Fall 2008-09 Premiere Schedule (all times ET):
(link) New Programs in UPPER CASE

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12
AMERICA'S TOUGHEST JOBS
Series Premiere - 8-10 p.m.
Returns on September 19 - 8-9 p.m. for five weeks
Then Resumes from 9-10 p.m. on October 24

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22
Heroes Clip Show - 8-9 p.m.
Heroes Season Premiere - 9-11 p.m.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit - 10-11 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24
KNIGHT RIDER - 8-9 p.m.
Lipstick Jungle - 10-11 p.m.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25
My Name Is Earl - One-Hour Premiere - 8-9 p.m.
The Office - One-Hour Premiere - 9-10 p.m.
ER - 10-11 p.m.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29
Chuck - 8-9 p.m.
MY OWN WORST ENEMY - 10-11 p.m.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3
Life - 10-11 p.m.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9
KATH & KIM - 9:30-10 p.m.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17
CRUSOE - Two-Hour Premiere - 8-10 p.m.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30
30 Rock - 8:30-9 p.m.

Knight Rider Is A Go This Fall On NBC

While the official press conference will be held later today, the news that Knight Rider has been chosen to become a prime-time series has already leaked out. (link) According to Variety, Knight Rider, “the Doug Liman produced actioner whose two-hour backdoor pilot snagged solid ratings in February,” has been added to NBC’s 2008 fall line-up. (link) This should come as a shock to no one considering the initial Knight Rider movie “clocked nearly 13 million viewers, making it the second-most-watched scripted program that week…[and] it copped the biggest crowd of 18-to-49-year-olds, NBC’s target age bracket, of any made-for-TV movie or theatrical on any network in nearly three years.” (link)

While those numbers are staggering, it seems silly to expect such a low quality made-for-TV movie to be able to sustain such a large number of viewers as a weekly serial next fall. The nostalgia for Knight Rider may have drawn viewers to their tube on a random Sunday night, but the show better deliver, and deliver fast, or viewers will not stick around. Because of the increased number of channels available and the high quality of television viewers have become accustomed to, viewers are less inclined to wait for a show to develop.


This means NBC Co-Chairman Ben Silverman better make sure all of the show’s ducks are in a row before unleashing the final product to the American viewing public. I’m hoping Knight Rider improves quality wise and takes off as a series, but odds are this show, like many other new shows debuting in the fall, will crash and burn. It’s unfortunate but it’s also the world we live in, shows nowadays get 2-3 weeks to find an audience or its arrivederci. Although, the fact that the show has already debuted as a TV movie to strong numbers should go a long way to fortifying an audience, at least for the first few airings.

Knight Rider - An Icon Reborn

After spending a few weeks taking up space on DVR, The Blot finally sucked it up and watched the new Knight Rider movie from NBC. To be honest I was kind of dreading watching it because I was sure it would be horrible. Most remakes these days are pretty bad and why should this one be any different. But, due to being such a big fan of the original show as a kid I thought I should give it a chance. And you know what? Much to my surprise, I kinda liked it.


The minute the intro music started to play and I heard that original 80’s synth beeping I knew it couldn’t be all bad. And I was right, for the most part. Yes the story was kind of hokey and the product placement of the Ford Mustang almost made me tear my hair out, but the overall show was sooo much better than the dreck NBC tried to shove down our throats earlier this year in the form of the Bionic Woman. According to reports the show did well enough that it seems almost a lock to be picked up as a series for next year.

There were a few things I didn’t understand, like needing to force feed us in the very beginning of the show that Sydney Tamilia Poitier’s character FBI agent Carrie Rivai was a lesbian or that KITT is now a mustang. How many times did they cut away to show the Snake emblem of the Ford Mustang Shelby? I know product placement is a huge revenue source for shows these days but was the old Knight Rider show this blatant? The new KITT’s cool, but its not that great that they need to shove it in our faces every 5 seconds. I actually kind of miss the sleekness of the old Pontiac Trans Am KITT.

The aspect of the show I disliked the most was Val Kilmer’s voice as KITT. It’s a shame we did not get to hear Will Arnett’s take as the talking car because I think his voice would have translated better to the screen and given us a little more sarcasm like the old KITT used to. Part of the problem, I would imagine, was the rush job they had to do in order to record Kilmer’s voice and get the show out on time. Hopefully he’ll fit into the roll better as the cast gets to know each other over the course of a season.

I’m also not sure how I feel about how high tech KITT is now. In the 80’s KITT did some cool things, but the show was still believable. Now this car can change shape, color and is practically indestructible as long as its main computer is on. It almost makes the show not fun having a car that powerful. How can Tracer ever lose as long as he stays inside KITT?

Besides the remixed version of the theme song, there were two scenes of the movie that were above and beyond my two favorite parts. I loved the scene between Justin Bruening’s Mike Tracer and the father he never knew, Michael Knight. That has to be the most reserved I’ve seen David Hasselhoff in years and he fit back into the role of Knight perfectly. I kept waiting for the Hoff to break out into one of his cheesy European pop songs, but the guy really kept it together and pulled off a touching scene with his television son. I was really impressed and hope if they do order a full season of Knight Rider that they bring back the Hoff for future episodes. Too bad he still doesn’t rock that 80’s ‘fro of his.


The other scene I really enjoyed was the final scene with everyone preparing KITT for a mission before Mike and KITT drove out of the airplane backwards and off onto a mission. I’m not usually fooled by TV shows but they got me on that one. I was 100% expecting it to be an 18 wheeler KITT was backing out of, so for the twist to be a plane I thought was a cool modernization of the show. When I was little I loved when Hasselhoff would exit Knight Industries’ mobile base by driving off backwards onto the street as the Mack truck was driving full speed down the highway. I thought it was a nice touch and a good way to show the new Knight Industries team in action as well as end the movie. So while I actually did enjoy the remake, I’m still holding off judgment of it as an ongoing series. Because as we all know if anyone can screw up a great idea for a new television show it’s NBC.

Knight Rider Hits A Bump In The Road

Did no one besides The Blot know the Knight Rider television movie was coming out this Sunday, February 17th on NBC at 9/8 central? If only the people over at General Motors (GM) had read The Blot’s initial report on the upcoming movie that NBC is hoping does well enough in the ratings to parlay into a new fall series next year. If they had they would have known Arrested Development’s Will Arnett had been picked to voice the 2008 version of the Knight Rider talking car KITT.


You would think since the movie is premiering this weekend that everything was finalized and the show was ready to go, but of course you’d be mistaken. You see the television movie’s been completed for a while and while Arnett has already recorded all of his speaking parts, NBC is being forced to recast the role and rerecord all of KITT's audio because Arnett had to pull out due to “contractual reasons.” Why you might ask? Well, as it turns out “Arnett has been under contract as the voice of GMC Trucks” for many years. (link)

The problem is the new KITT is a Ford Mustang and evidently this potential conflict of interest just came to GM’s attention last week. They have since asked the actor to step down from the role. (link) Arnett is quoted as saying ''I was very excited at the prospect of playing the part of KITT in the new Knight Rider movie. However, because of a long relationship with General Motors as the voice of GMC Trucks, I had to respectfully withdraw from the project.'' (link) Talk about last minute hysterics.

Now, forgotten action star Val Kilmer (Top Gun, Willow, The Doors) has been pegged as the new voice of KITT and, in what can only be assumed was quite the rush job, has already completed recording all dialogue for the show’s debut this weekend. It’s a good thing for NBC that no actual scenes had to be shot or the movie might have had to be delayed. What bums The Blot out about all this is that even though NBC was given the golden opportunity to clean up a past mistake and cast William Daniels, the original voice of KITT, in the role that he originated, they still chose to go with a more established “star.” I could at least see Arnett as the voice of KITT, but Kilmer!?!

Come on…this show seems like even more of a train wreck now than it did before. Why oh why can’t the television networks and movie studios leave popular shows from our past alone instead of continually “re-imagining” them as completely worthless new movies and TV shows? Hopefully this new Knight Rider will be a one and done “television event” and we won’t be subjected to more NBC rehashing of old shows next season any more than we already have been with the Bionic Woman and now this!

Return of the Knight Rider

Honestly, as a little kid growing up in the 80's I loved Knight Rider. Back then the Hoff was still cool in America's eyes. I'm not sure how to classify the Hoff's antics nowadays, but I'd love a "Don't Hassel the Hoff" shirt regardless. I bring this up because today NBC unveiled the newest version of KITT, the talking car from Knight Rider, and to be honest I'm already underwhelmed. (link) When was the last time a remake/revamp of a television show, either in the movie theaters or on the small screen, was good!?! I'd say 99% of them are horrible and a complete waste of time for both viewers and the people who made them. So why oh why did NBC think this was a good idea!?!

I know NBC is scrambling for viewers and it’s obvious they have no idea how to pick a schedule but come on...saying no to a Knight Rider revamp should have been easy. Instead we have a made for TV movie that focuses on Mike Tracer (what a horrible name), the estranged son of Michael Knight (Hasselhoff). Thankfully there's going to be a Hasselhoff cameo, making this movie only slightly watchable. I still remember the NBC made for TV movie Knight Rider 2000, which stared the Hoff and was pretty bad in its own right. I can't even begin to imagine how bad this new version of the show will be.

Besides the fact that the new car isn't that impressive looking (where's the famous red light in the front?), William Daniels (St. Elsewhere, Boy Meets World) was not brought back to be the voice of the talking car. Instead, it’s being reported by TV Squad that KITT will be voiced by Will Arnett (Arrested Development). I'm not sure if KITT is supposed to be funny or if Arnett is going to be playing it straight, but I'm already turned off by the selection. There's just something about Daniels' voice. The fact that it’s so recognizable and that I already automatically associate his voice with the show/car tells me that for any car to be accepted as KITT needs Daniels talking for it.

What's worse is that NBC is hoping the new Knight Rider movie will garner high enough ratings to flip it into a new primetime show. Knowing how poorly NBC is doing in the ratings, I would imagine no matter how low the ratings are the show is sure to be picked up for next year. It’s too bad NBC couldn’t learn from the mistake it made with Bionic Woman and leave popular shows from our past alone!

The TV Squad article also mentioned that the newest version of KITT has the ability to change shape and color due to nanotechnology. Because of this there are multiple versions of KITT on the show. To see additional photos of the three cars unveiled today check out the TV Squad article here.